CLOCK TOWERS OF DHAKA Telling more than time
Abdul Motaleb had never been a fan of wristwatches. Then again, watches were more of a luxury for the 75-year-old street vendor, which may have compelled him not to wear any.
Every morning, the resident of Keraniganj would set up his shop near Johnson Road in old town and stay there till evening, selling various products.
Despite the aversion towards watches, keeping time had never been an issue for Motaleb, who had been doing business in the area for over three decades.
More importantly, he always knew what time of the day it was. But Motaleb had some help along the way.
The nearby St Thomas’ Church, especially the clock at the top of the structure’s tower, was always there to help him know the exact time.
“This clock tower not just told time, it in a way guided us with its constant presence while sounding the hours audibly,” Motaleb told this correspondent recently.
The square clock tower with an arch window still stands tall. But the clock has been out of order for over 10 years, and Motaleb, like many others in the area who once depended on it, has resorted to cellphones these days to know the time.
St Thomas’ Church is an Anglican church. Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England.
Jonesh Loton, information secretary of the Church of Bangladesh, said the clock used to ring every hour to convey the greatness of God.
“This area used to be the heart of Dhaka when the clock was set up. One could see the tower from afar,” he added.
According to Wikipedia, construction of the church, located on the east side of Johnson Road, began in 1819 and was completed in 1821. It was inaugurated on July 10, 1824.
The main attraction of this building -- built in the style of eastern churches -- was the square clock tower, said Loton. The tower rose in two stages and its top is crenellated.
“The clock was installed in 1863 by the same makers of London’s famous Big Ben,” said Loton, citing The Imperial Gazetteer of India (July 1908, Calcutta)
“Ours is nearly 10 years younger to Big Ben. If you look closely, you might even find some resemblance,” he said smilingly. “A mechanic used to come by every week to look after the clock. But after he retired, the church authorities could not find his replacement,” he added.
Loton said they tried to repair the clock in 2005 by changing some of its parts, but that did not work out as they could not find a proper mechanic. They are hopeful that one day after repairment, the clock will start functioning again.
CLOCK TOWERS
A clock tower is a specific type of building that houses a turret clock and has one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building.
In the digital world of today when mobile phones provide us with the exact time anytime anywhere, it is quite hard to envision that not so long ago, people of a city depended on a clock tower to know the time.
Most cities and towns had their own clock tower -- a symbol of pride and identity -- and many such towers were built with love and care, which eventually became architectural masterpieces.
Dhaka was no different. The capital boasts quite a few of them.
CLOCKS AT NAGAR BHABAN
There are two clocks at the top of Nagar Bhaban in Gulistan -- on the north and south side.
But both are running a little behind when it comes to telling the exact time.
Completed in 1995, the 15-storey building was designed by A Imamuddin and Lailun Nahar Ekram. The city hall consists of offices, a bank, meeting rooms, a museum, dining facilities, a prayer hall, the mayor’s office and public terraces.
The clocks were brought from Switzerland, imported by one Micro Electronics Intake, said Zafar Ahmed, additional chief engineer (electric) of Dhaka South City Corporation.
The clocks are motorised and run on electricity, said Mahtab Ahmed, executive engineer of DSCC. “We do maintenance works every year,” he added.
When asked why the clocks are five to six minutes slow, he said they may have slowed down due to an electrical glitch.
RAJUK CLOCK TOWER
Situated on Rajuk Avenue in Dilkusha, Rajuk Bhaban, the head office of the capital’s development authority, is one of the most well-known buildings.
It’s a west facing structure, consisting of two buildings -- Rajuk main building (six-storey) and Rajuk annex building (eight-storey). They are connected by a small over-bridge.
The clock at the tower of the main building was installed in 1956, said Md Jamshed Ali, executive engineer (electric) of Rajuk.
“It’s a pendulum clock, brought from Scotland. Some 16 (two-volt) batteries were needed to run it,” he said. Initially, there were two clocks -- on both sides of Rajuk tower, but now only one remains, he said. There are two such clocks in Bangladesh -- one at Rajuk and another in Tongi, he said.
There were clocks at different floors of the main building, which were linked with the pendulum clock and would run using power from the master clock, he added.
Jamshed said they used to bring the batteries from Scotland as well. But in 1981, due to a fund crunch, they stopped doing so and eventually the clock became nonfunctional.
Later, it was converted to an electric clock, Jamshed said, adding that a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) did the conversion work.
He said when Awami League government came to power in 2009, they introduced the daylight saving time. Accordingly, the clocks were advanced by an hour. At that time, this clock was used as the base, he added.
The executive engineer said they do the maintenance work regularly. “We did some repair works around a year ago,” he added.
Chiming or not, the clock towers of Dhaka tell more than time. They are a part of Dhaka’s rich history and voice of a proud era, which still can be heard if paid attention to.
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