The coming generations in the city will never realise the relevance of public clock towers, and how citizens benefited from their presence in their everyday lives
(Left) The Rajabai Clock Tower has the city’s largest dial at 13.5 feet in diameter, and its pendulum measures 14 feet; (centre) the Christ Church clock was manufactured in Clerkenwell, London, which was one of the centres of clock- and watch-making in England; (right) the Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Clock Tower was built by public funding and erected in honour of a Parsi philanthropist in whose name it stands. Pics/Fiona Fernandez
The surprising response to a question in a quiz was alarming, as much as it was eye-opening. The venue was the swanky AV room of an international school in a western suburb. As part of a visual, Mumbai-themed quiz, a question to name the famous clock tower facing Oval Maidan was posed to middle-schoolers. I was expecting it to be a ‘sitter’, to use quizzing parlance. Quite the contrary happened. All that wafted across the room after the question was dropped, were a range of incorrect chirps by voices emanating from blank faces. Even Big Ben was thrown in as a possible answer. If you’re still wondering, the correct answer is Rajabai Tower. As I began to explain the relevance of this landmark to the group, I realised that they, and the coming generations, would never realise the importance of clock towers in context to our cityscapes, and how its citizens literally, ‘looked up’ to them, in more ways than one.
The mind immediately wandered back to two years ago, when I had interacted with Hyderabad-based horologist Venkatesh Rao, who returned to Mumbai to work his magic on Byculla’s Christ Church clock. At the time, this ‘OG tick-tocker’ [we couldn’t resist the word-play], succeeded in making it the oldest operational public timepiece in the city.
At that time, while helping us navigate through the linear clock chamber and bell tower, he had casually mentioned, “We are called ghadiwallahs here, unlike in Europe where clock makers and restorers are treated with immense respect.” Back then, after a month-long project, he resuscitated the 1828-made clock that stopped working five years ago. There was a tinge of sadness in the Matunga-born expert’s voice as he reminisced about the challenges of his profession. Right then, the penny dropped when he said, “Nowadays, everyone prefers digital clocks. In India, few understand the need to preserve vintage clocks.” That day, we learnt a little about the fascinating science, as we negotiated our way via a narrow, wooden ladder to witness the working mechanism of the analogue clock — a world of escape wheels, pendulums and barrels.
Last week, at that quiz, I felt a semblance of the vacuum that Rao would feel, and possibly, continues to experience in his life as he watches the heart and soul of his profession fade away. The numbness wasn’t about the incorrect answer, or lack of keenness to know more about the Rajabai Clock Tower’s historicity. It was about the imminent fadeout of this precious, once-familiar element of our city’s skyline.
Clock towers were built in towns and cities to help people keep time. It was a public service, and often regarded as the pride of these locations. How many of us belonging to a certain vintage would halt in our stride to listen to the majestic chimes emanating from Rajabai Clock Tower, or catch a glimpse of the imposing clock atop CSMT (formerly Victoria Terminus) on our way to board a local train? Others like the Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Clock Tower might tend to miss the eye given its location. This restored project won the Honourable Mention under the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2017. In 2019, the Rajabai Tower and the library block within the Fort University Campus also earned the prestigious UNESCO Asia-Pacific award for Cultural Heritage Conservation. These are prestigious accolades but is the common junta aware of it?
I wonder if today’s generations look up at these last surviving ticking icons, let alone explore their historic significance. Unless awareness is drafted into public consumption across age groups, organically and hopefully, academically, clock towers might be reduced to mute vestiges of our skyline — the same sentinels that once helped us keep time. The irony is that they will remain stuck in a time warp as the world moves forward.
mid-day’s Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city’s sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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