Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

`Watch' the doll ring Om...

By K. Srinivas Reddy

HYDERABAD DEC. 23. The sound of a conch being blown could conjure the image of a sadhu inhaling deeply and blowing into the shell. But in Hyderabad, it could be different.

Keeping in tune with the hi-tech image of the city, it could well be a chip that activates an amplifier to blare out the deep throbbing sound of the conch. Or, for that matter, the reverberating chant of `Om' could be triggered by an electric impulse from a printed circuit board.

By this weekend, Hyderabad would be boasting of one of the largest `divine' clocks in the country - a clock measuring about 25 feet in diameter - that would blare out the `Omkara Nada' and the sounds of a conch every hour instead of the usual chime of the bell.

The enormous contraption, almost the size of a three-storied building, is getting ready at the Sai Geetha Ashram near Devar Yamzal village on the Medchal road. It would be unveiled on Sunday by the Governor, Surjeet Singh Barnala, coinciding with a massive `Sarva Dosha Nivarana Maha Yagna' to be organised on the ashram campus.

The clock made by the HMT on a special order from a Saibaba devotee, Sai Kumar, the man behind the construction of the Padmaraonagar Saibaba temple, is a massive structure with its dial measuring up to 25 ft.

The minutes and hours hands weigh about 60 kg each and an electric motor connected to a hyper gear provides movement to the massive mechanism. Precisely 210 seconds before the hour comes to a close, a five feet doll would open the doors of a room underneath the clock and move towards a huge bell to strike it.

But, instead of the chime, a microchip-based control unit would activate the sound system, letting out the sounds of the conch being blown and the `Omkara Nadam'.

"The microchip synchronises everything. From the movement of the doll to the conch being blown, it's all a synchronised sequence of signals being transmitted," Praveen, an electronics expert coordinating the erecting of the clock, told The Hindu.

The conch being blown and the rendition of `Om' can easily be heard from all corners of the nearly 20-acre ashram, where thousands of devotees throng every weekend.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• It's English all the way
• Experts call for standard code table for Urdu
• CM's directive to police on ex-MLA's death
• CM reviews law and order situation
• Double murder baffles police
• `Watch' the doll ring Om...

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu