Songbirds on new German Stamps..

 

 

Date of Issue : 8 August 2013

German post in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance traditionally introduces stamps with a sign of charity. Five dotes forming a plus next to the motto “Help doing good with stamps!” can now be found on a newly launched stamps series “For the Youth” dedicated to German songbirds. The stamps are additionally charged in favor of German charity organizations helping young people in trouble.

The issued stamps feature a Goldfinch, a Bullfinch and a Blue Tit. Usually you can hear them even before you notice them. They chirp in particular early in the morning or late in the evening. Their warbles are heart from the three tops, hedges and nearest under growths. Their motto is: Who sings louder, owns the area. Songbirds are little colorful blobs making  nature diverse and more exciting. They are perfect objects of observation, especially for children and adolescents.

From our Readers….

The agony of sending the last telegram

I like many friends went to the telegraph office in Visakhapatnam on 10 July to send 6 telegrams. Though 3 telegrams reached the destination, the other three sent to Bangalore were not received.I went to the telegraph office after two days and complained that they were not received. The answer was a prompt 'probably no one at home'. I after confirmation intimated them that there were always two people at the recipients home.'Answer we will verify and let you know' and took my number.

The recipient my daughter in Bangalore  tried to get it by ringing up various telegraph offices with answers we do not know contact the Main Telegraph office.When she persistently rang up the Central Telegraph Office the answer was you have to come here to verify the receipt.Since it was 26 kms from her home she did not go.

Next day again I went to the Visakhapatnam Telegraph office and requested them to at least to give me the Certified copies of the telegrams. They did it after a wait of nearly one hour by charging Rs.20 extra for each

- Cdr. G Sri Ramarao,I.N,(Retd.) - Visakhapatnam

email : sriramarao@gmail.com

The Indian Telegraph System - The End of an Era

History

The telegraph continued to thrive, in India and around the world, even after Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. For more than half a century, telegrams were sent over cable lines, but in 1902 (capitalizing on the work of Italian inventor Marconi) the Indian system went wireless.

The history of Indian telecom can be started with the introduction of telegraph. The Indian postal and telecom sectors are one of the world’s oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the British East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works

Department, at that time. Subsequently, the construction of 6,400 km of telegraph lines connecting Kolkata and Peshawar in the north along with Agra, Mumbai through Sendhwa Ghats, and Chennai  in the south, as well as Ootacamund and Bangalore was started in November 1853.

William O’Shaughnessy, who pioneered the telegraph and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public.

In 1890, two telephone companies namely The Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to establish telephone exchanges in India. The permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephones was a Government monopoly and that the Government itself would undertake the work. In 1891, the Government later reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Ahmedabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India’s Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the “Central Exchange” had a total of 93 subscribers in its early stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.

William O’Shaughnessy

In 1856 the British completed a 4000-mile Indian telegraph system. It connected Calcutta, Agra, Bombay, Peshawar, and Madras. The telegraph was the brainchild of a visionary inventor named William O’Shaughnessy, and it secured England’s grip on India.

O’Shaughnessy had gone to India in 1833 as a 24-year-old assistant surgeon with the East India Company. There he began experimenting with electricity. He invented an electric motor and a silver chloride battery. Then, in 1839, he set up a 13½-mile-long demonstration telegraph system near Calcutta.

That was only two years after Samuel F.B. Morse built his famous demonstration system in the United States. But O’Shaughnessy was unaware of Morse’s work. His telegraph used a different code and, at first, he transmitted the message by imposing a series of tiny electric shocks on the operator’s finger. He also came up with another unique invention. He used a 2½-mile stretch of the Hooghly River, in place of wire, to complete the circuit. O’Shaughnessy published a pamphlet about the system, but he failed to ignite any interest in telegraphy. Finally, in 1847, Lord Dalhousie took over as Governor General of India. Dalhousie showed real vision in developing public works. He initiated roads, canals, steamship service to England, the Indian railway, and a postal system. Of course it was Dalhousie who saw the potential of O’Shaunessy’s telegraph. He authorized O’Shaughnessy to build a 27-mile line near Calcutta. That was running so successfully by 1851 that Dalhousie authorized him to build a full trans-India telegraph. O’Shaughnessy finished it three years later.

It was an amazing triumph over technical and bureaucratic problems. By then O’Shaughnessy knew about the new English and American telegraph systems, but that was more hindrance than help. It simply meant he had to invent his own equipment to avoid patent disputes. He also had to work with local materials, environments, and methods of construction.

He had to invent his own signal transmitter and create his own means for stringing lines. While the system was still under construction, it helped the British in the Crimean War. Three years later, the full system so networked British rule that it was decisive in putting down the Sepoy Uprising.

One captured rebel, being led to the gallows, pointed to a telegraph line and bravely cried, “There is the accursed string that strangles us.”

Developments and Milestones

The telegraph continued to thrive, in India and around the world, even after Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876. For more than half a century, telegrams were sent over cable lines, but in 1902 (capitalizing on the work of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi) the Indian system went wireless.

 

· 1902 – First wireless telegraph station established between Sagar Island and Sandhead.

· 1907 – First Central Battery of telephones introduced in Kanpur.

· 1913 – 1914 – First Automatic Exchange installed in Shimla.

· 1927 – Radio-telegraph system between the UK and India, with Imperial Wireless Chain beam stations  at Khadki and Daund. Inaugurated by Lord Irwin on 23 July by exchanging greetings with KingGeorge V.

· 1933 – Radiotelephone system inaugurated between the UK and India.

· 1953 – 12 channel carrier system introduced.

· 1960 – First subscriber trunk dialling route commissioned between Lucknow and Kanpur.

· 1975 – First PCM system commissioned between Mumbai City and Andheri telephone exchanges.

· 1976 – First digital microwave junction.

· 1979 – First optical fibre system for local junctioncommissioned at Pune.

· 1980 – First satellite earth station for domestic communications established at Sikandarabad, U.P..

· 1983 – First analogue Stored Programme Control exchange fortrunk lines commissioned at Mumbai.

· 1984 – C-DOT established for indigenous development andproduction of digital exchanges

· 1985 – The Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from Indian Post & Telecommunication Department. DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1986 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) werecarved out of DoT to run the telecom services of metro cities (Delhiand Mumbai) and international long distance operations respectively.

· 1995 – First mobile telephone service started on non-commercial basis on 15 August 1995 in Delhi.

· 1995 – Internet Introduced in India starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Pune on 15 August 1995.

The End of an Era

At their peak in 1985, 60 million telegrams were being sent and received a year in India from 45,000 offices. Today, only 75 offices exist, though they are located in each of India’s 671 districts through franchises. And an industry that once employed 12,500 people today has only 998 workers. Now the technology that spurred the Indian telecommunications boom has become a victim of that boom’s success, as India has announced it will be shutting down all telegraph services as of July 15.

Though the telegram may seem like a comically obsolete technology in the age of smart phones, SMS (texting) and email, some critics of the shut-down in India point out that in many rural, poorer areas of the country it has remained a vital form of communication.

In the 1990s, Indian telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) took over the country’s telegraph system from the Indian postal service. But the increasing dominance of email and SMS continued to take its toll on the newly privatized telegraph. Two years ago, faced with declining revenues, BSNL instituted the first telegram price hike in some 60 years. From three or four rupees (U.S. $0.05 to $0.07) for 50 words, the price of Taar shot up to 27 rupees (U.S. $0.47) for 50 words. Last March, in a last-ditch effort to cut costs, the company ceased international telegraph service. Despite these efforts to make the telegraph business financially viable, BSNL still posted losses of some 17 million rupees (U.S. $290,000) during the last two years.

“We were incurring losses of over $23 million a year because SMS and smart phones have rendered this service redundant,” Shamim Akhtar, general manager of BSNL’s telegraph services.

When BSNL then asked the Indian government to support the telegraph again, the company was told to evaluate whether the system was still necessary. As a result, in consultation with the Department of Post,

The BSNL board, after dilly-dallying for two years, decided to shut down the service as it was no longer commercially viable decided to cease all services beginning July 15.

The basic idea of a Taar was to send a message fast. Now SMS, fax and emails do that job. With smart phones, people send and receive emails on the move. So when we sought government support to keep the telegram alive, we were asked to decide its fate on a commercial basis and hence will now be discontinuing the service.” The company plans to shift telegraph staff members to work with its modern-day successors, including mobile services, land line telephony and broadband.

In the age of smart phones, India is only the latest country to bid goodbye to the telegram. Western Union, the dominant telegraph company in the United States since its founding in 1856, was reorganized as the Western Union Corporation in 1988 and refocused on handling money transfers and related services. In 2006, the company shut down its telegraph services for good. On the other hand, correspondents in Sweden and the United Kingdom still use telegrams for nostalgia purposes, and a dwindling number of countries - including Russia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Mexico, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Bahrain - continue to offer full telegraph services.

- Vijay Navlakha : email : vijay@navlakha.com

 

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Special Cover : Farewell to Telegrams

 

Farewell to Telegrams

Hi !

Here is a very special cover issued in Chennai by South India Philatelists’ Association to commemorate the final day of Telegrams. Conceived and designed by SIPA the cover is very nice and cancelled on 15th July. The design of the cover  features Souvenir Sheet showing five obsolete telegraph stamps . On reverse side illustrations of the old telegrams. It’s a great effort by SIPA to make the event memorable for ever with the issue of this cover. Here is another nice private cover sent by Mr KV Rao of Berhampur Orissa) ‘ Indian Telegram RIP’. One more cover with golden eagle cancellation from Germany. Many Many thanks to all of you for these nice covers !!

 

Thanks to SIPA ( South India Philatelists’ Association  www.sipa.org.in

: South India Philatelists’ Association : email  : sipagold@gmail.com

Indian Telegram RIP 

Thanks to KV Rao, Berhampur (Orissa)

 

Cover from Germany

Cover with  pictorial cancellation issued  on 1st July  t 53113 at Bonn and is featuring a Golden Eagle.

Thanks to  Wolfgang Beyer, Germany

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New stamps from Ukraine

 

On 26 July 2013 a souvenir sheet “900 years of chronicle “Primary Chronicle” will be issued.  The stamp depicts Nestor Litopycets (author of the chronicle) during his work, block selvages depict events, described in the chronicle.

 

On 28 July 2013 a souvenir sheet “The 1025^th Anniversary of Christening of the Kyivan Rus”  of one stamp will be issued. 

My Recent Cover

 

Thanks to Mr Wolfgang Beyer for this nice cover with Pictorial cancellation issued on June 24th at 38364 Schöningen ,the cancellation  features a prehistoric man holding a spear.

From Our Readers..

Dainik Bhaskar 16 July 2013

: Sudhir Jain – Satna

: Ambrish Kumar – Allahabad

Adiue Telegram…

Telegraph had achieved its centenary on 01.11.1953.  But alas ! it could not achieve a bi-centenary. It has become a part of history from 15.07.13, i.e. in its 160th year. For a modern medium of communication, however,even this count is remarkable. Surely, none of its progeny, viz the net-based mail, SMSs or any of their current variants, are going to have that longevity. We are into an an age of fast technological supersessions.

Except for the last decade-and-a half of its 160-year long currency, the telegrams were an integral part of our life , in a way as no other mode of communication had been ,or shall be .

The nationalist in the heart of each of us would feel at the juncture of its departure that its first impact on the national life of India was rather to the detriment of the popular emotions-- the telegraph was one of the several factors that helped the British defeat the patriots of 1857. But thereafter, the facility gradually permeated our society as its quickest and surest mode of ultimate communication , as if to make amends . From being the mode of the most momentous of our news it had the distinction of popularity for facilitating the passage of the less momentous and sometimes even  the more mundane of our tidings.

One hopes that all of the 'last' telegrams would reach their destinations and will not be lost in the oblivion of official apathy , inaction and  disservice , the way quite a big quantum of ordinary post is lost in some of  the northern Indian states . Obviously. we have not been able to tender the out-going facility a "telegraphic" farewell. Why are the 'last' telegrams being made to go the way of post-cards? Could'nt the business of the  final days be planned better when the event was well known in advance?

Be the things as they stand, we could our 'last' telegrams sure and safe delivery and ,as the message goes , bid a warm goodbye to the ' missives in the morse ' .

: Deepak Dubey – Korba Chhattisgarh

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New stamps on Musical Instruments

 

Vietnam post issued a set of three stamps featuring traditional Vietnamese musical instruments – Ta lu’, Klong put and Goong.

The Ta lu’ is a stringed instrument popular in the Van Kieu ethnic communities in the provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Tri of Vietnam. The instrument is made of a piece of wood, a piece of bamboo or bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo stem.

The Klong put is the Xe Dang language name of a musical instrument of the wind family, air driving-in branch. It is played by ethnic groups in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) such as the Xe Dang, Bahnar, Gia Rai, Hre, etc. A traditional Klong put consists of many large empty hornless bamboo sections. The length of each section ranges from 60 to 200 cm and a diameter ranging from 5 to 8 cm. When played, the tubes are laid horizontally and the player must either stand with her back bent or kneel while clapping her hands at a distance of about 10cm to push air into the tubes to produce sounds. Generally, each tube produces only one tone.

The Goong is a large bossed gong of the Mnong people of central Vietnam. The goong may be played in a set of 9 gongs from large to small. It is tuned by means of pegs, hit at the sides, forcing an inner frame against the membrane and thus tightening it and raising the pitch.

700th Anniversary of Era Querimonia of the Aran Valley stamp from Spain

Spanish Post issued a stamp celebrating the 700^th anniversary of Era Querimonia of the Aran Valley.

The Aran Valley is located in the central Pyrenees in the province of Lleida. The history of this valley is marked by the defence and claim of a series of historical rights that make up its identity.

In the Middle Ages (1175), the Aranese signed a treaty with the king of Aragon granting them the privilege to make use and be in possession of their own pastures, forests and waters. The king took on the obligation to defend them from possible enemies and in return, the Aranese paid an Aranese Gali­n (equivalent to about 20 litres of wheat) as tax per household.

In 1313 the dwellers of the valley agreed to swear allegiance to King James II in return for keeping their charters, privileges and freedoms. On August 23 1313, James II King of Aragon, Valencia … and Count of Barcelona, drew up the document known as Era Querimonia in which the Aranese were awarded a series of rights.

Era Querimonia consists of twenty two chapters. The first few refer to the right of the Aranese to their own lands, vineyards, orchards, fishing waters, mills and irrigation. They are entitled to their own woodland and forests with freedom to cut wood for their own use and convenience. They may hunt in the woods, cut grass for winter and allow their animals to graze in these lands. Other chapters refer to: communal rights, the king’s army, offenses and penalties; notaries and judges’ salaries, among others.

Particularly important is the chapter on the right of pre-emption and buyout because of kinship which obliged any man wanting to sell a property to offer it first to his brothers and relatives. Another interesting chapter is the one on the system of economic conjugal rights, referring to the rights and partitions of the consorts. The privileges of the Era Querimonia have remained, albeit partially.

With the advent of democracy and the 1990 Act of the Parliament of Catalonia part of the historical and linguistic rights of the Aran Valley were restored.

The stamp depicts one Galin and the coat of arms of the Aran Valley.

Thanks for Telegram Messages  …

I thank my friends and Readers for the last  telegrams sent by them…

It is not possible to publish all telegrams here but I am giving here the nice messages from Telegrams…Many Many Thanks to all of You !!

1. Farewell To Telegram – SIPA, Chennai

2. Samay Ka Pher Hai Dekhiye Jo Tha Sab Se Tej

Woh Taar Is Daur Main Aaj Hua Nistej

Tar Tumahara Kar Raha Hun Aabhar Vishesh

Dashkon Tak Tumney Diya Sukh Dukh Ka Sandesh – Ambrish Kumar – Allahabad

3. Loving Greetings – N. Kalyani – New Delhi

4. Good Bye To Telegram – Arvind Mullick – Jabalpur

5. Long Live Telegram in our heart we love you – Ashwani Dubey – Gorakhpur

6. I am 162 years old unfortunately my end has come -Telegram – Prashant Pandya-    Vadodara

7. RIP India’s Telegram Service 1851 – 2013 – Prashant Pandya – Vadodara

You are invited to farewell of Telegraph Service on 15 July 2013 at www.indianphilately.net  - Prashant Pandya – Vadodara

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Music Festival in Aland…

 

 

 

A great many music events are arranged in Aland during the summer months. The Aland Post focuses on two of them in 2013 – Island in the Sun and Rockoff – with the issue of two action-packed and lyrical stamps.

Island in the Sun was first arranged in August 2008 on the small archipelago island of Jurmo in the municipality of Brando. Organizing the festival is a non-profit volunteer organisation working to promote a wider and better range of music life in Aland, especially in the archipelago. Lasting for two days in July, the festival has grown each year with a 2012 record of 800 visitors and more than 100 volunteers.

The Rockoff festival has been arranged in Mariehamn every summer since 1997. For 9 days at the end of July every year, Rockoff attracts up to 40 000 visitors, tourists and locals alike. Most of the artists performing come from Sweden and Finland but, during the course of years, world-class performers and local bands alike have met the crowd from the most popular stage in Aland.

Telegrams come to an end….

Telegram  service has gone into history now. Philatelists all over India celebrated the last day of Telegram on 14th July by sending telegrams to their dear ones.  I am pleased to share here a news clipping. Mr Timir Shah of Baroda Philatelic Society tells here about his wonderful collection of Telegrams. I thank my readers and friends who have sent telegrams to me on the last day.. My special thanks to Mr Prashant Pandya from Vadodara, N. Kalyani from New Delhi, Ambrish Kumar from Allahabad, Ashwani Dubey from Gorakhpur and Arvind Mullick from Jabalpur for the last day telegrams…

Feast for philatelists…

Vadodara: Sunday was the day which philatelists from across the state used to preserve the memories of country's oldest communication service - the telegram.

"I have organized all these telegrams as per the change that happened with them. From the time, the telegraph service was mentioned as post telegraph, to the day when it was sent under the Department of Telecommunication and BSNL Limited, I will be able to showcase all these telegrams," said Timir Shah, secretary of Baroda Philatelic Society. Shah has a collection of 70-odd telegrams, including the one dating back to 1919 during the British Raj.

Vadodara bids adieu to telegram Service

Prashant Rupera, TNN Jul 15, 2013, 03.31AM IST

VADODARA: As the clock struck five, city bid adieu to world's oldest communication service by sending 250 telegrams.

Before the 163-year-old telegram service - the harbinger of good and bad news for generations of Indians - turned dead on Sunday evening, the old and the new arrived at the four telegram offices of the city to send the last of the humble telegrams which they will preserve it forever.

At the central telegram office at Kothi, there was a constant flow of parents who took their kids with them to make them learn the nitty-gritty's of writing a telegram - in the age of SMS, emails and mobile phones even as telegraphists mourned the death of the iconic service that has faded into oblivion with time. BSNL, which is discontinuing the services, got the last telegram users photographed for their archives.

The last telegram that was sent from the city will reach chief minister Narendra Modi.

"Telegram seva na antim divas no antim telegram Bharat na bhavi vada pradhan Narendra Modi ne arpan (the last telegram of the last day of telegram service is dedicated to the future prime minister of India)," read the telegram that BJP leader Jigar Inamdar sent from Kothi office.

Before him was Kiran Mandvekar, who along with his kid, used the service to send warm wishes to his Bangalore-based brother for his birthday that falls on Monday.

"In 1980s, there was a time when I had to stand in long queues at Brahman Sabha Hall (from where the telegram office operated earlier) to get a chance to send a telegram. And if you didn't have a pen to write it, it was your bad luck," recollected Mandvekar.

It was in 1938 that Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the visionary ruler of erstwhile Baroda state, had started the telephone exchange office at Kothi from where the telegram office started functioning later.

Shauree Gaekwad, 15, and her brother Shaunak, 12, who were accompanied by their father - Samir - took up the opportunity to write their first and the last telegrams, which were addressed to their grandparents in Mumbai and Rajkot. Same was the case of Dhruv and Parv Shah, who accompanied their father - Snehal - just to wish their 'dada' and 'baa' via a telegram.

From the Fatehgunj telegram office, city's well-known emergency medical services (EMS) expert Subroto Das sent telegrams to his city-based parents and wife and his Mumbai-based son.

"I still remember the time when people would approach me showing a telegram with their leave applications. Telegram from a relative was the best way to demand a leave," said Das, a former administrator of Mayo Hospital. "It is an era that has ended," he said.

"Indeed," echoed B B Chauhan, who since last 25 years, was working as a telegraphist. "We used to send thousands of telegrams each day. As its popularity started fading, the numbers fell to 25 per day. It was only in the last few days that we have witnessed rush and that too because a city school organized the event to sent mass telegrams."

"There was a time when 70 telegraphists used to work in the city. Now, few of us have been left," said Chauhan's colleague Jayshree Shah, recollecting how in its heydays telegrams were sent for court matters, government jobs, military personnel, insurance and finance firms and even as alerts for prices of grapes.

New Special Cover

100 years of Mumbai Postal Co-Operative Society Ltd.

Mumbai - 11 July 2013 

A Special Cover was issued to mark 100 years of Mumbai Postal Co-Operative Society Ltd. on 11th July 2013 at Mumbai. The society was formed in 1914

Courtesy : Indian Philately Digest

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Telegram goes into history..

Telegram exhibition in Chennai

On 15th JULY Telegram became history . I am giving here some news clippings commemorating the end of an era….

Dots and dashes weave a treasure trove of memories

A day after the 163-year-old telegram service was laid to rest, two philatelists, V. Ethiraj and M.T. Karunakaran, combed their collection of telegrams, and displayed some of the most significant ones tracing the evolution of the service in India. For those who have never seen a telegram, there are ones that date back to the East India Company period.

When they started collecting them, little did they anticipate the closure of the historic service. Organised by the South India Philatelists Association, Monday’s exhibition was not just about nostalgia. It was also about reiterating how intrinsic the service was to the nation’s as well as personal histories.

The exhibition begins with telegrams from the1850s. One of them dated 1 April, 1857 was sent from Bombay to Indore. Another is a receipt with the East India Company’s seal on the back. One little yellowing paper, dating back to 1860, was a notice to hire a peon. There were Indian telegrams with stamps, those carrying advertisements, and censored ones sent during the world wars, and also the famous ‘greeting’ telegrams. One shows how a map was used as an envelope after World War II owing to shortage of paper.

Mr. Ethiraj said that he has a box full of telegrams. The exhibition also traces the evolution from handwritten telegrams to printed ones, where strips of paper are seen pasted.

Mr. Karunakaran, who pursued his hobby more vigorously after his retirement in 1992, said that personal telegrams he received were also part of his collection. He asked several people for their telegrams too. G. Balakrishna Das, president, said that the exhibition will be on for another 15 days at the Philatelic Bureau on Anna Salai.

The exhibition captures not just how the telegram was used by the establishment but also by ordinary people eager to send out an urgent message. One of the exhibits shows a translation in Tamil at the back of the telegram so that it could be understood. , as many had to rely on others to read the contents in English. There is telegram sent for purchase of a horse, and another which reads “LILA RECOVERED DON’T PROCEED TO CALCUTTA”. The word ‘urgent’ was printed in red on the cover of the telegram. But, it may be too late now. “We are the last people to use the service and also to disown it,” said Mr. Karunakaran.

The Hindu 16 July 2013

: Mahesh Parekh- Chennai

One of last ever telegrams goes to Rahul Gandhi

More than 20,000 telegrams are estimated to have been booked on the day the country bid adieu to the 163-year-old telegram service, with one of the last messages booked for Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

The telegram to Mr. Gandhi was sent just before the service closed at 11.45 p.m. on Sunday at the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) in New Delhi. The Gandhi family scion was wished “success and happiness in life” and “glories of greatman of the past.”

Hundreds crammed into 75 telegram offices in the country to send souvenir messages before the service was permanently shut down.

Known popularly as ‘taar’ or wire, the telegram service, which provided millions with a fast and reliable mode of communication, closed because of mounting financial losses and becoming redundant in an era of mobile phones and Internet. “Around 20,000 telegrams are estimated to have been booked and 12,568 were despatched by afternoon. Last telegram was for Rahul Gandhi before computer finally closed. Maximum bookings of over 11,000 are estimated to have been done in Mumbai alone,” a BSNL spokesperson said. On average, 5,000 telegrams were sent daily.

BSNL, which was given the charge of telegraph after the latter was separated from Department of Posts in 2002, cancelled leave and increased staff at all telegram offices over weekend to cater to the last day rush.

The Hindu

Telegraph has a hectic last day in office

CHENNAI: The city may have bid farewell to the telegram, but officials are yet to call it a day. Officials are struggling to tide over the flood of billets they received on Sunday alone.
Their web-based transmission system is so slow that many telegrams booked on the last day might reach people only by next Sunday, say sources in the department.

G Kalyanaraman's decades-long experience in keying in characters could be gauged from the way his fingers rapidly flew over an old and faded keyboard as he typed out the 67th telegram on Monday noon. The senior most telegraphists and designated typist at the telegraph office on Ethiraj Salai, he wanted to finish the last day at his job. "I think the last time I typed this fast and so much was in May 1988 during a Rajiv Gandhi meeting at Kanyakumari," he said. The Ethiraj Road branch intends to send at least 200 messages to the telegram server each day. "We want to clear the traffic as soon as possible and maintain the dignity of the telegram," said V Chandrashekhar, a senior telegraphist.

On Sunday alone, Chennaiites sent 1,542 telegrams to loved ones, politicians, police and even to themselves just to own a piece of history.

Since the web-based telegraph transmission system (

WTMS) can send 150 to 200 messages a day to the server, a lot of forms were sent to Anna post office, Guindy and West Mambalam telegram office. "We are sending 100 forms to every telegram office in the city that has a functioning port to clear backlog," said Chandrashekhar.

A BSNL spokesperson confirmed that all telegraphs booked on Sunday would be sent off to the server by Monday. However, the blue uniformed delivery men will have to work at least till Thursday. "We will try doing as many deliveries as possible. So it will take another four days," she said.

However, many people are unlikely to get their messages anytime soon as the deliveries are being done for three pincodes in the city, while the rest will be merged with the post, said the spokesperson. "This is because we have only two or three delivery men per centre," she said.

Meanwhile, even as officials struggled with the sudden pressure, delivery men were a cheerful lot. "We've never been the focus of so much attention," said 55-year-old M Veeraghavan, who has been delivering telegrams for 31 years. Delivery men shook hands, exchanged smiles and nods before setting out on their bicycles.
"Yes, we'll miss this. But we are all also looking forward to what the future holds for us," said 55-year-old Manuel Joseph who has been delivering telegrams for the last 35 years.

Some of the telegrams took them on routes they've been delivering for decades, some to new ones. "Some of the children were so surprised when they received their first and last telegram. It was so nice to be a part of it," said Veeraraghavan.

"I was getting a telegram after years. It brought back a wave of memories. It was a family binder at a time when there were few other forms of communication. It is sad to see it's demise," said 53-year-old management consultant M Abdul Latif.

Times of India : 16 JULY 2013

The service which brought good, bad messages ended on Sunday

Memories of an era gone by are all that remains for telegraphists, considered the backbone of the historic 163-year-old telegram service which came to an end on Sunday.

The State-run telecom firm BSNL has decided to discontinue telegrams following a huge shortfall in revenue.

“Sunday is the last day for telegram services. The service will start at 8 a.m. and close by 9 p.m.,” BSNL CMD R.K. Upadhyay said.

Septuagenarian Gulshan Rai Vij, who retired in 1997 as a veteran telegraphist after serving almost four decades in a government job, recalls working in the “golden era of the telegram.”

“Telegrams were notorious for bringing bad news, of war casualties and death from accidents. But, now it brings the news of its own demise. We have seen the peak of this service and worked in its golden era. New technology replaces the old, but telegrams gave us our bread and butter and our identity, so, indeed it feels sad to see it depart so unceremoniously,” Vij told PTI.

Mr. Vij says he “maintained his composure” around the India-Pakistan war in 1971 and the turbulent days of the Emergency from 1975-77 as he continued to deliver messages, “not allowing himself to be emotionally involved”.

“I was posted in Rohtak then. The 1971 war was when we worked round the clock without concern for food and water.

Messages of war casualties would come from the defence headquarters and we would just keep punching away the news as fast as possible.

“As a telegraphist, one could not have gotten emotionally involved with the sad situation because there were thousands of messages to be delivered on time, and we did our job in the best possible capacity. We were all driven by a national spirit and it just powered us to work in such tough and testing times,” he said.

For the world outside, a telegram operator’s job might be the most mundane but only a telegraphist knows the joys and the challenges of working on the telegraph machine, which saw its avatar change from the early Morse Code era to the teleprinters and the current Internet-based service.

Mr. Vij, who also later served as the telegraph training instructor for years, said, “The sound of the Morse Code machine which is operated by a key and the tone of dots and dashes still ring in my head. Even today, I can recognise any alphabet if you operate that machine. For others, it might be boring but for us, it was the most wonderful feel to operating those machines and connecting people with speed. Telegrams were the SMSs of today, short and swift,” he said.

“Telegraph is a must in a developing country. People in interior villages still need an inexpensive messaging service as private telephone companies don’t want to go to there. For, banks and for the Army dedicated services are run, and even today for jawans on the border, application for holidays is done through telegrams only.” says M S Arya, a veteran at the CTO.

For Krishna Kumar Yadav, an award-winning telegraphist at the CTO, who retires in 2015, the day of January 25, 2002 still brings memories of “learning the importance of his job” and “finding his own strength”.

“It was the noon of January 25, and I started sending telegrams and kept sending until I realised it was 7 a.m. in the morning when l left my post. In those 19 hours, I sent 5,875 telegrams which is still a record. For this service I was awarded the ‘Sanchar Seva Padak,” Mr. Yadav said.

The Hindu 15 July 2013

A poem from Naresh Agarwal

WOH TO HUYEE HAI SHAHEED

Chalo maan le telegram

Ab mar gayee hai sda k liye
Par kabhi na bhulain hum jo

Upkaar usne hum pe kiye

Maana ki hum sabki Taar

Ab taar taar ho gayee

Betaar taar walon k samne

Woh lachaar ho gayee

163 baras ki zindgi main uski

Imaandari thi,gati aur josh tha

Harr khabar uski sachi thi

Na usme koyee dosh tha

Ek sachhe saathi ki tareh

Nirantar kaam kiya usne

Achha ya boora har treh ka

Har paigam diya usne

Na rukee, na thukee

Bas chalti rahi woh

Iss kone se uss kone

Bus machalti rahi woh

Main apne sab sathiyon ko

Dena chahta hoon ek taqeed

Mat kaho k woh mar gayee

Woh to huyee hai shaheed

Apne iss purane saathi ko

Kya de hum shradhanjali

Philately ka ek naya field banaye

Naam rakhen uska Taranajali

Chalo kuchh aisa karen

K iska charcha ho har gali

Taranjali uska naam ho

Ya fir ho telephilately

Band dibbon ko khol k hum

Har telegram bahar layenge

Iss treh se hum sab milkar

Iska ek vishal field banayenge……….

Iss treh se hum sab milkar

Iska ek vishal field banayenge………

Read More news about last day of the telegram service at following links …

 

Long and short of it

Goodbye STOP end of an era

Telegram service comes to an end

Last of the telegrams

Nostalgic goodbye to telegrams

A long wait for the last words

Telegram is dead. But v hv SMS n email

Telegram is dead

Telegram’s unsung heroes recall memories

Telegram goes into history

Telegram no more STOP 100 STOP

Once favoured, now forgotten

Ta-ta, dear telegram

Read More

Exhibition on Telegrams..

 

An exhibition on 'Telegrams' is being held at the Philatelic Exhibition Hall, Anna Road Head Post Office, Chennai 600002 from 15.07.2013. This exhibition is to mark the closure of Telegraphic Service by the Department of Telecommunications, Govt. of India. Telegraphic Service was introduced in India during 1850s and for the past 160 years Telegraphic Service provided a vital link for the common man and also played a key role in the growth of the country. Telegrams issued by the East India Company and other telecom service providers will be on display for a period of one month from 15.07.2013. It will provide a delightful experience to the viewers as most of the exhibits are more than 100 years old. The exhibition is open from 10 am to 4 pm, on all working days. The exhibition hall itself is located inside the 'Warwick Theatre', the first electric theatre in the City, which is one of the heritage landmarks of Chennai.

The exhibition has been organized by South India Philatelists' Association, Chennai.Visitors can also purchase new stamps from the Philatelic Bureau, adjacent to the exhibition hall.

PMG CCR Mr. Mervin Alexander inaugurated the Telegram Expo and viewing the exhibits with the President of South India Philatelists' Association alongwith Mr. Ethiraj and Mr. D.H. Rao

: CG Bhaskar – Chennai

New Special Cover

Vigilance Study Circle 2003-2013

Hyderabad - 6 July 2013

: Sreejesh Krishnan – Trivandrum

 

Read More

Telegram shared smiles and tears….

 

 

Today is the last day of telegram  I am sharing here views of the Readers.  Dr Avinash Jagtap, a veteran  philatelist remembers on the very last day of telegram service in India, a  special telegram, Shown above sent by his friends on 8 October 1958 . Some more news from the readers..

Dr Jagtap writes from Switzerland…

Today I saw a comparative lengthy coverage given by BBC to the closing of the last Telegraph Services in India after 163 years... I felt as if I have lost a great personality....India was the last country to close down the telegraph services ! I share here a telegram sent by my friends when I passed my B.Pharm Examination from L.M.College of Pharmacy  Ahmedabad in 1957.... as a remembrance of this thankworthy services in India, which connected tears and smiles even with the rural folks of our motherland...

Last Day of Telegram at Lucknow

Telegraph Office at Lucknow GPO

1926 Telegram …with a Sad News

: Sandeep Chaurasia from Lucknow

Film and Telegram

_{I am sharing a story from a film in which Telegram played an important role….}

Simla special….

Simla Special is a Tamil language film starring Kamal Haasan in the lead role. S V Sekhar, Sripriya, Thenga sreenivasan, YGM, Manorama are other major stars appearing in this comedy. The movie was a hit at the box office.

Gopu (Kamal Haasan) is a budding drama artist. He and his good friend, Babu (S Ve Sekhar), own a popular troupe that performs low budget comedies. To help Babu pay for his sister's wedding, they accept a commission to perform a set of plays for Tamilians in Simla. One of the plays is titled "Simla Special" and is written by Mahalakshmi (Sripriya).

While Kamal is in Simla, Babu receives a telegram intended for Gopu informing him of Gopu's mom being seriously ill. Fearing the loss of the money if they renege on the Simla commission, Babu keeps the information from Gopu. Gopu subsequently finds out about his mother's illness when a friend calls to tell him that her situation has worsened. However, for the sake of his friend's sister, he decides to continue acting. He also keeps the information to himself, thinking that if Babu knew, he'd insist that Gopu go back to be by his mother's side.

On the last day of their engagement, Kamal finds the telegram in Babu's coat pocket and realizes his friend's deception. He breaks off his friendship with Babu - but is forced to stay for one last encore before he leaves. While he is performing, Babu receives a call that Gopu's mom has recovered. All is forgiven and the friends reunite.

Read More

End of Telegram era

 

Good Bye Telegram…..

Telegram  with smile and sorrow stops ……

 

The country's last telegram will be sent out today on Sunday as the operations of the 160-year-old telegram service are all set to discontinue from tonight. The decision to stop the telegram services was taken after Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) decided to discontinue with the services.The services on Sunday  started at 8 am and the last of the telegram will be sent out before 9 pm tonight.

A Collector's Tale

Vedachalam Ethiraj has a collection of more than 2,000 telegrams, at least 100 of them sent between 1854 and 1860. "Telegrams have played an important role in my life." He received a lot of congratulatory greetings telegrams for his wedding as that was the only way his family and friends abroad could get in touch more than 20 years ago. And in 1986, he sent out telegrams to his relatives to announce his grandmother's death.

Ethiraj cannot read English but his grown-up children - two sons and a daughter read them out: "We wonder about the places the messages are from or the people who sent them.

"Telegrams had a place in history, but it was inevitable that emails or text messages replaced them. Something else will replace emails too one day. That's how these things work, but I have so many that I can treasure."

163-year-old telegram service to close forever at 9pm today

NEW DELHI: The 163-year old telegram service in the country - the harbinger of good and bad news for generations of Indians - is dead.Once the fastest means of communication for millions of people, the humble telegram was today buried without any requiem but for the promise of preserving the last telegram as a museum piece.Nudged out by technology - SMS, emails, mobile phones - the iconic service gradually faded into oblivion with less and less people taking recourse to it.
Started in 1850 on an experimental basis between Koklata and Diamond Harbour, it was opened for use by the British East India Company the following year. In 1854, the service was made available to the public. It was such an important mode of communication in those days that revolutionaries fighting for the country's independence used to cut the telegram lines to stop the British from communicating.

Old timers recall that receiving a telegram would be an event itself and the messages were normally opened with a sense of trepidation as people feared for the welfare of their near and dear ones.For jawans and armed forces seeking leave or waiting for transfer or joining reports, it was a quick and handy mode of communication.

Lawyers vouched for the telegrams as they were registered under the Indian Evidence Act and known for their credibility when presented in court.Bollywood was not to be left behind and immortalized the service with many sudden turns in films being announced by the advent of the 'taar'. Pockets of rural India still use the service but with the advent of technology and newer means of communication, the telegram found itself edged out."The service will start at 8am and close by 9pm tonight," BSNL CMD RK Upadhyay said. "The service will not be available from Monday." tate-run telecom firm BSNL had decided to discontinue telegrams following a huge shortfall in revenue. The service generated about Rs 75 lakh annually, compared with the cost of over Rs 100 crore to run and manage it.

Telecom and IT minister Kapil Sibal had said last month that "We will bid it a very warm farewell and may be the last telegram sent should be a museum piece. That's the way in which we can bid it a warm farewell."

There are about 75 telegram centres in the country, with less than 1,000 employees to manage them. BSNL will absorb these employees and deploy them to manage mobile services, landline telephony and broadband services.Faced with declining revenue, the government had revised telegram charges in May 2011, after a gap of 60 years. Charges for inland telegram services were hiked to Rs 27 per 50 words.

Within a short time of BSNL handling telegram services in 1990s, the PSU had a rift with the Department of Posts following which telegrams were accepted as phonograms from various villages and other centres from telephone consumers.

Read More….

Read More

The end of an era: India bids the telegram farewell

 

After 162 years of connecting people with Telegrams in India,   the final message will be sent on Sunday, July 14 till 9 PM. In the days before mobile phones and the Internet, the telegram network was the main form of communication, with 20 million messages dispatched from India in 1947 alone.In 2012, the number of telegrams dwindled to 40,000 and most of them were by Indian government departments conveying administrative messages to remote parts of the country. To give a farewell to this long telegram service people are sending their final telegrams to make it  very special and memorable for ever.

Sudhir Jain writes from Satna…

On 13th July 2013, I have received two telegrams through Satna Telegraph Office. But both are in entirely different form. First is in the Official typed format and other is simple hand written piece of paper. Both are bearing massage of ending of Telegram services from 15th July 2013.

The last Telegrams….

Hand written telegram

: Sudhir Jain, Satna (MP)

Club News

29th Asian International Stamp Exhibition (Saudi 2013)

The Saudi Arabia Philatelic Society is going to organize Saudi 2013 - 29th FIAP Asian International Stamp Exhibition. The Exhibition will be held at Kingdom Shopping Mall, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 11 - 16 December 2013. It will be a 6-day General Asian International Stamp exhibition and will includes Traditiaonl, Postal History, Youth, Literature and Modern Philately classes.

Mr Umesh Kakkeri is the  Commissioner from  India for Saudi 2013. The details of the exhibition  are available at : http://www.saudi2013.com/

Interested philatelists may send their entry forms by 25th July  to :

Umesh Kakkeri

G-6, Prathamesh co-op Hsg. Society,

off V.S.Marg, Prabhadevi

Mumbai 400025, Maharastra state.

Read More