Hyderabad, Telangana - lesser known heritage clocks that need serious periodic attention

Vintage clock towers.pinterest.ie/pin

Hyderabad city, a well planned one with wide roads and gardens, was once known as the land of Nizams where there was no dearth of cultural and trade activities dominated by textiles and diamonds.The pomp and glory of the kingdom and the rulers personal lives never stood in the way and the people's welfare was taken care of with due attention. Hence the Nizams  who were held in esteem, built educational institutions, medical colleges and hospitals. The infrastructure development, an important segment of the growth of the kingdom, got the priority  well ahead of time and this foresight of the rulers centuries ago made it it a likable city in the deccan region. 

visiting temples during every

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 St. Georges Church, Abids, Hyderabad:
 
St. George's Church, Hyderabad, Telangana, India en Wikipedia. org

Interior St. Georges Church, Abids, Hyderabad, India
annwilltravel.com

Interior St. Georges Church, Abids, Hyderabad, India
thehindu.com

Above image: St. George's Church, once an Anglican church on the Abids. Hyderabad, is the oldest in the city  and was built in 1844 AD by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). In 1947, it became part of the Church of South India (CSI), a uniting Church (Anglican, Wesleyan, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.). As the British community grew in size with many of them in the British army  stationed in Hyderabad and others in the employ of the ruler, there arose  a necessity to have an Anglican church built there to take care of their spiritual needs. The church was built on a piece of land donated by the Nizam in 1836  and it was open to public on 19 September. 1844.  In mid August 2010 it turned 143 years old and rededication was held on that day. The church's  pipe organ is one of the oldest built in 1887. There is a clock in the facade of the church on the second floor of the tower right below the overhanging eaves. Like many clocks on the towers after 1947 it stopped working due to lack of interest and of technical knowledge to handle the old-type clock mechanism.  Details are not available about the clock on the tower, but it is not a big one and  is  of medium size. 


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Charminar Clock Tower:

Charminar clock, Hyderabad. hollymelody.com

Clock on the Charminar, Hyderabad, India

charminar clock, hyderabad, twitter.com

Charminar clock, Hyderabad, wikipedia commons.org.

Charminar clock, Pinrest.com

Charminar clock, Hyderabad. hollymelody.com

Above image: The  Charminar built on the east bank of the Musi river  in the bustling Laad bazaar area of   the erstwhile Nawabi city of  Hyderabad, Telangana is the foremost tourist destination in the city.   Imported from  England, the four clocks facing each cardinal direction  enhance the grandeur of this imposing old Islamic structure. The clocks were fixed in 1889 during the reign of the the sixth Nizam, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan. The clock facing   Gulzar Houz has a gong attached to it which strikes once every half hour and every hour.Initially there was only one clock and three clocks on other faces were added later.
When the clock stopped working 150 years ago, one Wahid Khan, carefully repaired it. Since then, his family members and descendants have been in the business connected with clocks and watches and even now their firm is taking care of the clocks on the Charminar. The Charminar was constructed by Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah about 450 years ag and is made of sandstone, dressed granite and marble. According to the descendant of  Wahid Khan after the end of the rule of Nizams the clock that need to be wound every 48 hours stopped working due to total neglect. Added to this problem was the missing of  imported spare parts for the clock. In the later years, undaunted the Khan members had the suitable spares made locally and got the clocks on the Charminar  going. The ASI took interest to get the clocks going to maintain the aesthetics  and tradition.  After three generations, this family members are associated with many clocks in the SalarJung Museum, etc., besides Charminar. 

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Kachiguda Railway Clock Tower: Hyderabad:

Kachiguda railway station (under south central Rly)
en.wikipedia.org/

Constructed in 1916  by  Nizam  Asaf Jah VII,, the station was the headquarters of the then Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway. Recently, Kachiguda earned the unique distinction of being the first Energy Efficient ‘A1 Category’ Railway Station on Indian Railways.  In 2018, the station was in a state of neglect with plaster on the outer surface of the structure peeling off at various places.  The city based historians are furious over the pathetic condition  of the structure with dump and mildewed walls, leaking roof and crumbling and exposed bricks on the cupola  atop the pillar. A declared heritage site in 2003, built symmetrically  in Gothic-Mogul style with four domes atop the four minars and  decorative  facade with nice jali work supported on 6 columns at four corners. There are  two smaller columns in the center on either side of main columns . As for the clock, on the tower no details are available and apparently,  it has been there since inception  with four clocks facing four directions. I believe efforts will be made to repair the clock when the major repair work is going to be taken up soon.