Sunday, December 05, 2010

Clock!

I like to look at seconds passing away one by one, the tick tock of the wall/desk clock or the changing digits of a digital watch. It is like stopping and watching the time move.
I sometimes stare at the second's needle, or 'hand' as it is generally called, and see if it points exactly to the designated marks on the clock meant for each second. Sometimes it goes out of sync but within the complete round it catches up and becomes in sync with the marks again.
The hour, minute needle are called hands of a clock maybe because their position indicate values of hour and minute of the day. They remind me of traffic policeman showing proper directions to the traffic flow. The hour and minute hand can be like human hands, thick & short means slower and thin & long means faster. The very thin & long seconds hand can work like a tail, always wagging.
The common design of a clock has the hands which move in a circular fashion through the numbers 1 to 12 that have been arranged in a circle. In fact many people can tell the time by just looking at the position of the hands even if the numbers were removed, which is what some clock makers exploit to come up with innovative and stylish designs.
As a kid I couldn't understand why we kept those pointy needles moving in circles with numbers from 1 to 12 arranged in a circle, on walls and on the dressing table. I did know it is useful and shows time but it was only after my father taught me that one has to multiply every number by 5 to get the minutes, I understood how to look at a clock. In those days I like digital watch/clock better only because I didn't have to do the multiplication with 5 but I think in few months time I got accustomed with the clock with hands as well.
The numbers in a clock are arranged in a circle, so every hand crosses every number many times, i.e., same time happens everyday or twice a day. Metaphorically speaking, time always returns. It moves in circles, hence it feels like it's giving us second chances. Maybe it is because earth rotates on its axis which is a circular motion, so day and night cycle happens.

P.S. - Even a stopped clock/watch shows correct time twice a day, one can't do anything about that time, but still one can claim its not completely useless!

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