Telegrams STOP: End of service delivering joy and heartache

[Pete]

Telegrams STOP: End of service delivering joy and heartache

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23271384

"India's last telegram will be sent on Sunday night as the country's state-run telegraph service shuts down. It has been in decline for decades, but once touched the lives of millions of Indians ever year, writes Geeta Pandey.

As a child growing up in Calcutta in the 1970s and 1980s, I always felt a sense of foreboding every time a knock on the door announced the arrival of a telegram........."

I really had not thought about telegram service in years until I read this story.

[The_Mentalist]

I am somewhat amazed that a telegraph service is active any where in the world. This applies more so to a country as "advanced" as India. Bear in mind, most customer service calls in the U.S. go to India. Then, I think of how "3rd world" parts of India still are as well as other parts of the world. Realizing that many still do depend on these, it is sad to see it go. On the other hand, there is no reason for any part of India to still be that backward.

[mark46th]

Western Union has morphed into a money transfer entity... I don't know if they still send telegrams or not.

[BOfH]

Western Union has morphed into a money transfer entity... I don't know if they still send telegrams or not.

Apparently, they stopped on 2006: http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/india%E2%80%99s-telegram-service-dead-%E2%80%A6-not-so-telegram