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Monday, June 17, 2013

End of telegram saddens stamp collectors


PUNE: A yellowed form with four words 'How mother come sharp' - a telegram sent in 1954 to Bajitpur in then East Pakistan - is the pride of philatelist Pratisad Neurgaonkar's collection of telegraph stamps (stamps meant for prepayment of telegrams) and forms on which senders wrote their messages.

When telegraph services were first opened to the public in 1855, authorities thought of ways to collect the payment for the services. These included cash payments over the counter, issuing special stamped paper, using postage stamps or printing special telegraph stamps. They issued telegraph forms which contained details of the sender and where the telegram was headed. All of these are valued collectibles for a niche group of stamp collectors suchas Neurgaonkar.

"It is extremely difficult to come across a telegraph form specimen that has actually been used. This is because once a message was sent, the original form deposited would be burned," Neurgaonkar said. Hence the telegram sent to Bajitpur is special.

The first telegraph stamps were issued in 1860. Today, collectors find it hard to come by these stamps and may even have to shell out lakhs of rupees for one, Neurgaonkar said.

Stamp collectors are sad that telegraph services will be discontinued in India. They said it was "the end of an era" in telecommunication in India. However, they realise that the service had been running huge losses for some time now, and technological advances may have rendered it redundant.

"We must remember that the telegraph itself was a state-of-the-art technology when it was introduced in India," Neurgaonkar said.

Much of telegraphy's history in India has a fascinating history, much of which can be traced through stamps and telegraph forms. The first official telegraph line that connected then Calcutta and Diamond Harbour opened in October 1851, Neurgaonkar said.

Mumbai-based philatelist Suketu Jhaveri is looking for specimens of that vintage. "The oldest telegram in my collection is from 1956. I am looking for one that dates back to 1855," Jhaverisaid.

Back then, sending a telegram over the shortest distance - up to 400 miles - cost an 'anna' for every word or one rupee for 16 words. Later, rates were revised and the sender would be charged for a group of words, Jhaveri said. Over the next 150 years, the cost would go up to Rs 50 for fifty words.

Jhaveri said for the first few years, the service was only available for official purposes. "Even when it was made available to the public, any message sent by the Governor General or his officials would take precedence over those sent by the general public This rule was even written on the forms," he said.

Indeed, the use of the telegraph network by East India Company officials is believed to have been vital for the British during the first war of independence in 1857. "There is a famous anecdote of a telegraphist in Delhi sending out an SOS signal to the Commander-in-Chief at Ambala, even as the rebel soldiers had reached outside his office," Neurgaonkar said, adding that the telegraph system helped the British mobilise their forces.

Over the years, various developments took place in the telegraph network, including its expansion across the country, the introduction of overseas services and wireless telegraphy. Among the innovations was the introduction of the greetings telegram used to send wishes on special occasions.

The arrival of the ordinary telegram was perceived as a harbinger of bad news. But the service was also used to send wishes on occasion. By paying a little extra, the sender could ensure that these telegrams would be delivered on special illustrated forms. These were also delivered in colourful envelopes, Neurgaonkar said.

Tracing the roots of Indian telegraphy also reveal interesting insights on how the system developed.

While in popular imagination, the memories of sending telegrams invariably invoke images of a visit to the post office, the telegraph system had been in operation for more than 60 years before it was amalgamated with the postal department.

Until 1912, the telegraph system in the subcontinent was administered as a separate department of the Government of India by an officer designated Director General of Telegraphs, Neurgaonkar 

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