COIMBATORE: When RK Narayan was breathing life into his Malgudi postman Thanappa, little would have the master wordsmith realised that years later his character would appear in flesh in the Nilgiris. During his three-decade-long stint with India Post, D Sivan (65) was all that Thanappa was, and more!
Sivan has now hung up his boots, but is not short on stories when it comes to his heyday.
“I once was chased by a mother elephant. I miraculously escaped by sliding down a slope and hiding behind a tree,” recalls the veteran mail deliverer. He used to trek daily from the Coonoor Railway Station post office to Hillgrove post office, through a dense forest. Though picturesque, the trek along the tea bushes adjacent to the Nilgiris Mountain Railway (NMR) could turn treacherous during the rains. Add to that the threat from the wildlife, Sivan put his life on the line.
Sivan rose to fame after an IAS officer, Supriya Sahu, tweeted about him. The rest was done by the social media. Appreciation started pouring in, with some calling for a Padma Award nomination. Sivan was in his 30s when he joined India Post as a stamp vendor. He was promoted as mail deliverer in 2010. The latter part of his career is what brought him close to nature. “I have seen wild elephants, sloth bears, gaurs, leopards, spotted deer, snakes and bonnet macaque, among other animals.
They never disturbed me. I was very cautious while walking inside the forest after my experience with the mother elephant. It was one of the most memorable days of my life,” recounts Sivan. “I have seen a leopard seated on a rock stalking a spotted deer grazing the area. Even snakes used to cross my path... I feel guilty over not having done anything for the wildlife that protected me... I used to walk through the forest chanting Gayathri Mantram and Surya Namaskaram,” says Sivan.
His beat covered Singara, Vadugan Thottam, Hillgrove Railway Station and Marappalam between 10 am and 3 pm. It’s in Vadugan Thottam that he realized the fickleness of life. “There was this woman who would ask me whether her old-age pension had arrived. This, she did for six months. Finally, when I reached her house to hand over the pension, I was told that she had died. It took me the better part of the day to come out of the shock,” recalls Sivan.
Now that he has retired, his feet would probably not tread on the fallen leaves, bringing a Malabar giant squirrel out of its stupor. Nor would his slippery escapade surprise a mother elephant. Sivan would, as R K Narayan says, just disappear around the bend, even as the lazy gaur throws him a nonchalant look.