In the next five days, as the now-quaint telegram returns to history after serving the country for 163 years, it is not just nostalgia that is driving those who have worked with it to call upon the communications ministry to save the old-world all-caps message transmission service. They believe it is still handy.

Hard-wired for history: One of the telegrams sent by the employees of the Central Telegraph Office, Fort to Union Minister Kapil Sibal, urging him not to shut down the telegram service on July 15