CHENNAI: Last day of telegram STOP thank you for getting us news good and bad over 163 yearsSTOP dots and dashes to make way for emails andSMSs STOP.
Over a century after the staccato of the Morse code and the chatter of the teleprinter echoed off the walls at post offices across the country, postmen will deliver the last set of telegrams on Monday.
With thick grey tufts for sideburns and hair reaching his shoulder, 56-year-old K Palanivellooked like an anachronism surrounded by computers at the general post office (GPO) at Parry's Corner in Chennai. The room which had served as his office for 15 years, had suddenly come to life. His colleagues shuttled and hollered over the milling crowds, who were waiting to dash off a telegram. "I have seen more people today than I have in the last three years put together," said Palanivel, who has been working for the postal department for three decades. "I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'll miss this," he said.
For who thronged the ramshackle office that abuts the main colonial era-GPO building, emotions were mixed. The teenagers had come out of sheer curiosity, the elderly to share a moment in history which marks the passing of an age.
"I still remember the days when my mother used to pray before opening the pink slip. My father was in the Army, so every time the postman knocked we used to keep thinking he was bringing us bad tidings," said 82-year-old K Srinivasan, who sent his last telegram to a pen pal in Jalandhar . "I belong to a dying breed of people who believe in the romance of the written word. With the service ending, this will just be part of memories."
While for Srinivasan sending the telegram was a nostalgic moment, for others it meant an opportunity to familiarise their children with the history of communication and atechnology of a bygone era. "I sent my last telegram in 1984 to a relative in Andhra Pradesh. I wanted my children to feel the excitement I felt while sending a telegram," said Krishna Kishore, a software engineer who had come with his two daughters and wife.
Started as a Morse code service, the telegram service had evolved with the use of computers and eventually became a web-based telegraph mailing service which used emails to convey messages. "The service was popular till the early 90's, but with the advent of SMS and email, it became hard to keep pace with the competition. So we decided to call it a day," said a BSNL official.
When BSNL stopped the service at the stroke of 9pm on Sunday, drawing the curtains on a 163-year-old operation, it was an emotional moment for many who recalled fond and apprehensive moments when they received a telegram.
For marine historian K R A Narasaiah, his first telegram came from his family in Madurai when he set out to London to bring back aircraft carrier INS Vikrant while being attached to the navy. "It just said Bon voyage . It meant a lot to me. Every time I landed at Bombay port I used to eagerly look forward to the slip," said the 80-year-old .
Some like noted Tamil writer Ashoka Mitran have taken the death of the telegram in their stride. "The telegram had outlived its utility and it had to go anyway," said the author, who sent his last telegram to his son in 1988.
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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