Last week when Samoy was waiting for a train at a Bhubaneswar platform, he was probably the only person who was wearing a wristwatch. No one asked him the time as there was no need for it with a huge digital timepiece in the railway station.
There was a period when time experts were there in villages to tell you the time. In small towns, the bell from the Treasury, jail or church used to tell us the time.
Now, you find watches everywhere even in burning ghats and temples! A few old people were there who would tell you the time just by looking at their internal clock or the sky; not any more. People are very conscious of time but are not punctual in India! No one looks at your wristwatch; neither asks you the time or the price.
Samoy thought people need two more supporting gadgets in their mobile, a revolver and a siren system for emergency. Most of Samoy’s wristwatches have stopped due to exhausted battery. Use-and-throw-type of nice wristwatches are available for fifty to hundred rupees; so, why purchase a battery for 65 rupees? The shopkeeper would ask original or duplicate? Most of us know that both are same, but to show our status we go for the original. Nowadays, thieves have stopped snatching wristwatches! Giving a wristwatch as a gift is a total wastage. Earlier days, a wristwatch was in the demand list of the bridegroom, but it’s now replaced with a smart phone. Venders and some old people at times ask you time if they see you wearing a wristwatch, which leads to good conversations. Now, even a dead man wears a wristwatch!
To some people, watches are simply antiquated accessories that told us the time before our iPhones took over. Samoy had his first Anglo Swiss wristwatch from a shop in Calcutta at the age of 19 years when he entered a medical college. That was a mechanical watch still in working condition even after 53 long years. At the twilight of his life, Samoy still has the old habit of putting a pen in his chest pocket and wearing a wristwatch before he steps out of his house.
Watches have always been stylish and will continue to be. A lot of famous people through history had worn them. Watches are a timeless and classic accessory that quickly improves any man’s appearance. Where will things wind up? Only time will tell. For now at least, it's clear that the wristwatch industry can take a licking and keep on ticking.
(The writer, a doctor, lives in Bhubaneswar)