Saar Telegram.!

Few weeks back, I came across a flashing news on a television channel which said that the Telegram services are going to end in July 2013 and that the last telegram would be sent in India on July 14^th.

Just dug up some history on this:

The first ever telegram in the world was sent by Mr. Samuel Morse in Washington in 1837.

British Doctor William O’Shaughnessy was the one who introduced it in India, in 1850, using a different code.

Telegraph services peaked in India in 1980’s where 50-60 million telegrams were sent and received each year.

The advancement of computers & technologies such as Short Messaging Services (SMS), Smartphones, Tablets, various Android APPs, and India’s own innovative communication methodology – “Missed calls” (LOL!) spoiled the dream run of Telegrams.



Mr. Samuel Morse



The world’s last telegram that is set to be sent on 14^th July 2013 will mark the 176^th anniversary of the service.

Interestingly though the western union telegraphic services shut down their US operations almost a decade back, whereas we are just announcing it. That just shows our transition time to migrate to a new era..!!

For me, there’s that one & only telegram that I ever got in my life – one that changed my life, if I can say so.  Just wanted to share some thing on that too..

Back in 2002, after completing my Bachelor’s degree, I entered into that rather frenetic phase of doing a job-hunt. Growing up in the sub-urbs, I wasn’t well versed with computers then, neither had access to internet– and didn’t even have an e-mail address of my own - yeah, you’ve got to believe that..!!

The computer science periods in school was mainly theory and we hardly got a chance to touch the keyboards as they were keen on saving electricity bills by switching off Air conditions in the computer room.

So, the only regular source of looking out for jobs was through the “opportunities page” in Wednesday’s Hindu newspaper.

One of those jobs that I applied was for Hewlett Packard, based in Bangalore. After my father insisted a lot to just try it out, I read their advertisement. It asked for the candidates to e-mail their resume to some HR person quoting the job reference number..

You must be questioning me how these all are related to Telegrams… there is a link.. Please read on..  Won’t be long...

I went to the largest internet café at Ambattur, Chennai that had 3 computers, and told the guy “I want to send an e-mail”.

He said “go to cubicle 3”. And I said "but i don’t have an email ID”.

He replied “ok then, create one for yourself”.

Funnily I asked back – “how much do you charge to create one e-mail id”.

He laughed and said that it was based on hours and not numbers.

[Note - Now I manage 4 e-mail ID's every day.. :-) !!!]

I then quickly created my own e-mail id from rediff.com, copied my resume from my floppy disk!!! (Hadn’t seen a pen drive then) and e-mailed it to the HR person.

After that I totally forgot that I had created an e-mail, and that I’m supposed to check it regularly for reply.

Days passed by and suddenly one day, I got a TELEGRAMMMMM…

When the postman called up “Saar, thandhi…” (Meaning: Sir, telegram), Heart was in mouth for most of my family members.

Because, those days , a telegram was widely known to bring bad news – may be some death or some shocking incidents. So, people start chanting devotional slogans while one of them opens and reads the content in slow motion.

That is because most people have the habit of only sharing sorrows. They din’t want to spend money to convey that they cleared an exam or got a job or got a baby etc., .. How sick..!

This time, though, there was no bad news. My father collected the telegram which was addressed to me” R. Vivek” and he was shocked at the first instance on who was sending me telegrams…

Then when he opened, below was what he found inside:

“PLEASE CHECK MAIL AND CONFIRM – PADMA”.

While everyone were debating what was that about, I was quietly questioning myself – who is this Padma? and what she wants me to confirm ?

Then my brother reminded me that I created an e-mail id once upon a time, and that I was supposed to check that – may be something has been sent to my email id.

I quickly rushed with my brother to check e-mail.. I initially thought that the reply would have come to the same internet café from where I sent my resume…ufff  can’t believe I was that bad...! After struggles of remembering the email id and then the password, finally I logged in to find that my resume was shortlisted and that I was being called for an interview at Mount Road within 2 days.

Then I went on to clear that interview, joined Hewlett Packard, which then helped to shape up my career to where I’m today (note – I’m not saying that I’ve become some VP or CEO or big shot.. but whatever I’m..)…

That’s the one and only telegram I’ve had in my life..and a massive one in terms of outcome..

If they had taken it for granted and not sent me that telegram to check e-mail……I just can’t imagine what would have happened..

So, who said telegram only brings bad news???

It was a great medium of communication in the past with accurate & precise messages being sent – It was good that the cost was high, else people would be writing in stories there as well..!!

The current day “e-mail” seems to be born out of it, and the early e-mail users knew the art of sending a compact mail with straight points as they had experience with telegram.

It’s a pity to see it getting scrapped, but then we need move on..

It would be great if one of those messaging APPs in our tablets / smart phones could be renamed as “Telegram” so that it stays with us even in the future and reminds us of the gone-by days.

And to end in a telegraphic style,

THANK YOU STOP