Over the last two weeks, each time BK Jadhav clocks in for work at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), he gets a heady rush. After all, he is the timekeeper of the mother-of-all-clocks in the city.
Over the last two weeks, each time BK Jadhav clocks in for work at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), he gets a heady rush. After all, he is the timekeeper of the mother-of-all-clocks in the city.
His feeling of elation, though, has more to do with being recently honoured with the Central Railway zone’s most reputed award for maintaining clocks, heritage and others.
Few of the countless Mumbaikars who adjust their watches with just a glance at the city’s Big Ben on the Unesco-listed CST know the man who is keeping it all together and making sure that the massive structure doesn’t skip a beat.
“I was very happy when I got this award. I wish time had stood still so that I could enjoy the moment forever,” gushes the 54-year-old railway employee. “I have been maintaining clocks on Central Railway for the last 33 years now and this award is a recognition of my work,” he adds with a hint of pride.
“The 10.5ft-high clock is a maze of 36 pieces joined together. It is still operated with the help of steel cables fixed on six pulleys supported by 175kg weights. It’s the same old technology that the British used. As the clock ticks, the weights go down and every five days, I have to wind it up with its key. The key is as huge as my hand,” says Jadhav.
That clocks and their mechanism are his favourite conversation starters is not hard to guess when he goes on to explain the CST clock’s mechanics. “The clock is run with different circular gears that are supported with the help of pulleys. Maintaining the weights, too, is very difficult.”
Manufactured by London clockmakers Lund and Blockley in the last half of the 19th century, similar clocks can be found over the Lion’s Gate and the Rajabai Tower. “Sometimes, when we require spare parts, I manage to get it from people who maintain other big clocks in the city,” says Jadhav, adding that the one at Rajabai Tower is much advanced, which once had the ability to play 16 different chimes at the stroke of an hour.
Jadhav says that there are 20 old long-case clocks with pendulums in different officers’ cabins and the booking chamber. They are all my babies,” he quips.
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