Telegram. An Obituary. Stop

Telegrams, the ultimate in brevity. — Sushil Kumar Verma

By Chandan K Jha & Sudipta Sarangi

Recently, while we were discussing a problem involving communication and precision of signals in economics, over lunch, the fact that one wouldn’t any longer be able to send telegrams in India somehow cropped up.

One of us representing the younger generation (Chandan) confessed, somewhat embarrassedly though, that he had no clue what a telegram was even while he had heard the term. No wonder, concluded the other shocked co-author with the greying beard (Sudipta) — the only ones really protesting the termination of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL) telegram services are the state-owned company’s employees who possibly stand to lose their jobs!

The shocked co-author, then, proceeded to recount his favourite telegram story.