HERALD FOR AGES

A glass cabinet with shelves In Icheri Sheher, right on the Azim Azimzadeh square, where the residents of Baku leave their magazines and books they want to share with other citizens. Sort of a mobile literary fund. Many come there to leave something from the home library or take it for reading from the publiclibrary – a name this exchange of literature, which has existed for many years in Fortress, received. We also bring the used magazines, sometimes books here. Once in one of the twilight and stuffy evenings, looking through the books on the shelves, we found several sheets torn from a school notebook inside one of these books. It had excerpts from the poem Mother and Postman written by Suleiman Rustam, written in small, slender handwriting. On one side of the sheet the poem was in Russian, on the other - in Azerbaijani. A pencil note on the margin reads: "Vera Shirye is the most brilliant performer of these poems." True. She performed them so virtuously that she was publicly nicknamed A Postman. Heydar Aliyev once commented on this when awarding Vera Karlovna with the Order of Glory.

Mail from a postman

Perhaps modern readers will not quite understand this poem. We can hardly see postmen on the streets, mailboxes have long been forgotten. Now we use electronic mailboxes. Newspapers and magazines can be easily found on the Internet! As a rule, a letter means official correspondence between organizations, which require original signatures and stamps, or replies to citizens from various institutions. Rarely it is a personal correspondence of people who do not know the basics of computer communication, people who send old cards with short information about themselves, congratulations or questions about their relatives. But this number is decreasing. As a rule, the senders of registered letters and parcels indicate the recipient's mail address and his cell phone number. The postal employee (operator) calls the recipient, informing him of the receipt of the goods or registered letter, and the recipient comes to the post office in person to pick up his correspondence or parcel. Some post offices prefer hiring couriers instead, the contractors that is.

Insider man

But just some thirty years ago everything was different! I remember how "grandmother" Maria Vladimirovna Tolstaya, who lived on 41 Mukhtadir St., was waiting for the postman Sveta. Sveta at that time seemed a terrible old woman, because she had a pre-retirement age, and the long-term carrying of a leather bag on her shoulder slightly spoiled her figure. She has worked as a postman for twenty years, and everyone who lived on this street, treated her like her own man. Sveta had a bright lively character and knew everything and everyone. Since her service route included several more streets besides Mukhtadir, Sveta was simply an indispensable person in the collection and dissemination of news. By the early 90's, Musya (Maria) had already poor vision and did not care much. She no longer read the newspapers and watched TV. The exception was only some feature films. If she did not like the movie, she would immediately head to her room. Otherwise, she would say "A good picture" and head to her room too. But Sveta’s twelve-o’clock-visit was a ritual! She used to come once a week, on Wednesdays. And once when she brought Musya’s pension. By her arrival, Musya used to prepare tea, French rolls cut into beautiful slices, some cottage cheese, butter, honey and cream. In rare cases, some kind of imported ham was extracted from special jars, which would cause indescribable delight on Sveta’s face, because that were times of total shortage of foods. She was called Sveta-postman and never by her last name. The profession somehow generalized and absorbed everything else, making belonging to the genus less significant than professional affiliation. They sat by the table, and for a few minutes passed in silence. Musya, as a well-known Kustodiev character from the Merchant, used to pour hot tea into a saucer and noisily sucked in hot liquid through a tube of outstretched lips. Sveta, timid in her presence, gently drank tea from a crystal glass. Finally, a loud sound was heard (Musya did not hear well!) And an encouraging Well?! Sveta, startled, proceeded to tell the story. News information was not gossip and did not look like the desire of two women over someone to rise. No. It was more like a record: the fixation of events and life in time. Learning that one of her neighbors in the next street was unwell, Mussya would certainly sent one of her homemade mixtures to her with Sveta, which Musya believed would help and cure the disease. She did not drink any pills and considered them "harmful chemistry." Sveta nodded her head, but immediately advised Musa to "take something to decrease her blood pressure." How long ago it was! Now the postmen do not sit with the hosts by the same table. It is sad to recognize that people were sincere and open at that time. And it's only some thirty years ago! What about hundred or two hundred years ago? How was the correspondence delivered then? And was there any postal business?

Even before

In one of the books of childhood, we read this short message on one of the ancient papyruses found by archaeologists in Egypt, when a dying person has his last will to his son: "Become what you want, but not a postman". Why? The postman's profession was heavy and dangerous, as he could be attacked by both beasts and people along the road. Generally, Persian kings would kill the messengers who brought bad news to them without any regret. In Persia, during the dynasty of Achaemenides, the horse messengers were called hangars, the postal service was called the Angarion. Herodotus describes this in the 8th tome of his famous History: "How clever the Persians have mail! It is said that throughout the way they have horses and people arranged, so that each day there is a special horse and a man. Neither snow, nor downpour, nor heat, nor even the night time can prevent each rider from galloping at full speed the designated stretch of the road." The origin of postal communication in the territory of modern Azerbaijan belongs to the most ancient times, when news, messengers and even camel caravans were used to disseminate information. In the 16th century, Ismail I founded a regular state post. In 1918, the Ministry of Roads, Posts and Telegraph was established in ADR, and the Ministry of Post and Telegraph of the Republic of Azerbaijan was established in October of the same year. However, the main development of mail was in the 19-20^th centuries, when Azerbaijan was a part of the Russian Empire, and then was one of the republics of the Soviet Union. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a temporary decline in the development of postal communication in independent Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Azerbaijan has printed own postage stamps and became a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1993.

The first flight of the postal aircraft in the territory of Azerbaijan took place in 1921 - two years before the beginning of the passenger air service.

Today

How does the post live today? What has changed in her work, and what remains the same? The operator of the Azerbaijani national postal network today is the state enterprise Azerpost. And the most important and reliable link in the structure of the relationship between the population and the mail is still a person. Postmen (couriers) are engaged in delivering correspondence to various institutions and individuals. Their duties are still the same: the delivery of official and personal correspondence. Despite that we live in times of highly developed technologies, telegrams of personal and official nature, as well as periodical press publications, are still delivered by postmen.

According to statistics, the population was delivered about 4 million copies of newspapers and 130 thousand copies of magazines in 2016. Most likely, this link in the structure of postal business will always be in demand. Or, at least for a very long time! Because it is difficult to imagine a robot delivering mail to the house or office of an enterprise. Although... Mankind is ingenious! It is quite possible that over time, it will come up with some absolutely fantastic way of transferring and delivering information! If not telepathically, then visually!

But this is already a fantastic future, and today the human factor is still in demand in this kind of business.

Master of Communications

As in Soviet times, the concept of Best Employee still rules in postal business. The postman Hajar-khanim Isababayeva, who was awarded the honorary title Hero of Socialist Labor, marked the history of domestic post office and until recently, when she left for a well-deserved rest, she continued to pursue her favorite business. Today, the best specialists in the postal business are defined by the same criteria as before: knowledge, professionalism, ability to communicate with customers, honest work, etc. The effective work of postal workers is rewarded with diplomas of honor, cash prize and the title of Master of Communication. In the 21^st century, same as in the 20^th century, the main mission of postal workers remains the same - meeting the needs of the population. With the only difference is that now workplaces are automated, modern information technologies are used in the work, and any client using Internet communication can independently trace the way of promotion of his correspondence to anywhere in the world. In addition, the post offices now provide new types of services to the public. For example, exchange of currencies, acceptance of various payments, etc. Taking into account the factor of the population's transition to the use of the Internet as the main source of information, according to Azerpost employees, there are spheres of human activity where mail cannot be dispensed with without mediation.

Yes, we live in age of advanced technology and ultra-speeds. However, human factor in many of our day-to-day life routines is still relevant. Postmen calling our offices or apartments is the reality of today. Today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. As long as humanity will demand the qualities inherent to human kind only.

October 9 is the World Post Day celebrated by the United Nations. By the decision of the 14^th Congress of the Universal Postal Union, established on October 9, 1874 in Bern, Switzerland, this day is celebrated annually on the day of the Union's establishment.