The post office located near the famous Sabarimala Temple
gets hundreds of letters addressed to Lord Ayyappa. Ayyappa gets invitation
cards for weddings and shop openings. The letters are mostly from Ayyappa
devotees from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
IBN Live reports
It is a unique post office, and one of its main tasks is to deliver letters to God. Located near the famed Hindu temple at the Sabarimala hills, the post office may perhaps be the only one in the country which does not work round the year. It comes alive when the peak pilgrimage season of the Ayyappa shrine begins on the first day of the Malayalam month in November, and the period ends towards the middle of January.
The post office is also open for 10 days during the Vishu season. Functioning six days a week from 8 in the morning to 8 at night, the six employees, led by 23-year-old Sai G Prakash, have a lot to do.
A feature of the post office is the special pictorial cancellation stamp of the 18 steps that led to the Lord Ayyappa shrine. "Some devotees come and buy covers or cards and write their own address and post them here," said Prakash. "This is their souvenir."
The post office helps pilgrims to post 'appom' and 'aravana' (the temple prasad). It also sells mobile recharge coupons.