Obituary It is difficult to write an obituary.Especially when it is not about a person . Well I am talking about death of a product.yes you are right ,it is about TELEGRAM which passed away with lot of sound and fury at TV channels and newspapers.First I felt that we were glorifying the demise of Telegram.Later I realised that may be it was right to glorify this unique communication product .Though Telegram has outlived its utility but in all fairness it served the generation of 40s and 50s well and therefore it deserved a ceremonial send off. It was heartening to know that youngsters who had never used this cjhannel were lining up at telegraph/[post offices to use the medium for one last time .Many were young enough who had never known about telegrams as they had no need to know about the existence of this channel of messaging. .Yes they were probably born after instant messaging products like STD phone,fax,SMS,E mail were in existence when they needed to communicate quickly. When we were in school I remember we had an excercise in the Language (mostly English )class to convert a longish message into telegraphic language.Yes ,telegram needed a telegraphic language.Longer message meant that you had to shell out more.Money was scarce those days.People needed to save in every transaction.Also there were maximum words which you could write in a telegram.In fact I remember greeting telegram messages were given in first few pages of the telephone directory as free and a number was assigned to these messages-like ONE for happy birthday,TWO for greetings for passing examination,SEVEN for wedding greetings etc.The idea was that while sending greeting telegram you just write ONE or TWO or SEVEN dependingon the message you wanted to transmit.The telegraph office too would communicate to the counterpart telegraph office(of addressee) and they will have typed slips with full message against each digit number which would be pasted and the telegram delivered.The post man made it a point to wait for some minutes after delivering the telegram signalling that he deserves Bakshish for bringing the greetings telegram. The telegram was more often used for transmitting sad news.In fact when a postman came and announced loudly at the door ‘TELEGRAM’ it meant bad news for the family.In villages where few were educated the post man would even communicate the sad message itself rather than delivering the telegram. Telegraphic Language: Obvously it has to be short but good enough to communicate to the receiver the message clearly. Many times if someone say one of the parent passed away the telegram would read ‘’Father serious,Come immideately’.Many times even the receive was able to make out what was intended to be conveyed .It was couched in such a way that the son or daughter of deceased doesn’t get a shock. Come Immideately,Extend leave,’Wire safety’-in case of earthquake or any such calamity at the place ,blessed with son etc are some of the common messages communicated. Even office communications –like submitting tender papers with necessary documents before due date and mailed separately by Registered post.,Wire receipt of bills,Payment not received,Please send etc etc It was done only to build up record to take up in case dispute arose on any issue concerning transaction. The commercial organisations had a telegraphic address at times.It will depend on how the organisation functions.Mostly big traders would have telegraphic address and print on letter heads as GRAMS-Diamond or whatever name they wanted to give.Two organisations were not permitted the same word as telegraphic address at one centre.Many times the organisation had a telegraphic address as a status symbol.The postal department charged an annual fee for the name allotted. Then there were telegrams sent to enable the receiver to get a leave sanctioned from the employer. ‘Wife Serious,Come immideately’.The employers accepted telegram as a proof to sanction particularly long leave.The service regulations of organisations included provisions to explain what was proper communication which could be accepted and it did include Telegram as a mode of communication.Many times I sa employees going home just befor e a holiday and sent a telkegram next day saying-Unwell ,Permit leave 15 days,Letter follows.Letter would generally be given with medical certificate-mostly from an RMP on joining after 15 days.Sometimes we observed the medical certificate issued at place of work. When I was posted in Calcutta in early 80s Amrit bazaar patrika group started an English newspaper THE TELEGRAPH.That also shows even in early 80s the news correspondents relied on telegraphic way of communication to send news to the editor. I too bid a good bye to the Telegram which served generations in their time of happiness as well as grief. RIP
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 05:25:05 +0000
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