163-year-old telegram is history
Extensive use of technology, SMSes, emails, mobilephones have brought down the curtains on the 163-year-old telegram service in the country.
There was a last minute rush of people thronging telegraph offices to send souvenir messages to family and friends. Considered to be the harbinger of news for generations of Indians the service was started in 1850 on an experimental basis between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour.
It was opened for use by the British East India Company the following year. In 1854, the service was made available to the public.
Started as a Morse code service, the telegram service evolved gradually with the use of computers. At the time of its death, it had become a Web-based telegraph mailing service (WBTMS) which used emails to instantly convey messages to the other end.
The last telegram is expected to be preserved as a museum piece. the staff at the telegram counters were increased on Sunday in view of the anticipated rush.
Hundreds of people turned up at four telegraph centres in the capital which have almost been forgotten in the recent years to send a message to their loved ones on the last day of the service.
Among them were housewives, college students, morning joggers in track suits, old-timers and office-goers lining up, taking time off on a holiday. Some children, accompanied by parents, also sent their life’s first and last telegram.
“This is the first time I am sending a telegram. It is for my 96-year-old grandfather who lives in a village near Trichy,” Anand Sathiyaseelan, a lawyer by profession, said.
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