Sunday, March 13, 2016

India Post gets haute, puts fashion in good old mail

Daniel George | TNN | Mar 12, 2016, 06.23 AM IST
CHENNAI: Is India Post a dreary, frumpy thing of the past? The venerable 197-year-old institution on Friday showed that it's clearly not.

Sealing its stamp on fashion at a show that senior officials organized, 15 postmen and 15 post women walked the ramp in dapper new uniforms -side cinches and all -in a contest in which judges selected the top three male and female models.

Postmaster General, Chennai City, Mervin Alexander, the man behind the event, said senior department officials wanted postmen and post women to step out of their old culture, feel confident and stand out in the crowd. "We are trying to reinvent the old postman-and-customer relationship because it's dying a slow death," he said.

During preliminary rounds held earlier there were 250 ent ries of which 15 postmen and 15 post women made it to the final round.

The post women wore a new take on their traditional khaki salwar kameezes, with smart shirts over them, and they had the women in the audience who had come to cheer them on in traditional Kancheepuram sarees.

Hariraman blazed the ramp first in a spruce red blazer with the India Post logo to loud cheers from his colleagues. But the highlight was postman Muruganantham in a smart khaki uniform with the postal department's triplewing swoosh.

Each model walked the ramp twice and like professionals, too, pausing with drama tic effect before swirling around and leaving. The women too walked the ramp with poi se, one of them saluting the audience with grace. The participants were so confident, in fact, that professional models would have applauded.

"Normally we are a neglected lot. Some security guards even feel we are nuisance, no understanding that we are only doing our job," participant G Manoharan said."This event has given all o us so much more confidence that I'm certain will help us do better. The new uniforms also make us look better," he said.

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