Telegrams
Saar, Telegram .... till a decade ago, these two words were the most dreaded ones even during the daytime. Imagine one's plight if the knock comes after dark. Those days, a telegram meant a carrier of death news only. Everyone was "scared" to receive a telegram as it portended bad news. However that was the only quick way to communicate those days. Normal telegrams, meaning those carrying normal news like someone's arrival, were not delivered after the sunset - the black telegrams, carrying death news, were accorded XXX priority and were delivered 24 hours.
Telegrams, invented by Samuel Morse (1791 - 1872), carried also the news about arrivals (though there is the standing joke that the person would in fact actually arrive before the telegram was delivered !), and interviews. Even in mid 1990s I remember ARUN receiving his offer of employment, and ASHOK receiving his selection to MCA course at Hyd Univ through telegrams only.Apart from such normal and XXX telegrams, there were "Greetings" telegrams - you specify a coded number and the recipient will receive the greetings message - very popular for the marriages. However the moot point is whether the bride or the groom (or their parents) ever saw even a single telegram !!!
As the telegrams were charged per word including the address portion, the offices and other establishments registered for their own abbreviated Telegraphic address in a single word (MISLAB was used by our DRDL). As per military rules-books, whatever one talks on phone has mandatorily to be followed by a telegram !!Also, there was this "phonogram", a facility to dictate your message over your phone to the telegraph office who will then send the telegram.
All these and other similar thoughts were criss-crossing my mind when I read in RA Puram Post Office yesterday, that the BOOKING AND DELIVERY OF TELEGRAMS from Post Offices have been STOPPED effective 01 April 2007. Telegrams can now be booked only in denoted Telegraph Offices, which are very few and far between.
The standard reply of the officials is that there is very less patronage for this mode of communication in today's world of mobile phones, internet, SMSes and emails. True. When a person can talk from anywhere in India to anywhere for just ONE rupee (per minute), who needs the Telegrams today?
So, that's the END of telegrams and the system - a fall of another 150-years' old instituition. No more you will hear, "Saar Telegram."God Bless
Rajappa12:10 noon on 24 April
Saar, Telegram .... till a decade ago, these two words were the most dreaded ones even during the daytime. Imagine one's plight if the knock comes after dark. Those days, a telegram meant a carrier of death news only. Everyone was "scared" to receive a telegram as it portended bad news. However that was the only quick way to communicate those days. Normal telegrams, meaning those carrying normal news like someone's arrival, were not delivered after the sunset - the black telegrams, carrying death news, were accorded XXX priority and were delivered 24 hours.
Telegrams, invented by Samuel Morse (1791 - 1872), carried also the news about arrivals (though there is the standing joke that the person would in fact actually arrive before the telegram was delivered !), and interviews. Even in mid 1990s I remember ARUN receiving his offer of employment, and ASHOK receiving his selection to MCA course at Hyd Univ through telegrams only.Apart from such normal and XXX telegrams, there were "Greetings" telegrams - you specify a coded number and the recipient will receive the greetings message - very popular for the marriages. However the moot point is whether the bride or the groom (or their parents) ever saw even a single telegram !!!
As the telegrams were charged per word including the address portion, the offices and other establishments registered for their own abbreviated Telegraphic address in a single word (MISLAB was used by our DRDL). As per military rules-books, whatever one talks on phone has mandatorily to be followed by a telegram !!Also, there was this "phonogram", a facility to dictate your message over your phone to the telegraph office who will then send the telegram.
All these and other similar thoughts were criss-crossing my mind when I read in RA Puram Post Office yesterday, that the BOOKING AND DELIVERY OF TELEGRAMS from Post Offices have been STOPPED effective 01 April 2007. Telegrams can now be booked only in denoted Telegraph Offices, which are very few and far between.
The standard reply of the officials is that there is very less patronage for this mode of communication in today's world of mobile phones, internet, SMSes and emails. True. When a person can talk from anywhere in India to anywhere for just ONE rupee (per minute), who needs the Telegrams today?
So, that's the END of telegrams and the system - a fall of another 150-years' old instituition. No more you will hear, "Saar Telegram."God Bless
Rajappa12:10 noon on 24 April
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