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May god give you courage faith peace," wrote Mahatma Gandhi to his wife, Kasturba, while she was in jail in 1933. The message, which offers a rare personal insight into the relationship between the two, was sent through telegram.
This is but one such historic example. Taar, the common Indian term for telegram, captured the emotions, warmth and also the grief of millions of people in its unique, brief and simple language. Now, with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) announcing the end of its 163-year-old journey, nostalgia is inevitable.
The state-run telecom company says it has decided to terminate this vintage service because of huge losses due to low demand. "We asked the government to support the service which is no longer commercially viable, but were told that the BSNL board should decide on it. After consultation with the Department of Post, we have decided to shut the service," says an official at BSNL Delhi.
E-mail, fax and telephone services, including the now ubiquitous cell phone, have pushed the telegram into oblivion. Shameem Akhtar, senior general manager for telegraph services at BSNL, says, "We have better ways of communication these days which are reliable and faster. Telegrams have become redundant. After the dismal revenue, even the employees knew that the department would shut down soon."
The number of telegrams being sent out has declined sharply over the years. The service has witnessed a 72 per cent decline in traffic - from 21,785 telegrams in 2006-07 being sent out in a day on an average to 6,038 in 2010-11. This figure further declined to 5,412 in the first half of 2012-13. The department has incurred a loss of Rs 1,473 crore since 2006-07. The average loss per telegram came to Rs 460 in 2010-11. To minimise the loss, the rate per telegram was revised from Rs 3 per 30 words to Rs 25 per 30 words - a first in 60 years. BSNL also ended its international service in 2011.
"The service involves the cost for maintaining the machinery, salaries of employees and rent of buildings, except for the few old establishments such those in Delhi, Agra and Dehradun Central Telegraph Offices," says Akhtar. The wire service, however, is long gone and telegrams are now sent through wireless means. Hence, there is no cost for maintaining the wires through which the messages were sent across the country.
But even a significant increase in telegraph tariff could not make the telegraph services self sustainable, the authorities say. S L Chhokar, sub divisional engineer (telegraph service), however, says, "Had the government raised the rate per telegram earlier, the damage would not have been done."
Though around 5,000 telegrams are sent across India daily, this service is now mainly availed of by some key departments and ministries such as the defence forces and the intelligence agencies. Last month, 65 per cent of the telegrams sent were government telegrams. Only 25 per cent were sent by the public. The business class sent five per cent of the total telegrams.
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The telegram dates back to November 1850, when East India Company first introduced it through an experimental electric telegraph line between Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, the line, on completion, was thrown open for East India Company. William O'Shaughnessy conducted the experiment and a revolution took place - 6,400 km of telegraph lines connecting various parts of the country were laid. Four years later, telegraph facilities were opened for the public.
Soon, taar became an integral messenger for one and all, to the extent that the British used it to suppress rebellion in India. After the revolt of 1857, Robert Montgomery, a British administrator in colonial India, had remarked, "The electric telegraph has saved India." Rizwan Qaiser, professor, Department of History and Culture, Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi) recounts that incident, "Around 1857, the Second Opium War broke out between China on one side and France and Britain on the other. Britain had then sent a message through telegram that the Indian troops (whom they had sent out to fight the war) must return as they might be required in India."
The early telegram messages were transmitted through the Morse code and decoded by the clicks and clacks of the sounds produced by this machine. There was a different resonance for different words. The recipient at the telegraph office would listen attentively and decode this message. "Those days, people used to work day and night. It was a job with a mission," recalls an employee who has been working for the telegraph department for 30 years. "If a telegram about a death arrived, the messenger had to deliver it right away, even if he had to go barefoot."
"It used to be an emotional ride for us through the day. Reading a telegram sent by a son to his mother on getting his new job used to warm our hearts, while a telegram about a death made us all sombre," says R P Gaund, chief superintendent of telegraph services who has been working here since 1979.
"It felt great to be part of someone's happiness. I remember once I delivered a telegram which was about a birth in the family and the recipients offered me sweets," recalls a telegram master.
With time the telegraph too evolved. The old machine, commonly known as ghirr-gitt, is nowhere to be seen now. Teleprinters replaced it. Later, in 2010, the web-based telegraph messaging system was introduced and now wireless services have come into play. BSNL even provides phone-o-gram service where telegrams are booked and conveyed over the telephone.
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The telegrams were precisely written as each word had a standard cost attached to it. Moreover, people used certain standard codes to convey sentiments to their loved ones to save money. For example, the code for someone's demise was 100, while the one to wish a speedy recovery was 32.
While receiving the traditional form of SMS from the postman, emotions of apprehension or excitement showed on the face. The expression on the messenger's face was enough to convey the message he had brought.
"I remember how the mood of the entire family would change when the postman knocked on the door and. Some members would even start crying anticipating bad news," recalls Manoj Srivastava, a retired civil engineer.
Unlike e-mail, fax or SMS, telegrams were accepted as legal documents in a court of law. "In earlier days, there were only telegrams which used to be taken as evidence in court proceedings. The accused or the witnesses who were unable to come to court could send a message to the court through telegram," says Rebecca John, an advocate.
Telegrams played a crucial role in journalism too. "News could be sent from places where even newspapers were not sold due to logistical reasons. The telegram taught journalists to write with brevity," says Mahesh Vijakupar, former Mumbai bureau chief of The Hindu.
Military personnel also used it extensively for communicating with their families. S K Sinha, joint general manager (PR), Telegraph Services, says: "The joke goes that wives of army men would send false telegrams about their illness so that their husbands would be granted leave."
"Neither government officials nor nationalist politicians seemed able to function without a daily diet of telegrams," wrote David Arnold in his book, Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India.
"The telegram service was at its peak in 1985-86, when around 1.5 lakh telegrams were sent on a daily basis in the Delhi office. These days we barely have 1,000 a day," says Chhokar.
The telegraph office at Eastern court building once had a strong army of 22,000 people who worked day and night. Today, there are only 989 employees; work has also shrunk to 8-9 hours. The world has now moved from taar to Twitter and hash-tags have replaced the telegram codes.
"The service is no longer economically viable. There has been a communication revolution. It is difficult to keep holding on to sentiments," says Sinha.
But the mood inside the central telegraph office is not quite the same. "It is a heritage. How can they destroy it so easily? They could have shifted it under the Department of Post," says Vimal, a senior supervisor of telegraph division.
Pointing to a bunch of telegrams lined up to be delivered for the day, Parveen, another senior supervisor, adds, "Where would these people go? Look here, this person has written to court appealing for justice for his family. Soldiers still send telegrams to their loved ones and are emotionally connected with this historic piece of paper. And this here is a death telegram. Is it justified to close this service when such people are still heavily dependent on it?"
Some employees say the department will incur heavy cost in training them for some other department. "I have been working here since the early 1980s. I have given my life to this profession. What will I do in another department of which I know nothing?" asks an official of the accounts division.
July 15 onwards the telegram will only be found in history books and the school curriculum. There are now talks that the last telegram could be a museum piece. "We," says telecom minister Kapil Sibal, "will bid it a very warm farewell."
THE 163-YEAR-LONG JOURNEY
- 1850: First experimental telegraph line laid in February between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour (on the banks of Hooghly)
- 1851: Telegraph line opens for East India Company
- 1853: Separate department for telegraph and telephone set up
- 1855: Telegraph line opens to public in February
- 1985: Government separates the Department of Post and Telegraph by setting up the Department of Post and Department of Telecommunication
- 2000: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) established; telegraph placed under it
- 2009: Inland telegram rates revised to Rs 25 per 30 words from Rs 3 per 30 words (except for telegrams informing about a death) after 60 years
- 2010: BSNL corporate office defines telegraph as a diminishing service; web-based telegraph messaging system introduced in March
- 2011: International telegram services ceased
- 2013: BSNL decides to shut down the service on July 15
