A visit to the post-office

The other day I visited the Rajpur post office in Dehradun, to send some Speedpost. The post office has a shop attached to it, selling stationary, mugs, and cards depicting local aspects, snowy mountains, the Himalayan Tahr, the monal pheasant. Outside is a plaque that has always intrigued me:

Anyway that day, when I went inside, there was no electricity. The Speedpost could not be sent till it came on. I came outside--there were men with a ladder against the electricity pole. 'How long will you take?' 'Do you have something urgent?' he responded. 'Yes', I said. 'I'll put the electricity on for a few minutes', he said. He made a phone call. Soon, a whirr as lights and computer came on. The Speedpost was sent. Another lucky customer managed a registered letter. And then the lights were off again--perhaps for a long time.