We dont know when postage and mails exactly started - maybe the first mail could've been a lover sending a ode to his lady love, or probably a king or minister sending a secret message to trusted and lovable courtesan - we never know.
World Post Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the founding of the UPU(Universal Postal Union) in 1874 in Berne, Switzerland. It was declared World Post Day at the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan 1969. The words in the picture above - "Journee mondiale de la post" is French and means World day of the post office" The words "Weltposttag" is German and means "World Post Office Day". I too would love to send odes and odes of postages to my beloved, but what's the point where there is no-one to receive it duh!
Alright, here are a few strange facts about Postage mails and stamps!
1. Worldwide mail services deliver nearly 445 billion services every year
2. The only worlds Underwater Post Office is located in Republic of Vanutau! (Read here and its homepage here) (Ok I got a question here, If their employees want to urgently peeh, where will they go - swimming to land?? :))
3. A US postage costed 10 cents in 1974.
4. Mail has been carried by foot runners, bullock carts, camels and horses. Reindeers have been used in Scandinavia and Russia, dogs have been used in Alaska and cats where used in Belgium. In 1879, Belgium employed 37 cats to carry bundles of letters to villages. This service however did not last long! (Hey this cheating what about the great the Service of Pigeons used by the Indian kings - cant somebody give me statistics of how many pigeons were used and how many pigeon roasts(pura kari) were actually used :))
5. Mails have been stolen from the day mails have started. (ha ha what do u think about humans - this is one of ancient historic genetic traits that started with Adam and Eve!) On 8th of August, 1963 the greatest robbery of all time took place - on the Royal mail train, on its way to London - it was robbed of 2.5 million pounds!( now how much zero's is that??). From that day onwards it was known as the "The Great Train Robbery". (Ah! Now I remember why that movie was taken!)
6. The US Stamp glue is vegetarian. Consuming it by licking it adds only 1/10th of a calorie. (Wow, I think somebody must have mis-understood that for vegetarian gum!!)
7. When truckers in U.S talk about "Green stamps" - they are actually discussing speeding tickets! (Oh yeah! when buffaloes in India see Green,Red,Yellow or even blue light and thousand horns, they are discussing about how to eat the fodder even more slowly in the middle of the road)
8. You can print your own stamps on computer and use them as postage. It saves a walk to the post office(Oh Yeah! But I will have to walk a thousand times to the stupid frikking printer, rather I'd walk to the post office)
9. Canadians can send letters with personalized postage stamps showing their own photos on each stamp( Thank God! this option is not available in India, otherwise my dear and near would spit atleast a minimum of 5 times on my stamp photo before sending it:))
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At 4:30 PM, 
Apun Ka Desh
Interesting Info...So... on this note:
How relevant is Indian Post Office Today?
Several years ago when courier services had not become common place or were non-existent, was witness to a strange case of extremely rude behavior at a Post Office. The guy collecting registered letters got annoyed at a customer and threatened him: You leave your registry with me.. and i will show you what happens to your letter... Maybe its still the same way.
At 5:54 PM, 
At 6:20 AM, Prasanna Parameswaran
adapaavigala! matha naalelam nalla padivugalukku(???? appadina) comment'e podala, inniki vandhu paartha ivalvu comments! mmm seri! :)
@ g3: Welcome here! amaango i spent close to more than an hour collecting this info! :)
@ bharani: yow! thamizh naatula ore gabtandhaan! client'oda adhikama pesadheenganna kekkareengala good work, budweiserunnutttu cha cha cha! :)
@ Priya,Lalitha! Thanks! now you know!
@ the other side: hey! whats up! no posts in your blog for a long time! thanks! credit card bills - yeah thats true!
@ Keshi: thats cool! even i was an avid numismatist - now my brother has taken over
@ usha: porumaiya vandhu padinga! :)
@ KK: neerum ennai gabdan endru vittere seri ellarum sandhosham irundha seri, call me watever u want!
@ambi: kurumbu!unga mail id sollungalen, me coming to India sometime end of december or jan, innoru blog meet potruvom! :)
@ jeev: thats true'ba!