The Hindu : Karnataka News : This trader has a passion for clocks

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Monday, Feb 04, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

This trader has a passion for clocks

Special Correspondent

One of the clocks invented by Venkatesh A. Sugandhi

SURPUR (GULBARGA DISTRICT): Lack of basic education has not prevented this unassuming trader from coming out with inventions.

Venkatesh A. Sugandhi, a trader in puja articles and perfumes, surprised many by coming out with a clock showing the time of 180 countries in 1992.

He has now come out with eight clocks which simultaneously show the current time and that of ancient days according to the movement of planets and stars.

Dropout

Mr. Sugandhi (40), who is a primary school dropout, is an avid reader of ancient books. To come out with clocks that showed the time of ancient days, he had studied the movement of planets and stars and calculation of time from Surya Sidhantha, a book by Aryabhatta, he told The Hindu on Sunday.

Mr. Sugandhi, who took more than six months to configure eight clocks by spending Rs. 20,000, said, “I studied Surya Sidhantha for three months and another book, Brahat Jathaka by astrologer Varaha Miracharya.”

He said that he had taken up the project to invent clocks that showed the time of ancient days to help astrologers to come out with right predictions.

One of the features of a clock invented by him is that it shows the time of ancient days and the movement of planets in languages such as Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, and Tamil.

Another clock shows planets moving around the earth and their influence at different times and periods of life.

He also has a clock that shows astrological time and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Mr. Sugandhi’s new clock comes at a time when Bangalore is hosting a “World Watches Convention”.

Mr. Sugandhi can be contacted at Bichagatti Oni, Old Bus Stand, Surpur – 585224, or call 9449141051.

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