#17 The glorious Indian Postal System
The first ever airmail flight, a floating post office, and an elite high school for gamers
Here’s an official-sounding start to this newsletter (to make up for delaying it by a day).
The Indian Postal Service has been hard at work since lockdown on 24th March. The unsung legends have been going the extra mile to move masks, ventilators, and other essential supplies. They have even taken care of special provisions to keep medicines in cold storage while transporting them and fulfilled every request.
Here are some facts (other than that India has the most widely distributed postal network in the world with 155,531 post offices #BMKJ of course)
Indian postage stamps were inspired by their British counterparts. The Brits were the ones who introduced stamps system starting with the _____ _____**
King George V is shown wearing a crown in India postage stamps though he never was depicted wearing one in stamps issued in Britain. Establishing imperialist street cred for sure.
The first ever official air mail flight took place on Feb 18, 1911. Flown by French pilot Henri Pequet, six thousand cards and letters were transported from a polo field in Allahabad , across the Yamuna river to Naini.
It included a special stamp that said “First Aerial Post”, in case you had any doubt.
The first Indian pictorial stamp (not having just a royal head) was also for air mail, showing a de Havilland DH 66 Hercules that flew between England and India.
The first and only floating post office (whose name leaves no room for ambiguity) is on the Dal lake in Srinagar.
Next quiz alert!
On popular demand from friends and well-wishers, we’ve got a Pardesi Bollywood Quiz coming up on 29th August (technically 30th August 1-30 AM India time).
Come….. fall in love….. with Bollywood fundas.
One Book / One Movie / One Show:
[Book] Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
A graphic novel that tells a moving story about life. Life is all about those little moments. Moments that you play back and make you wonder. Wonder what is, and what could’ve been. Cryptic, I know but it is one of the best graphic novels ever.[Movie] Jojo Rabbit
It is almost one year since Jojo Rabbit was released and for all the shitshow that has 2020 turned out to be, this masterpiece tells a touching story of love and hope during another terrible time for humanity. Taika Waititi’s genius isn’t celebrated enough.[Show] Video Game High School (VGHS)
Imagine a world where video games are the world’s most popular competitive sport. Imagine a school where you get to go and play video games to train and be the best gamer there is. This 2012 Youtube show is about all that and then some!
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Take care, things will be fine.
Your friends from Team#9
**Penny Black