“Have a bright future ahead”, the message loaded with lots of emotion reached the ‘dear ones’ in a few seconds. Ironically, the medium it was sent through was taking its last gasp on Sunday.
As the telex machines came to a halt from Sunday midnight after serving for 162 years, hundreds of people thronged the telegraph offices to send the ‘one last’ message to their dear ones.
The telegraph offices at Secunderabad and Abids, which otherwise wear a deserted look, were teeming with enthusiasts sending wishes to friends and family members. It was a rare experience for tenth-class student Rishikesh at the CTO office in Secunderabad. The youngster who prefers smart phones and laptops to communicate landed up with his grandfather and handed over a handwritten message to the telegram staff for delivering it to his friend Kishan. There were many like Rishikesh who wanted to be part of the historic occasion.
Senior citizens too were there reliving their childhood experiences, one last time. At Secunderabad, the staff received more than 300 applications as against over 25 everyday. “We used to receive less than five applications on weekends but the situation is completely different this Sunday. People continued to flood the Secunderabad office till midnight to send telegrams instead of email/SMS,” said Customer Relation Officer M.P. Krishna Rao.
Mr. Rao said many sent more than five telegrams to make their friends and relatives knowing that it was the last opportunity as the country was disbanding the world’s major telecom service.
As per communication received by the staff, the central server would get disconnected from midnight.
