More than time, Ludhiana’s clock tower tells a story
Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, popularly known as ‘Ghanta Ghar’, is the landmark of Ludhiana. It has stood tall against all odds and seen tough times of the freedom movement and the partition saga.
Clock towers became an important element of supremacy for the British during the colonisation process and their obsession with time made these towers an artefact in the fast-developing urban landscape. Well-designed towers came up as public clocks in many parts of India and their chiming bells helped thousands in managing their day.
One such clock tower was built in Ludhiana during the British rule, which was once the tallest building in the city. Its construction was started in 1862 and it took 44 years to complete. It has 10 floors and is 30m long. The tower was built to celebrate Queen Victoria’s silver jubilee and to highlight British rule in India.
Designed in the traditional European Gothic style by the then municipal chief engineer of Amritsar, John Gordon, it was constructed with red bricks.
During the British rule, the original watch had to be manually wound. It used to tick after every hour and a person was employed to do so. But now it has been replaced with an electronic watch as the manual one had worn off.
“Precise and synchronised, atomic-time is available in our hand today but there was a time when people used to tally their watches with the time in the Ghanta Ghar clock, which could be easily seen even if a person was a few miles away. But today the clock tower has been hidden by flyovers and high-rise buildings,” said Dr Gurdev Singh, a retired professor from the city.
In 2020, a project was taken up by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation under the smart city mission to touch up the tower’s facade, repair its mechanical clock, and light it up. Now, in the evening it is beautifully lit up with colourful LED lights, to create an emotional connect with the passers-by but here everyone is constantly on the move and no one cares to pause and gaze at the tower’s beauty. Someone has rightly said, “waqt badalta hai aur kisi ke liye rukta nahi hai”.
