The Postmaster

5. The postmaster did not hesitate to reveal his sadness about being away from his family to the
girl. The words that show this are; the postmaster too would call up memories of his own
home, of his mother and his sister, of those for whom in his exile his heart was sad -memories
which were always haunting him ....
6. The postmaster employed his free time gainfully by teaching the illiterate girl how to read
and write. The little girl had nothing to do apart from the chores in his house, so her free time
was utilised in learning the alphabet from him.
7. When the postmaster was ill, the girl realised that he could not look after himself and took
over the responsibility of his care. She at once stepped into the position of his caretaker, called
in the Village doctor, gave him his pills at proper intervals, sat up all night by his pillow and
cooked his gruel for him.
8. During the bout of sickness, the postmaster realised that the village was not a healthy place to
live in. After his recovery, he sent an application to his superiors requesting for a transfer.
9. The idea of taking the girl with him seemed absurd to the postmaster because the girl was not
related to him and was not his responsibility. He could not take a girl with him to his family for
they would not accept her. It would not be socially acceptable, especially in the rural
community, for a young girl to go away with a man. He assured her that he would speak with
his successor about her and request him to allow her to continue working in the office like she
had been. He tried to hand over almost his entire salary to her when he was leaving, after
keeping the bare minimum amount required for his journey. However, she did not accept his
money.
10. Ratan was grief-stricken at his departure. She kept hoping that he would return for her, and
spent a lot of time near the post office. She kept crying because she could not rationalise his
abandonment of her. She was much younger than the postmaster, she had been forsaken by
everyone, her immediate family was dead and the postmaster, whom she had considered to be
an elder brother, had abandoned her too.