Time to take a look back

FEBRUARY 3: Outside the David Sassoon Library, Mumbai bustles by at its usual pace. But in its lobby, a collection of framed black-and-wh...

FEBRUARY 3: Outside the David Sassoon Library, Mumbai bustles by at its usual pace. But in its lobby, a collection of framed black-and-white pictures portrays a slice of history that the city almost forgot in its race against time: clocks.

8220;People have been asking me, why clocks. Well, I wonder why not!8221; says photojournalist Chirodeep Chaudhari, who embarked on his obsession with anything that had two hands, ticked and was on a heritage structure one-and-a-half-years ago. Bombay Clocks, on display at the David Sassoon Library as part of the Kala Ghoda art festival, documents one part of the city8217;s heritage that has either been forgotten or simply overlooked by the harried Mumbaiite in a hurry to get some place.

Of the 40-odd clocks that Chaudhari clicked, 24 are on display. They include clocks in Dana Bunder, Ghadial Godi in the docks, Fulchand Niwas at Marine Drive, Rasool Masjid near J J, Brahman Sabha in Girgaum, Bhaat Bazaar in Dongri; structures that thousands of Mumbaiites mill past every day.They stand solemn witnesses to a city that8217;s but a ghost of its more placid past.Some of the clocks have been built as long back as the 1800s, and the most recent8217; of the lot is the one at Chitale Mansion at C P Tank, built roughly 50 years ago. In fact, getting precise information on when the clocks were built was as much a task as legging around to find them, says Chaudhari, as most of the buildings have no dates.

Chaudhari, who has also photographed Fort Walks for Sharada Dwivedi and Rahul Mehrotra, would ask the urban historians for information. In other cases, he simply asked locals. 8220;The family at Chitale8217;s Mansion, for instance, didn8217;t know the exact date when the clock above the building was built. I managed to get the information that the building is approximately 50 years old from an old lady staying there,8221; he says.

Chaudhari began toying with the idea of clicking clocks around three years ago, when on an assignment to Calcutta. He stumbled upon some of the clocks here when he was onassignments; others were found after friends gave tip-offs. The photographs, taken over one-and-a-half years are, he says, his way of documenting a slice of history that the city in a hurry may forget to take along. 8220;We are such a time-conscious people. Mumbaiites just don8217;t seem to care about anything other than catching the next train,8221; remarks Chaudhari.

The pictures, he says, are a small step towards creating awareness about that part of Mumbai8217;s heritage that may not stand the test of time. 8220;In the next ten years, the city will have an entirely different look. It is important for people to keep a document of things. Hopefully, at the end of the day, people will get interested in preserving their heritage,8221; he remarks. And in keeping with his concerns, he is already toying with photographing yet another fast-disappearing urban slice: Calcutta8217;s trams.