It’s been eight years since the State-run telegram service fell silent. The telegram, one of the oldest communication services and once the quickest that touched the lives of people across the country by delivering messages of joy and grief for more than 160 years, died a natural death on July 14, 2013 after bowing to the emergence of modern technologies .
But, there are people who still keep a telegram as a souvenir. The Alappuzha-based K. Nagendra Prabhu Foundation is in possession of a rare telegram sent by former Chief Minister Pattom A. Thanu Pillai 56 years ago.
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Dated June 5, 1965 Pillai, the then Governor of Andhra Pradesh, sent the telegraphic message to N. Gopaladasa Prabhu to condole the death of his father K. Nagendra Prabhu, president of the Thirumala Devaswom and a prominent public figure of the time.
The foundation made public the telegram on Thursday on the occasion of Pattom Thanu Pillai’s 136th birth anniversary.
Says N. Gopinatha Prabhu, youngest son of K. Nagendra Prabhu, “my father and Pattom Thanu Pillai were contemporaries and towering personalities of the time and they had a very good personal relationship, not one connected to politics. My father died on June 2, 1965, but Pillai received the news of his demise late. The telegram sent by him to my elder brother was received on June 5”. Mr. Prabhu is the chairman of the foundation.
According to Mr. Prabhu, the telegraphic message is being kept safe by the foundation as a “valuable piece of history” both in the original form and in digital format.
Nagendra Prabhu was known for his contributions to the educational and social uplift of the people. The Thirumala Devaswom Medical College (TDMC) in Alappuzha was founded in 1963 by the Thirumala Devaswom, under his leadership, as the first private medical college in the State.
It was taken over by the government in 1972.
“It was during Pillai’s tenure as Chief Minister the government approved the establishment of a medical college in Alappuzha based on discussions and proposals submitted by the Alleppey Medical College Committee headed by my father. By the time the TDMC was started on March 6, 1963 Pillai was no longer the Chief Minister of the State,” says Mr. Prabhu.
