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Madras Day: Iconic timekeepers on campuses
While this vintage time-keeper at Presidency College in Chennai is known to tick right, it’s not the same case about the one at the University of Madras
The image of the clock tower at Presidency College was taken on July 26, 2024
| Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK
The quartet of clocks at the clock tower at Presidency College do not know the meaning of a breather. They are not allowed to take time out from a punishing day-in night-out schedule. A heritage ecosystem ensures the four clocks lodged in a tower stick to their calling, and tick with uncanny accuracy.
Known as Fyson Clock (recalling the memory of celebrated botanist Philip Furley Fyson who was principal of the college from 1925 to 1932), this timekeeper on Kamarajar Salai finds enabling support from two entities on the parallel Mount Road — The Simpson Group’s establishment and a couple of addresses away, P. Orr & Sons.
R. Raman, principal of Presidency College, describes it as a three-cornered heritage partnership forged to keep a marker of time connected with the present in a practical manner. Can there be a more intimate way to connect with the present than by marking it accurately, second by second?
Prof. Raman notes that The Simpson Group has drawn up a maintenance contract with P. Orr & Sons for the upkeep of the timepieces in the four-face clock tower. The watch company has the wherewithal, technical and instrumental, to keep them ticking right.
Prof. Raman notes The Simpson Group is invested in the clock tower beyond providing the financial component of its maintenance. He says a top leader at the group is known to take in the clock tower on the routine drive down Kamarajar Salai, and point out anomalies, if any. There is usually nothing to report to the maintenance team. On rare occasions, when a “slackness” is noticed, it is immediately reported and promptly rectified.
Prof. Raman recalls that in 2022, the clock tower required a slightly drawn-out maintenance effort.
The heritage link between The Simpson Group and Presidency College extends to a patch outside the latter’s premises but connected with it — the Marina ground. Prof. Raman notes the college draws up a contract with The Simpson Group for the ground every 10 years. The industrial conglomerate would maintain the ground, according to the contract, which puts down how the two parties can use the ground without a clash between their respective interests.
Ravi Sharma, senior general manager (PR & HR) Simpson & Co, notes: “Years ago, Presidency College requested us to repair the tower clock and our relationship with the college having already been cemented by our engagement with the Marina ground, maintaining it, we agreed to take care of the clock too. With a substantial outlay, we repaired the four-face clock and since then, we have continued to maintain it. It is an electric clock that has many mechanical components in it and so our engineers could ensure its upkeep. And then we brought P. Orr & Sons on board to maintain the clock. In 2022, we again carried out notable repairs on the clock.”
An uneasy ‘timelessness’ hovers over this clock tower at the University of Madras
Eliminating chronological time and “just being” in the timeless present, now and then, is a worthy goal to aspire for — except when your entire existence is meant to revolve around keeping time. That is, if you are a clock.
And there is a disconcerting “timelessness” about the four clocks at the clock tower on the University of Madras campus. They have let time slip through their broken dials. The clock tower as a whole still looks arresting, but the slumbering clocks take away from whatever effect it casts on the viewer. The clocks have been allowed to continue in sloppy non-functionality for a long time. Being located at one of the busiest sections of the campus — the University’s post office functions on one side and a bank on the other — the derelict clocks gain in uneasy conspicuity.
Madras Christian College: Another sunny day and another day at office
Whenever the sun makes its presence felt, it is another day at office for this sundial at Madras Christian College in Tambaram.
The sundial at Madras Christian College, on July 26, 2024
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK
A user manual topped off with a commentary is integrated into the structure. It reads: “This Sundial is suggested by the large instruments erected in the eighteenth century by the Maharaja Jai Singh, of which the best-known is the Jantar Mantar at Delhi. Our instrument differs from his in having a rod to give the shadow, instead of the edge of a wall. To read the time we should look at the centre of the shadow.”
The manual includes a chart and an instruction to go with it: “if you wish to find Indian Standard Time correct to about a minute, add or subtract the number of minutes, shown in the chart below. A horizontal line through the mark for today’s date leads to the required number of minutes on the scale on either side.”
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