Indians scramble to send last ever telegrams to family and friends as country ends service after 162 years

India's state-run BSNL network is the world's last major telegram service

It sent its final message this weekend



At its peak in 1985 the service was relaying some 60 million messages a year

The network was set up in the 1850s during the early years of the Raj



It proved vital for the British to maintain control of their most prized colony



Thousands of Indians yesterday rushed to telegram offices to send souvenir messages marking the last day of the country's telegram service.

The last-minute rush in messages brought the 162-year-old service, the last major commercial telegram operation to a close.

The service, which was set up in the heyday of the British Raj, sent around 5,000 telegrams a day and employed 998 people in its 75 offices.

Last-minute: There was a surge in the number of customers in Indian Telegraph Offices yesterday. Here, the central office in Ahmedabad is overrun with customers

Piece of history: Indians queued for a memento of the unique 162-year service that was the main form of communication in the days before the internet and mobile phones

Stamped out: An employee stamps a message at Katchehri telegraph office, in Allahabad on the final day of the service

All stop: A worker taps out a telegram at the Central Telegraph Office in New Delhi. India disbanded the world's last major telegram service on Sunday



With one final STOP at the end, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India’s state-run telegram service, wired its final message on Sunday. At its peak in 1985, the service relayed some 60 million messages every year and employed 12,000 people.

Today the remaining customers consist mainly of local government offices sending administrative messages to remote areas which are still not covered by the phone networks.

Back in the days of the British Raj, the telegram service proved an absolutely vital means of control for a colonial power ruling over a vast expanse of land.

Origins: A team of workers lays the underwater cable that stretched from India to Britain in 1870

Mechanics: A museum employee in Bhopal with an 1837 telegraphy machine of the type used in the early years

The first 27-mile stretch of line was laid by the East India Company between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour as early as 1851.

To cope with India's stifling heat and humidity, the cables used were far thicker than those in Europe and North America and were covered with a layer of cloth and pitch to keep out the dust and monsoon rains.

The network grew exponentially. One of the most famous early messages was sent to Lord Dalhousie in Calcutta in April 1852 announcing the fall of Rangoon during the during the second Anglo-Burmese war.

Communication: Mahatma Gandhi, who led the struggle for Indian independence, relied heavily on telegrams to rally support and appeal for vital funds

And when Indian troops rebelled in 1857, sparking a widespread uprising against colonial rule, the telegram is credited with playing a crucial role in helping the British mobilise and regain control.

After the uprising was quelled, Lord Dalhousie famously credited the telegram as having 'saved India for the British Empire'.

BK Syngal, former Managing director of VSNL, which had a mandate to send telegrams overseas until 2002, told the Hindustan Times: 'The telegraph allowed the British to relay information across large parts of India in almost real time.



'This leap in communications proved decisive'. In 1870, underwater cables were laid between India and Britain providing a vital link between Westminster and Britain's largest and most valuable colony.

But like many innovations introduced by the British, the telegram was quickly adopted by Indians for their own use.



Mahatma Gandhi, who led the struggle for Indian independence, relied heavily on telegrams to rally support and appeal for vital funds.

And during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, the telegram would prove a vital link between families and friends at opposite ends of the country.

Santosh Sharma, who sixty-six years ago left Pakistan for New Delhi, remembers how she then used telegrams to keep in touch with her loved ones.



'Crossing the border meant risking your own life,' she told AFP, 'At that time the telegram was the only way to keep families informed, give speedy updates and reunite.'

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru also relied on the telegram famously sending British Prime Minister Clement Attlee a message to request help from London when Pakistani troops invaded Kashmir.

R.K. Rai, a retired telegraph operator in New Delhi, remembers the service in its pomp as hundreds of workers crashed out the dots and dashes of Morse Code used on telegraph machines.

Plea for help: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (right) famously sent British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (left) a message to request help from London when Pakistani troops invaded Kashmir

He told AFP: 'The whole office sounded like a factory,' he remembers. 'Sometimes we felt we knew every significant detail of our customer's lives.

'The word privacy did not exist in anyone's dictionary then.'

The service continued to be invaluable up until the 1990s with the advent of mobile communications.

Today Raj's old office, a colonial style building in the centre of capital barely sends out 10 messages a day and will soon be closed.

He added: 'The new technology is so fast it just surprises me. Communication is a game of speed, the fastest will always win the game.



'Eventually the telegraph system had to face defeat.'









