The credit of starting the postal system in India goes to Sher Shah Suri who started this service in the 16th century. The first post office was started in Calcutta by Hastings in 1774 and the credit of starting it in the whole of India goes to Lord Dalhousie who started this service in 1854.
During my Vaikom tour, I was surprised to see a green coloured hexagonal shaped post box on which Travancore Anchal was written and another red coloured cylindrical Indian Post Office was erected side-by-side. Travancore Anchal started its postal services in 1729 before independence under the rule of King Anizham Thirunal Marthandavarma. That is, Travancore Anchal was 125 years ahead of Lord Dalhousie in fulfilling the correspondence needs of the people.
As of today, these two post boxes can be seen in Vaikom Head Post Office, Kerala and the difference in their ages is 296 years. This is indeed an interesting aspect of its attraction.