Receiving mail "poste restante" - general delivery

reneeh63

I just read a thread regarding having mail delivered "Poste Restante" and had a couple additional questions:

I've not been able to find a list of Delhi post offices with their addresses/locations - does anyone have a link?

What type of identification would be required of an American citizen - must it be a passport or would some other identification be accepted?

OrangeStreet

Here's a list of post offices in Delhi.

http://www.indiapost.gov.in/Pin/pins...?Pin_On=110001

Its a bit tricky to operate on. You need to know pin code of the place you'll be at and then you can search for the post offices in the surrounding areas.

The link will direct you to post offices in and near CP (Central Delhi).

For Post Restante, Your best bet is to go to GPO.

New Delhi General Post Office (GPO) - Head Office (HO)
Baba Kharak Singh Marg
New Delhi 110001
Phone - 011-23743602 (If dialing from a mobile. When dialing from a landline within delhi, just dial 23743602)

I think they'll need some sort of photo identification. Passport shall suffice.

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machadinha

You don't normally need an address. Poste restante, and around the world as far as I know, should follow the following format:

Mr./Mrs. SURNAME First name*
Poste Restante
GPO [for General Post Office, i.e., head post office]**
City name
State name
Country name

Carry a passport to pick it up.

In India, letters are said to be held for around a month before being returned; so ask the senders to add their return address, or to use your own home address for it. I've received a letter to me from Varanasi this way a year after the fact (!)

* So your last name underlined and in capitals. Letters are often misfiled under the other name, so check on both. Better yet, ask the senders to use just your last name (not so great if yours is very common, one presumes). At non-giant post offices with a whole heap of letters, it may pay to go through the whole stack just to be sure.

** I suppose the designation of this may vary worldwide; it's the common term in India.

Letters do of course go missing; parcels are said to be sent preferably by registered mail. If an important (love or whatever) letter, the sender may find it wise to keep a copy, so they can hand it to you later.

Finally, in any town now all you'll need to do is figure out where the GPO is (travel guidebooks may tell you; or just ask your hotel or something, or at any post office). When on the move, it is possible to ask the post office in a given place to forward any delayed mail to your next destination where you intend to pick it up. It would be wise to make this a place where you'll arrive say a few weeks later, of course.

If you do in fact know the address of a more convenient local post office, you can use this; it doesn't have to be the GPO.

Note the above can be used for the smallest of places; if there is just one post office, that's where it will be sent. If there is none, I don't know but would presume it would be held at the nearest post office (or GPO?) serving that town or village. When going way out to nowhere and wanting to receive mail there, it would probably make sense to enquire about this, or to pick the nearest town of any size for it to begin with.

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reneeh63

Great - thanks for the very detailed replies!

My main concern is the issue of identification - the problem is the person picking this up won't have a passport (I'm trying to send him a copy of his old one and some other documents to help him with getting a replacement). I'm hoping an American photo ID like a driver's license will be good enough to pick something up from the post office.

Any thoughts?

nycank

I gather that the person has lost his American Passport ? It is best not to send the crucial documents in such a manner. Have a DHL/FedEx to an address which is safer way to ensure the person gets it ASAP.

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camelgirl

If you are trying to send someone their old passport & other identifying papers, have you been told to do this by the U.S. Consulate in Delhi where your friend will be getting his replacement passport?

Seems an odd way of doing it. All that information should be on the Statement Department computers already.

But if the answer is Yes, that's what they were told, then definitely send it as suggested above with UPS/DSL to an address like a hotel.

I wouldn't want to count on a GPO pick-up. Not that it won't work but why increase the possible aggrevation. I don't know what the GPO is like nowadays, but it used to be a nightmare to be avoided! Hopefully, it's no longer the medieval place it used to be I think you would still need a passport to pick up mail there.

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reneeh63

Well, I may as well come out with the entire story though I was planning on posting it on one of the Community Forums but for some reason I keep getting an error that I don't have access (?).


Anyway, my boyfriend's family in New Delhi said he could start working for a cousin (in the U.S.) provided he would come to see them for a visit. It had been six years since he'd last been back and the cousin paid for his ticket.

So far the visit has been extended several times from the original 2 weeks to a month, then to two months, and now they want him to stay through January. Of course the stay is limited to 180 days I guess because of his visa...but they may be able to find some way around that. His father had a career in public relations for the Air Force there and may have some connections from that.

I can't say I am completely surprised at this turn of events...but I am upset that his parents keep stringing him along. The cousin's loyalties are clearly to the parents - the cousin is in communication with my boyfriend and assures him he is working on the time for the return flight and yet...it never happens.

Now I learn that my boyfriend's mother has his passport (for "safekeeping") and refuses to give it back! I was planning to buy him a ticket back myself but without his passport he is helpless!

Is this typical family behavior? This manipulation is unbelievable to me. And my boyfriend seems completely unable to stand up to him in any real way...other than just arguing.

My boyfriend does not want to remain in India...and definitely not through January. But he doesn't want to go the route of a lost passport either and I can't figure out why. I am starting to get the feeling that I'll never see him again.

As background, my boyfriend has been in the U.S. for 15 years and is now a citizen as of 18 months ago. He is 40 years old and the family is still trying to find him a wife - he is the only son and of course his parents are getting a little older. I know this is a lot of drama and that they feel they are doing what is best...however, this is NOT what he wants.

Does anyone have any advice on dealing with such a family matter?...sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.

Aishah

reneeh - this is now more a Chai and Chat topic, however you have answers to the original question which can be pertinent for other members wanting addresses for Post Offices in Delhi too. Also you require 10 posts and 10 days membership to go to Chai and Chat, one of the Community Forums, so we will leave it where it is in the meanwhile.

Goodness - a 40 year old man and his mother is retaining his passport? No, I don't think this is normal family behaviour here, or anywhere else for that matter!

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reneeh63

Yes, it's crazy to me.

So my point was that due to the crazy family, I can't be assured of him receiving ANYTHING that goes to his home for fear his parents will intercept it...therefore the poste restante route. I think registered mail might also be risky because it's possible ANYONE'S signature might be accepted.

machadinha

This is not gonna be what you want to hear, and it's hard to judge just like this and I may well be wrong; but I think you need to keep the scenario in mind of him having "returned to the flock"/his roots so to speak, and you not seeing him again, indeed.

Either because he planned it that way, or he hadn't but is now letting it happen to him.

Again, who knows; it's just that this scenario* isn't all that uncommon. Well, let's hope I'm wrong, and good luck with it.

* That of an Indian man having a relationship with a foreign woman abroad, yet at some point wanting out or otherwise feeling the need to go and fulfil his family obligations. Then not knowing how to owe up to it, and finding a "solution," or letting one present itself, such as the one at hand.

Of course, this isn't the rule, and there will be plenty of happy and satisfying such relationships; but it does happen, yes. The whole process could be quite subconscious, and so in that sense his excuses may well be real. Or he may have just chickened out. Or he may well really resent it, yet still allow himself to succumb to family and peer pressure.

Or again, I may just be wrong. I hope so.

Aishah

You know, Mach, thoughts along your lines, were going through my head too.

I guess wait and see is the way to go.

Re signing for Registered - I have found in the past whenever I've had to sign for something for me, they are very particular in this regard. I think the Post Office will ensure that only he gets what you send him. He won't need his passport for identification - electoral roll card, ration card, National Identity card, Driver's Licence - any of these will suffice.

nycank

Making a false statement about a lost passport, is really a serious matter. Your abetting him in the ruse would lead to your becoming an accomplice.

As to your boyfriend's thumb suckling habit and hanging on to apron strings.... mamoni

reneeh63

Thanks, everyone...I do believe my boyfriend is weakening to the pressure. I can't go and drag him back so my ideas are pretty much at an end.

BTW, being an "accomplice" at this point is really not a concern considering the ethics of others in this whole drama. I guess it's not illegal for an Indian citizen to retain property of the government issuing the passport?! Hmmm - maybe it's a federal crime they are committing? Maybe my boyfriend is just speculating that they still have it...I don't know that he's seen it in their hands after giving it to them... At any rate, it's a "he said, she said" and I feel no moral compunction whatever in this situation.

camelgirl

That's a terrible story! I'm very surprised, however, that a 40 yr. old man is acting as though he has been kidnapped & unable to leave!

Since he is a citizen of the U.S. and he is being held there against his will, he should report it to the U.S. consulate and the police. They probably won't want to get involved, but stealing a passport is definitely a big NO NO and I think it's time for him to get serious & tell his family he will no longer take this behavior.

Of course, they think they are doing the best for him--keeping him there and away from you.

Perhaps he should call a lawyer to intervene with his family & let them know he's serious about going back to the U.S.

If he's decided to stay, well, there's nothing to do about it. But as a U.S. Citzen now, with a passport, there MUST be things he can do--if he wants to.
Probably, you cannot do anything. You have no legal standing to do anything since you aren't his wife.

Never heard of anything quite like this with a grown man --usually it's kids kidnapped by family & taken to another country.

And he doesn't have control over his own money??? Why is he letting them buy him a ticket??? I don't think you need a passport to actually buy the ticket. He should buy it, demand his passport & if they refuse for any reason, go to the U.S. Consulate and report it stolen--which it is.

This is awful, but he seems to be a somewhat willing participant.

dillichaat

Terrible situation indeed. I hope it will all turn out for the best but agree with mach and fear your b/f allowed himself (and he will have had a pretty good idea of what was in store) to be suckered into this type of situation which happens all the time with the extended family pulling all they can to get the wayward sheep back into the flock. I can imagine that for him too, the pressure will be enormous but hey, he's 40, it's decision time and by postponing stuff things will only get harder.

Most of all, it's unfair to you. Only you can decide what to do but it's clear that they can't forcefully hold him if he really wants to get away, passport or not. If they don't give it back he can always report the theft and go to the US Consulate or call their helpline.

Hoping this will have a happy end, good luck!

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