In 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell first received the patent for inventing the telephone, little did he know that the device would become such an integral part of society. Can you imagine your life without a telephone today?
Landlines were a luxe item. If anyone possessed a landline, they were really well to do, unlike others who had to walk miles to PCOs (Public Call Offices). Remember PCOs? Back in the early 80s and 90s, communicating through a telephone was a romantic affair – A luxurious but romantic affair. People would stand in long lines to talk to their loved ones for a significant sum and a few minutes.
When you think about it, people have it really easy today. Everyone is a button away – be it audio or video. There are also the messaging services which has taken over the whole letter-writing ritual.
Many today would know or have heard about STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) calls. STD calls meant, calling out of station where each town or city was allocated STD codes – it could range from three digits to four digits and would come before your actual landline numbers which would make the calls distinct in each city. For Guwahati, the STD code was 0361 and so it went.
But before STDs came into being, it was trunk calling which was used to call out of station. In it, one would call the telephone exchange and ask the operators there to connect you to a number in another part of the country or state. The operators would then connect you by using the operating jacks and you would call. The calls would generally last for three minutes after which the operator would interrupt you to tell you that your time limit was over and if you would like to extend, you could ask them to do so. The charges would later be reflected in your phone bill.
Sounds like quite a hassle, doesn’t it? But ask anyone who had availed such services, they would say that it really was not. It was a fun experience.
There are pop culture references too to give you a glimpse of the same. In Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ‘Chup Ke Chup Ke’, there is a scene in the first part of the film where Dharmendra who is playing the protagonist talks to Asrani another actor in the film on a trunk call.
70-year-old Satyapriya, a resident of Ulubari reminisced the old days saying, “There weren’t many PCOs back in the 70s in Guwahati. I used to walk to a PCO from Manipuri Basti to Ulubari to call home. We didn’t own a landline back then. We would wait in long lines to get on trunk calls that to for 3 minutes, because that’s all we could afford back then.”
Another resident Dipankar said, “PCOs were a booming business once upon a time. A lot of families survived it. It was also an adda point in every locality where people staying away from home would come over to chit chat with others before playing a call.”
“Where language and many other factors divided them, PCOs would unite them,” He further added.
In the 1880s, Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone, and the phone booth design was developed by William Gray in 1889 in the United States. Subsequently, phone booths were introduced in the United Kingdom during the 1920s. The concept of phone booths reached India in the 1980s, significantly impacting the lives of ordinary Indians. The introduction of Public Call Offices (PCOs) in India can be credited to R.L. Dube, a telecom officer who pioneered the first PCO.
A 30-year-old Soumya shared how his family didn’t own a landline till 1998.
“My neighbours had a cordless phone, and we gave our relatives their number. So, every time we would get a call, they would come running to our house with the cordless. It was an exciting experience to have a phone without a wire connecting it to the receiver,” he said.
“I remember to call out of station we would need an STD connection which my father got very late. It was expensive to get on STD calls those days, unlike today where there are rate cutters and what nots. My father later put an STD lock which would let us avail of the service only after unlocking it. For us it was the equivalent of today’s screen lock,” he further added.
It’s not about the journey from struggling to the glorious easy days we have today. It’s more of how some of the best memories we had.
Who knows how many stories have blossomed in these PCOs while waiting for the call or calling the long-distance partners who would wait by PCOs or shops who along with everything else would also let you use their telephone services.
Today, PCOs have become obsolete in Guwahati. As far as I know, there are no PCOs in Guwahati today and only a handful in Assam. Most of these are in the most rural parts of the state which is yet to be touched by modernity.
In the technological evolution, the tale of communication unfolds with nostalgic hues and the unmistakable charm of yesteryears. As we trace the journey from trunk calls and PCOs to the seamless connectivity of today, it's not merely a progression of convenience but a narrative of shared experiences and cherished memories.
The era of trunk calls and PCOs, though seemingly arduous in retrospect, was a chapter woven with threads of connection, patience, and a touch of romance.
As the echoes of PCOs fade away in the urban landscape, their legacy lives on in the hearts of those who once stood in line, eagerly awaiting a chance to connect, proving that amidst the march of progress, it's the journey and the stories that endure.
(The author is a media professional. All views and opinions expressed in the article are the author’s own)