CLOCKS, TIMEPIECES AND WATCHES In my boyhood days there were mechanical clocks,timepieces and mostly imported watches. Watches were luxury. Schools had clocksand timepieces. Small schools had only timepieces. The primary school I studied had onlytimepiece. Wealthy homes had clocks. Mostly elders told time looking in the shadowin Patio (nadumuttam) or in the front of home. It was almost accurate. During new births in a home, it was apractice to go to nearby palace and get time. For calculating birth timededuction was done for the walking time of the person to palace and return. Though timepiece also has themeaning clock, in local talks we differentiate between the two.
After a periodtime pieces started appearing in most homes. Timepieces had the facility to setalarm and used to wake up children and study in the morning. These time pieces werewound every day for time as well as for alarm. The location to keep time piecewas either in the front shelf or in the bottom portion of a window or over theradio. Clocks appeared still late. Till I completed my college study there was notimepiece in my home. Nobody had watch in my home. Time calculation was mostly bymental calculation. Gradually it became a practice in most homes to havewall clock and time piece and time piece was used for alarm purpose. Towers were rare earlier in Kerala and most tower clockswere in colleges and very big offices like PMG office, Secretariat, Big railwaystations etc. Later towers were erected in junction of roads in importantplaces. The tower clocks are still working but I am not surewhether the mechanical parts are changed to electronic nowadays. Watches became very common by 1965’s with most people.They also changed to electronic by 1985’s. The electronic clocks widely appeared by 1985’s if mymemory is correct. The electronic clocks were very costly comparing to today’sprices. Ajanta wall clock I purchased during the period is still working in myhome, though the wiring for added facilities is removed. Though initiallypeople liked alarm, now most people cut of alarm of the electronic clocks. Gradually electronic time pieces also appeared. Windingclocks and time pieces- Even present day youngsters may not be aware of such arequirement in their boyhood days. There is a principle followed- Clocks should beworking at all times. So most families keep 5-6 new batteries all times. Anotherprinciple followed is not to keep wall clock in the entrance so that time can be seen fromoutside in homes. How many clocks, timepieces and watches in a home? Some wants clock in all rooms, some only one or two.Most people have at least 3-4 watches now. Number of time pieces depends onchildren. Electronic clocks- Now with clock repair people keep sufficient “movements”-electronic parts. If a clock runs slow the defective crystal unit isreplaced and given. Cost about Rs75-00 rupees. Clocks which cost Rs 500 onthose days are available for Rs 250-00 nowadays. I like to have clock in all rooms. So if a fancy clockis seen I purchase it. About defective ones I dispose. With mobile phones date, day , time can be seen, stillpeople wear watches, have clocks, even though for convenience most look atmobile. While filling a form in Bank, my hands automatically goes to mobile fordate and while entering information for a locker opening, time is seen from mobilethan from watch. Mobile phones have influenced that much. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/191683418.776599.1648979467988%40mail.yahoo.com.
