Mumbai's clock towers: Witnesses to history

They are notsomute witnesses to history clanging away at intervals of 15 minutes as if asking us all to grab the moment because time was slipping by Perhaps in the daily mad rush in Maximum City not many Mumbaikars pay attention to the 16odd timekeepers of the city some of them centuries old But they have seen dramatic changes as Mumbai evolved from a conglomeration of fishing villages into a burgeoning metropolis a modern global financial centre accommodating 17 million people that often appears to come asunder at its seamsClock tower at Crawford market 2004 PicChirodeep ChaudhuriYet they have been evidently bypassed in the Swachh Bharat campaignI was once permitted to go up the tower to click Mumbai views but came across a lot of dirt pigeon droppings and even dead birds If people are allowed to visit them regularly maintenance will be better historian and archaeologist Mugdha Karnik told IANSShe says clock towers are an important aspect of any citys history and should be more accessible to the masses especially in MumbaiThe most famous of the lot is of course the Rajabai Clock Tower adorning the entrance of the University of Mumbai which once played God Save The King and a Handel Symphony with 16 tunes that kept changing four times a day now limited to chimes every quarter of an hour But it still makes heads turn with people glancing at their own watches to match the timeThe iconic 280feet tall structure once visible from distances of 15 km entered the 140th year of its existence in November It has seen the reclamation of land beyond the present Oval Maidan which pushed back the Arabian Sea by nearly 200 metres Access to the top which offered a panoramic view of Bombay was stopped a few decades ago after it became a suicide pointOther famous clock towers are at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT Naval Dockyard David Sassoon at Byculla Zoo Crawford Market St Thomas Cathedral BH Wadia in Fort David Sassoon Library Life Insurance Building Churchgate the Khoja Shia Imami Ismaili Jamatkhana gifted by the Moloo Brothers of Zanzibar all in good working conditionThere is a Time Ball Building clock tower in the Mumbai Port Trust which is not functional another at Sasoon Docks Gate in Colaba Lakshmi Insurance Building in Fort Fulchand Nivas Building at Chowpatty Mhatre Pen Building and Vijaynagar Building both in Dadar to the north and a few stray ones in other parts of MumbaiAvid clock tower lover conservationist and historian Aadil Desai said the ones at CSMT St Thomas Cathedral built in 1718 David Sassoon at Byculla Zoo David Sassoon Library Naval Dockyard BH Wadia and some others are very wellmaintained and continue to grab attentionSeveral conservation activists regularly keep in touch with the owners of these premises on the status of the clock towers and they are very cooperative as it is a part of the citys rich heritage and history The Mumbai Port Trust is even considering setting up a museum at the site Desai saidEvery clock tower is unique each having its own history and importance for the city he saidFor instance Rajabai Tower was financed by Cotton King Premchand Roychand one of the original founders of the modernday Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott on the lines of Londons Big Ben and built in nine years for what was then a staggering amount of Rs 550000It is named after Roychands blind mother Rajabai who was a staunch Jain and needed to have her meals before dusk and the clock chimes helped her do that without needing to depend on anyoneThe massive clock above the CSMT which was one of the sites targeted during the 2611 Mumbai terror attacks was built in 1888 by Sir Frederick William Stevens inspired by the Victorian Gothic architecture of Londons St Pancras Railway stationIts now a UNESCO world heritage site and the imposing clock sees millions of commuters hurrying past daily or tourists gaping and photographing it Recently the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has built a selfie point off the CST and the BMC headquarters to help people click pictures of the heritage precinctsIt was in the 1860s that Albert Abdul Sassoon son of a Baghdadi Jewish philanthropist came upon the idea of settng up a good library in the heart of the city It materialised in 1870 as the David Sassoon Library at Kala Ghoda near the Jehangir Art GalleryIt is built with yellow Malad stone like the nearby Army amp Navy Building Elphinstone College and Watsons Hotel with a proud white stone bust of David Sassoon adorning the library entranceThe Sassoon Docks with a large clock tower is one of the oldest fishing docks of Mumbai built on reclaimed lands in Colaba and constructed in 1875 by Albert Abdul Sassoon as a prime fish unloading and trading spot which remains operational till dateThe Crawford Market renamed Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market is a stones throw from the CSMT and opposite the Mumbai Police HeadquartersBlending the Norman and Flemish architectural styles the freizes at the entrance depict Indian farmers and fountains made of Kurla stone designed by Lockwood Kipling the father of the legendary novelist Rudyard KiplingThe Time Ball Building clock tower at Mumbai Port Trust is just one of the two surviving the second being in Kolkata and among the handful in the world like at Greenwich UK Desai says it is an important piece of historical heritage and must be protectedPerhaps its time to step in and preserve the towers which may otherwise become the victims of well time