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The Postmaster: A Tale of Isolation

The story "The Postmaster" is about a young man from Calcutta who is assigned to work as a postmaster in a remote village. He struggles to adjust to his new rural surroundings and feels isolated from the village people. His only companion is an orphan girl named Ratan who works as his maid. Over time, Ratan grows attached to the postmaster. However, he decides to resign and return to Calcutta, falsely promising to take Ratan with him. When he leaves without her, Ratan is overcome with grief and runs away, while the postmaster is able to rationalize the separation. The story explores themes of loneliness, loss, and the differences between urban and rural life in colonial India

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Mukul Bharti
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6K views1 page

The Postmaster: A Tale of Isolation

The story "The Postmaster" is about a young man from Calcutta who is assigned to work as a postmaster in a remote village. He struggles to adjust to his new rural surroundings and feels isolated from the village people. His only companion is an orphan girl named Ratan who works as his maid. Over time, Ratan grows attached to the postmaster. However, he decides to resign and return to Calcutta, falsely promising to take Ratan with him. When he leaves without her, Ratan is overcome with grief and runs away, while the postmaster is able to rationalize the separation. The story explores themes of loneliness, loss, and the differences between urban and rural life in colonial India

Uploaded by

Mukul Bharti
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • The Postmaster

The postmaster

[Rabindranath Tagore] The story The Postmaster has been written by Rabindranath Tagore. He was the first Indian poet to be awarded with Nobel Prize in literature for his monumental work the Geetanjali. He was a born artist. The story of the postmaster is about a young bachelor of Calcutta. He has been posted far away from Calcutta at a small village named Ulapur where a post office had been set up by the Britishers. It was a place chosen for indigo farming. When the young post master, born and bred in Calcutta, first joins his duty as the postmaster, he really finds himself to be a fish out of water. A small thatched house in haunted surroundings makes him feel ill at ease, and he has to struggle very hard to adjust himself to the new environment. The village population, early in the morning, shifts to the place of working and returns late in the evening. He has none to share with him his feelings of isolation. Moreover the people are mostly illiterate, and to establish closeness with any one is also not possible for him. He tries at several things to pass time, and one of being at writing poetry. The atmosphere of the village presents a nice setting for writing beautiful verse. The wind blows coolly, and produces a beautiful choir passing through the cluster of trees. The sky is overcast with clouds, and sometimes there is fine drizzle, which gives a golden color to the imagination. But this city lad has no sensibility to capture the scenic beauty in the form of beautiful verse. His sensibility is completely mechanical and no emotions are aroused by the romantic settings of the village. Ratan, an orphan girl employed to work as maid servant, is the solitary gleam of brightness in his sad existence. She is sitting all the time at the gate of the postmaster, and whenever he calls her, she gets into the service of Dada. The postmaster, in order to while away his time, asks Ratan about her father, mother, sisters and brother of whom she has just no memory. Rattan serves him day and night, and one day, when he falls ill, Ratan serves him like his mother and sister. Ratan being rudderless boat finds herself getting sentimentally attached with the postmaster. She never knew one day she would lose him. The postmaster, not being able to put up with his growing feelings of boredom and isolation decides to resign and be back to Calcutta. He, however, falsely assures Ratan that he would carry her to his mother and father and sisters. Instead of that, he consoles her by his one months salary and assuring him of all help from the new incumbent. Ratan loses her hopes, and out of excruciating agonies, cries and, screams and runs away from the sight of the postmaster. The postmaster feels the pangs of the separation, but he has argument to console himself that meeting and parting are the ways of the world. Rattan has no argument; she suffers in obscurity, and has none to console. Thus, the story has the beauty of a good short-story. The concentration of description achieved through apt uses of symbols, and the repetition of the moment of crisis through artistic handling of the plot and character gives the story a fine poetic touch of ambiguity. It is really a very successful short-story ever been written by R. N. Tagore. [BY- Dr. S. K. P. Singh]

The postmaster [Rabindranath Tagore] The story ‘The Postmaster’ has been written by Rabindranath Tagore. He was the first

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