Mysuru’s iconic clock tower stops ticking again
2 min read
Mysuru: Look at any corner of Heritage City Mysuru, you can’t stop marvelling at its visual appeal. As the sobriquet goes, heritage forms the core of Mysuru, and if anything goes wrong, it’s heritage again the casualty.
Chikkagadiyaara, the small clock tower aka Dufferin Clock Tower located on the eastern side of Devaraja Market, another heritage structure, has stopped ticking since months.
According to the vendors nearby, the clock stopped six months ago and since then the 137-year-old heritage structure stands like a mere showpiece. They were used to look at the clock tower to follow the time, which had become a regular habit for them. When the mobile phone hit the scene becoming the possession of many, the people have even stopped wearing wrist watch. The mobile phone irrespective of basic make or smartphone show the time. There are people among us who to tap their handsets for the screen to read the time.
But still, for Mysureans, whoever visited Devaraja Market, after parking their vehicle on Devaraja Urs road or Shivarampet, passing through the Small Clock Tower named as Vasavi Circle, evoked a sense of pride.
Back in the year 2014, the clock had stopped ticking, and the reason was the death of watch repairer Srinivas, who had his shop nearby on Irwin road a walkable distance from the clocktower.
Lord Dufferin was the Viceroy of Colonial India between 1884 and 1888. Dufferin visited princely Mysuru State on the invitation of then Maharaja of Mysore Tenth Chamaraja Wadiyar in the year 1886. The Maharaja named the clock tower after Dufferin in Viceroy’s honour.
The analog clock with Roman numbers from I to XII (1 to 12) with two hands, on all the four sides of the tower on the top totals to four clocks. All have stopped between 5.20 and 5.35 and nobody knows whether it was at the break of dawn or closer to dusk.
Even after the monarchy was replaced by democracy, the clock tower was among hundreds of heritage structures that stood testimony to the bygone era.
With the clock stopping ticking, it has to be seen how much time Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) which maintains heritage structures in the city, will take, to make the hands of the clocks move again.
– Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
