Telegram is history; Last telegram sent to Rahul Gandhi

Jul 15, 2013

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New Delhi: Just 15 minutes to midnight, the iconic telegram breathed its last in the capital with the last message sent to Rahul Gandhi.
The telegram counter closed at 11:45 PM and the revenue collected was Rs 68,837 as the country bade adieu to the harbinger of good and bad news for generations of Indians. The total booking on Sunday was 2,197 of which billing through computer accounted for 1,329 and phone booking 91, a senior telegraph officer said.
The last telegram was booked at the counter of Central Telegraph Office (CTO) Janpath by one Ashwani Mishra, who sent messages to Gandhi and Director General of DD news S.M. Khan. CTO had collected forms from many individuals and these will be manually handled, the officer said.
Telegram is history, Hyderabad gives a fitting farewell

Kruthi gonwar | DC

Hyderabad: The 163-year-old telegram service in the country that used to be a harbinger of good and bad news for generations of Indians has ceased to exist.

The Central Telegraph Office at Secunderabad decided to remain open till midnight in order to clear the last-minute rush of applications.

The long forgotten telegram was, however, given a warm farewell on Sunday with hundreds of people queing up to send a final telegram to their loved ones.

‘Forever a part of history’, ‘Here’s your copy of history’ were among messages scribbled by applicants, many of them sending a telegram for the first time.

The officials at the telegram office were pleasantly surprised to see so many applicants. The Secunderabad CTO sent about 125 telegramson Sunday and 106 on Saturday to different parts of the country, including Ooty, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.

Queuing up were retired Hyderabad citizens, techies, students and even housewives. An entrepreneur, Sanmay Ved, 27, sent about 50 telegrams over the weekend to friends and family.

“I want to save one and send it exactly at 11.59 pm on Sunday and retain this memory forever,” he said.

His last message was addressed to the telegram itself. It read, “At the stage of midnight, entering into history.” Bhavana Moryani, 25, a Google employee sent a telegram to her family in Ooty which read 'Entering History'.

Another Google employee sent a telegram to her nephew. “I am sending him one telegram, because when he grows up, he won’t be able to witness this historic mode of communication.”

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