The death of Registered Post

India Post has officially announced that it will discontinue its Registered Post service starting September 1, 2025, bringing an end to a communication system that existed from the British Raj and served 10s of millions across the country. This move is part of a broader effort to modernise postal operations and consolidate services under the more advanced Speed Post system. With the harbinger of modernity this follows little more than 12 years ago when the telegram services was closed forever in India. July 15, 2013 was the last day a telegram was sent.

For years telegram was the harbinger of news - good, bad or ugly. First the good news, which was mostly related to birth of a child (mainly son, birth of a daughter unless she is the first child is rarely an occasion to celebrate back home as the expectation for a second child is invariably is a son if the first born is a daughter). Or a new job offers for which the Mailman (postman) was rewarded with LADDOOS (sweets) or monetary tips, occasionally both. 

Bad news was mostly related to sickness and death. Often dreaded for delivering news related to death, the telegram was already on its death bed in the age of emails, internets, social media, texts and smart phones. Unsurprisingly, finally it died its natural death. It took a dozen more years to close Registered post as electronic signature, web tracking and usage of Apps on smartphones have made physical signature redundant.

Once a Babu (the way a government servant is addressed in India) went out on an urgent trip. He instructed his orderly (a British legacy where the menial jobs of a Bureaucrat is handled by a low paid assistant) system send a telegram to his family members informing them about his unplanned jaunt. The faithful servant sent a telegram in Odia "BABU AJI MARI JAICHANTI" transliterated "Our master passed away today".

In fact the Babu went to a place called AJMER in Rajasthan. So a slight difference in the spelling of AJMER and AJI MARI (died today) played havoc in the family, the ill fated  recipients of the fated telegram. When the smiling Babu returned back home a few days later his family members were startled to see him as if they saw a ghost. 

I sent one telegram in my life to fake illness in order to get some leaves from my Govt service where I once worked for a short period of time. I was told to do so, as a telegram message then was the best proof of authenticity to use in the SARKARI world. RIP, Registered postal service. Even years after your death you will have enough of nostalgia tied to you to be dug out from your grave, same as your predecessor Telegram.