29 March,2026 08:25 AM IST | Mumbai | Fiona Fernandez
The high walls double up nicely as a gallery space to marvel at countless framed replicas of India’s postal stamp history. Pics/Fiona Fernandez
Readers of a certain vintage might recall queueing for hours with their parents at the neighbourhood post office, to send money orders to grandparents in faraway towns, or to ensure important documents were safely delivered to foreign lands.
Flash forward to the 2020s. With India's booming digital revolution, the once-popular postal service has become mostly obsolete, with only a small but dedicated population continuing to patronise it. However, an innovation at Kolkata's General Post Office deserves a mention for its attempt to tweak the script. Inaugurated on March 8, 2022, by J Charukesi, then Chief Postmaster General, West Bengal Circle, Siuli-The Parcel Café became India's first café to be located inside a Post Office. The intent was to boost parcel services, and to also revive interest in our rich postal heritage.
On a sultry afternoon while exploring Dalhousie Square (BBD Bagh), this writer stepped into the neoclassical landmark to check out the café for respite from the unforgiving temperatures. Barely having recovered after craning our neck to admire the towering 28 Corinthian pillars and the iconic dome of the GPO, we needed a few more moments to soak in the café's grandeur, and its eye-catching décor. The high walls double up nicely as a gallery space to marvel at countless framed replicas of India's postal stamp history. It's one thing to admire a stamp's design up-close while neatly pasting it on an envelope (soon to become a forgotten skill) but another to gaze at giant-sized, rare stamps that highlight India's icons and timelines, from its railway milestones, to its musicians and scientists.
Service is slow; the menu includes café staples like cookies and puffs. But who cares, especially in a space that's meant to ease the waiting time for certain postal transactions. Its archaic furniture and large leather-backed sofas add a pop of colour and vintage quirk to the laidback ambiance that can easily seat 35 customers.
The adjacent gift and curio shop in the same premise enticed the stationery nut in us to go berserk. From coasters to tees, notebooks, cushion covers and coffee mugs, every souvenir has a cool, unique stamp design etched on it. The good news is that all products are reasonably priced.
Kudos to the visionary folks at the GPO who have delivered (excuse the pun) a smart idea.
AT GPO Building, Fairley Place, BBD Bagh, Kolkata
TIME 10 am to 7 pm (Sundays closed)
On March 31, 1774, Warren Hastings (Governor General of British India; 1773-84) launched the postal service in then Calcutta.
Back then, all letters had to be stamped with the day of the month on which they were delivered into any chief office. These markings were named âIndian Bishop Marks' after Colonel Henry Bishop, the Postmaster General of the UK who introduced this practice in Britain.
