Retro roots, Gen Z vibes: With free WiFi, games & coffee, India Post flexes for the young

Inside the IIT-Bombay campus in Powai where he once spent four years, alumnus Rajan Verma is reading a book that does not belong to him. Titled ‘Zero To One', it was kept in the nearby ‘reading corner' of the campus post office—a mini library stacked with bestsellers. As he waits for a friend to post a parcel, Verma, now a techie with a leading software firm, scans the room for nostalgia and finds none. A far cry from the cobwebbed cables and creaking cupboards of every post office he's known, many things about the space are pleasantly unrecognisable.The steel perforated seat he's sitting on, for instance, has replaced an uninviting wooden bench. Diagonally opposite, the former Aadhaar enrolment cabin now hosts a guitar, beanbags and a slender coffee machine. "Delivery flex", reads a nearby sign. Another proclaims: "A red letter box is better than red flags". The wall behind him—flaky and chipped in his student days—carries a freshly painted thought bubble: "Retro roots revamped in Gen Z vibes". If the puns, tripods and ringlights don't give it away, a nook inviting visitors to get their photos printed on 12 personalised stamps for Rs 300 seals it. The IIT-B post office—the only ‘Gen Z post office' in Maharashtra—is part of a nationwide initiative by India Post to reimagine the humble post office for a younger audience. Now called NGen—short for Next Generation— the programme began as ‘Gen Z' before being renamed to broaden its reach. "We didn't want to portray it as targeting just one generation," says an India Post official. "The idea is to connect to the new generation, the next generation—and even those after that." The push, he says, came directly from Jyotiraditya Scindia, minister of communications, who wanted to shift the perception of postal services. "The general mindset is still ‘purana hai'. Over the years, the youth connect has been lost somewhere. So, the idea was to rebuild it." Educational campuses proved the most natural starting point. Many large institutes—from IITs to IIMs—already had post offices serving students and faculty. "Students use them for sending parcels or documents, especially when they graduate and send things back home. We wanted to make it a place where students could come, relate to the space and spend time," says another official. The first to be transformed was the IIT-Delhi campus post office, which was redesigned by students of its fine arts department, whose ideas have shaped the graffiti, interior themes and promotional material. Free Wi-Fi access, dedicated student service counters, parcel packing services and discounted Speed Post document services now make the facility more contemporary and accessible. The results were immediate: when Scindia visited, nearly 80% of the hundred-odd students in the room had already been to their campus post office. Since last Nov, 46 such spaces have opened across the country, with a target of 100 by the end of the financial year. The redesigned post offices feature free WiFi, coffee counters, board games and magazines—something closer to a campus common room than a govt counter. "This is mainly an outreach exercise. The idea is that students come, read books, hang out with friends—and also use the services," says an official. At Bengaluru's Acharya Institute of Technology, where students redesigned the campus post office wall by wall, Keerthi Shri, who is in the second semester, says, "Earlier the post office looked very plain. Now, students say it feels like coming to a ‘hi-fi office'." Kerala leads the way, with three NGen post offices already running. "The number of account openings has gone up since the makeover," says Rahul IPoS, senior sub-postmaster, Trivandrum north division, who oversees the NGen post office at Government Engineering College. The redesigns have also quietly revived older habits. At IIM-Gandhinagar, sub-postmaster Kruti Mehta has watched the number of students sending parcels home rise steadily since the makeover. "Students prefer post office for sending books and clothes—it's cheaper, and flights allow only 15kg," she says. In Bengaluru, students have started writing postcards to their families again. Keerthi has opened a postal savings account. "I've deposited Rs 2,000," she says, happy to join her mother and sister as a post office account holder. In Powai, postwoman Ashwini Shinde—who has been working there for 16 years—says she likes to return to a colourful office. Does she use the guitar room? "I can't play," she says. Meanwhile, sub-postmaster Kavita Tawde opens the complaints and suggestions register that is now buzzing with compliments. One entry stands out—from Joginder Singh, who introduces himself as "a resident of the IIT market since 1968": "Today, it was great to see my post office clean and bright. I wish to see it always this way."