NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 1, 2015 (India Today): A temple in Kerala on the foothills of the holy city of Sabarimala has a post office that works only during the special Sankaranti season. But what makes this post office stand apart is that it receives letters to God. People write their wish and prayers, hoping that God is reading them. Most of the mail is wedding invitations and shop openings.
This post office is offering a unusual service which is attracting a lot of attention. A post office dedicated to Lord Ayappa. Located near the famed Hindu temple at the Sabarimala hills, the post office 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.
Situated in the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats at 3,000 feet above sea level, the Sabarimala temple is 2.5 miles uphill from Pamba in Pathanamthitta district, around 62 miles from Thiruvananthapuram. The temple is accessible only on foot from Pamba. During the last pilgrimage season, more than 4.5 million devotees visited the shrine. This season the authorities expect a 10 percent increase.