Have you tried to sent a telegram recently? I had been to a telegraph office near my house.When I asked for the 'Telegram form',the man at the office looked at me blankly as though I have come from a different planet.I have given below my conversaton with him.
He said "You can't send telegrams from here".
"Is this not a telegraph office?" I asked
"It is, but you can't send telegrams from here"
"Why?"
"That service has been closed.This is now an administrative office"
"But I have sent telegrams from here some time back"
"May be,but that would have been one year back"
"Tell me, how can I send one?"
"Please go to the GPO".
The GPO is some 9 Kms away from my residence.However I could come to terms with the logic that in this age of 'instant messaging' who would bother to send a telegram.Perhaps that could be the reason for the number of telegraph offices being tapered.Quite logical.It raised many question with in me. Does it mean no body is availing this service through out the country?What is the international scenario?Before dwelling on these aspects I have lot of nostalgic memories about telegrams.
Those days telegrams were hand written messages.Telegrams would be delivered at home by a special messenger.The telegrams would have the time it was sent,the time it was recieved and the time it is delivered.Later typed strips containing the message was pasted on the telegram forms.All telegram messages used to be in English.In rural India, people used to translate the telegram contents and inform the recipient.Those days the telegrams bore bad news most of the time and the guy who translates the contents would be very much embarassed to divulge the contents.Hence the very sight of a telegram boy used to make many jittery.Similarly at the post office there were guys making a livelihood by translating the vernacular content of telegrams in English.After Independence English and Hindi were the telegram languages of India.Mr.Kumari Anadan the then congress MP relentlessly fought to introduce Tamil as the telegram language.From 1994 Tamil telegrams came in to vouge, only to be stopped in 2005,on the plea that the response is poor.All said and done Telegram is a documentary proof.When I was born,my maternal uncle had sent a telegram informing my dad about my birth through a telegram.My dad preserved that telegram in a file and that old telegram sheet,is still with me,with the hand written words "Male child born,both fine".That is still a treasured document cherished by me.Telegrams were charged based on the words.So most of the telegrams would be precise and thus came the phrase 'telegraphic' and many words would be left out in a telegram.To avoid confusion at the recipients end, to indicate a full stop the word "STOP" was used in all telegrams after each message.some times the word 'STOP' was also read along with the message and wrong messages were also conveyed.
I understand, now a days telegrams are used only for official purposes by offices as a documentary proof for legal reasons.However it is an undeniable fact that the demand is waning.Politicians ask people to send mass telegrams to the powers that be to emphasise their point of view.Recently Tamilnadu CM asked public to send mass telegrams to PM to find a solution to the Lankan crisis.
However I feel telegrams had an inherent entertainment value because of the wrong English usage and typographical errors.I worked in the shop floor of an industry at that time.A guy who was absent for a couple of days sent a telegram praying for leave.The telegram was addressed to my superior.On reciept of the telegram, he called me and asked "Why this fellow is asking me to go on leave?"The telegram read "Urgently go on leave for two days". What was intended to be conveyed was that has he gone outstation urgently and need two days leave.A friend of mine who is a government employee narrated me another incident. An officer was scheduled to make an official visit to another district, so he wanted his assistant to make a request for a jeep at the visiting officer's disposal,at the tme of his visit. The officer at the district was shocked to recieve a telegram"Officer visting ,arrange for a keep". Nedless to say it was a typographical error.But in some parts of Tamilnadu 'Keep' has a different connotation.'Keep' is the literal translation of the Tamil word 'Vaippu'.But vaippu in Tamil has another meaning (mistress) also.A man from agra visited Ajmer.He informed his assistant to inform his wife at Delhi at that time about his Ajmer visit.When the wife receieved the telegram she fainted.The telegram read "'Sethji aaj mar ! Gaye!" means Sethji has expired.Intended telegram was 'Sethji Ajmer gaye' a space at a wrong place conveyed a wrong message.
Now let us look at the world scenario.Western Union, the pioneer in telgram services has stopped this service from 2006.They are now focusing on their financial services such as wire transfers and bill payment.But the 'American Telegram' continues to send telegrams around the world,but at a special cost which is prohibitive to many.They offer both the conventional hand delivered messages and also the modern instant messaging systems.For contract cancellation telegrams are used,because it is legally tenable and also mentions the time it was recieved.I think very soon, one will find telegrams only in archives.
The GPO is some 9 Kms away from my residence.However I could come to terms with the logic that in this age of 'instant messaging' who would bother to send a telegram.Perhaps that could be the reason for the number of telegraph offices being tapered.Quite logical.It raised many question with in me. Does it mean no body is availing this service through out the country?What is the international scenario?Before dwelling on these aspects I have lot of nostalgic memories about telegrams.
Those days telegrams were hand written messages.Telegrams would be delivered at home by a special messenger.The telegrams would have the time it was sent,the time it was recieved and the time it is delivered.Later typed strips containing the message was pasted on the telegram forms.All telegram messages used to be in English.In rural India, people used to translate the telegram contents and inform the recipient.Those days the telegrams bore bad news most of the time and the guy who translates the contents would be very much embarassed to divulge the contents.Hence the very sight of a telegram boy used to make many jittery.Similarly at the post office there were guys making a livelihood by translating the vernacular content of telegrams in English.After Independence English and Hindi were the telegram languages of India.Mr.Kumari Anadan the then congress MP relentlessly fought to introduce Tamil as the telegram language.From 1994 Tamil telegrams came in to vouge, only to be stopped in 2005,on the plea that the response is poor.All said and done Telegram is a documentary proof.When I was born,my maternal uncle had sent a telegram informing my dad about my birth through a telegram.My dad preserved that telegram in a file and that old telegram sheet,is still with me,with the hand written words "Male child born,both fine".That is still a treasured document cherished by me.Telegrams were charged based on the words.So most of the telegrams would be precise and thus came the phrase 'telegraphic' and many words would be left out in a telegram.To avoid confusion at the recipients end, to indicate a full stop the word "STOP" was used in all telegrams after each message.some times the word 'STOP' was also read along with the message and wrong messages were also conveyed.
I understand, now a days telegrams are used only for official purposes by offices as a documentary proof for legal reasons.However it is an undeniable fact that the demand is waning.Politicians ask people to send mass telegrams to the powers that be to emphasise their point of view.Recently Tamilnadu CM asked public to send mass telegrams to PM to find a solution to the Lankan crisis.
However I feel telegrams had an inherent entertainment value because of the wrong English usage and typographical errors.I worked in the shop floor of an industry at that time.A guy who was absent for a couple of days sent a telegram praying for leave.The telegram was addressed to my superior.On reciept of the telegram, he called me and asked "Why this fellow is asking me to go on leave?"The telegram read "Urgently go on leave for two days". What was intended to be conveyed was that has he gone outstation urgently and need two days leave.A friend of mine who is a government employee narrated me another incident. An officer was scheduled to make an official visit to another district, so he wanted his assistant to make a request for a jeep at the visiting officer's disposal,at the tme of his visit. The officer at the district was shocked to recieve a telegram"Officer visting ,arrange for a keep". Nedless to say it was a typographical error.But in some parts of Tamilnadu 'Keep' has a different connotation.'Keep' is the literal translation of the Tamil word 'Vaippu'.But vaippu in Tamil has another meaning (mistress) also.A man from agra visited Ajmer.He informed his assistant to inform his wife at Delhi at that time about his Ajmer visit.When the wife receieved the telegram she fainted.The telegram read "'Sethji aaj mar ! Gaye!" means Sethji has expired.Intended telegram was 'Sethji Ajmer gaye' a space at a wrong place conveyed a wrong message.
Now let us look at the world scenario.Western Union, the pioneer in telgram services has stopped this service from 2006.They are now focusing on their financial services such as wire transfers and bill payment.But the 'American Telegram' continues to send telegrams around the world,but at a special cost which is prohibitive to many.They offer both the conventional hand delivered messages and also the modern instant messaging systems.For contract cancellation telegrams are used,because it is legally tenable and also mentions the time it was recieved.I think very soon, one will find telegrams only in archives.
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