Nagpur: With Rakshabandhan round the corner, rakhis are getting their own express lane at Nagpur’s post offices, with postal staff pulling out special bags, priority sorting and dedicated delivery duties. Around 700-800 Rakhi envelopes are being booked daily at major post offices across the city, nearly 400 of them through Speed Post.TOI spotted the rush at the General Post Office (GPO) in Civil Lines, where currently around 300-400 customers are specifically booking Rakhi envelopes. Overall footfall at the GPO is around 1,000 visitors a day and can touch 1,400-1,500 on busy days.At Shankar Nagar post office, sub-postmaster Avinash Tadwekar said Rakhi mail is being kept separate from regular consignments. The envelopes are packed into special bags and sent to the sorting office or National Sorting Hub, where they are segregated by destination and PIN code before being dispatched on priority.To ensure the festive threads do not get caught in a holiday logjam, postmen have been given special delivery duties, with priority for Rakhi envelopes. “For those sending rakhis at the last minute, Speed Post is proving to be the preferred choice. Consignments generally reach destinations across India within two to three days, compared with four to seven days for ordinary mail — giving siblings a better chance of having the Rakhi in hand when the festival arrives,” a senior postman said.For Arti Chauhan, the 20-minute wait in the queue was a small price to pay for a tradition she has held on to despite the distance. Her brother lives in Bengaluru, and for the past four years, the siblings have celebrated Rakshabandhan over a video call. This year, she wanted the rakhi to reach him in time for the festival.For Shubhangi Patil, this Rakshabandhan marks a new chapter. Her brother now lives in Mumbai, and this is the first year the siblings will celebrate the festival from different cities. Missing him, Shubhangi waited around 15 minutes in the queue to send his rakhi. It reached him in three days.India Post is also offering specially designed Rakhi envelopes for Rs12, while ordinary envelopes cost Rs5 for mail weighing up to 20 grams.For postal workers, the festive rush is more than just another seasonal spike in bookings. Each envelope carries a small reminder of someone waiting to tie a thread, receive a blessing or simply feel a little closer to a sibling miles away.
