clock-work

It is now more than two months since i started commuting to work by the company bus.

as it is getting into a routine driven by the clock, that was made me think..
in some respects, it is not very different from when i used to drive.

every day, get into the same vehicle, sit in the same place [sometimes in the bus, it might be a different seat, if my usual place is occupied, by the time i board - whereas in the car, it is the driver's seat always!].

while i was driving, the office was at a different location, that i could take some variants of the route - small detours here and there or take different by-lanes to avoid boredom or traffic. to electronics city, there is only one main road. there are some other inner roads and a toll road, but i have not tried them and the bus route is fixed.

in the bus, it is pretty much the same faces every day. it is good in terms of familiarity and also some continuing threads of conversations from one day to another.
i the car, many days, i would see other cars that i overtake or that overtake me, same traffic wardens at intersections etc.

some variability in the time of departure from home or work was possible in the car. with the bus, that is driven by the clock.
though the commute time may be variable - due to traffic conditions, it is not dependent on the work load.

the experiment i started with closing work by 6.30 has been quite successful so far. on a couple of occasions, i have had to take some calls in the bus, but by and large, i am moving to a 6.30 - 9.30 or 10.00 as a quiet time for work.

While in Mumbai, the bus timing was a great influencer on closing work for the day. but that was a very very long time ago. with the work profile changing and many of my activities being dependent on others - and having to find a common time for calls etc, i thought that winding up at the same time every day would be more difficult.

so far, touch wood, it has been possible. since i anyway catch up with work later in the evening [and my quiet time being much shorter - say between 6.30 and 7.45, as of now], it has been manageable.

i feel the most significant impact of the clock in the mornings - while getting ready for breakfast and going to the bus stop, as well as  evenings from 6.15 or 6.20, if i happen to be on a call - to see how i can finish the discussion by 6.30! that extra adrenalin is probably like the runners' high, though i have never been very fond of running or jogging. brisk walks is what i like best.

talking of time keeping and clocks, the two hand wound clocks at home have again started doing their own things - that is keeping pace of time as they choose.

i got them serviced some time back - when the horologist was very thrilled to service an 'antique' - as he felt that this was an imported japanese mechanism that might easily be almost a century old!

this clock was a gift from my father to his father - bought from his first salary!
a timely nostalgia on fathers' day!

the second clock was what my father got as a gift when he retired, from his colleagues.

the weekly wind ups, adjusting the length of the pendulum for seasonal variations and ensuring the orientation of the clock is as per the marks on the wall, so that it continues to run - are all part of the joys of having hand wound clocks.