This wristwatch belonged to the Mother’s mother. It was the time when the Ashram had no money and the Mother sold her jewelry. The Jauhar family bought some jewelry and this antique golden wristwatch was given to Promesse.
Kake’s passion for clocks dates back to his days as a teacher in the Free Progress School. One day one of his students asked him about the mechanism and functioning of clocks. Kake took this opportunity to go to a clock-maker’s shop in the market at Pondicherry in an attempt to find out more about clocks. He shared the information with his students and from then started buying old and defunct clocks which he took back home to repair.
That incident was the beginning of his fascination for clocks. From his regular visits to the elderly clock-maker he learnt about the mechanism of clocks, as well as how to repair and maintain them. Then he began collecting clocks. There was a young watch repairer whose father was a collector and since he had no space to exhibit the expensive antique Grandfather clocks, Promesse kept them at his home and learnt to repair them. In fact, some of the clocks he repaired were exhibited at the shop in the market place and as a result, they were even sold!
The watch repairing department at the Pondicherry Ashram was headed by Promesse where he used to repair watches with the help of Suresh. Often Suresh came to Kake’s home in the afternoon and they would spend hours tinkering with clocks. His passion for clocks and watches and his knack for repairing them caught on with his students. Every day, after school, his students would throng to his home to dismantle clocks, examine their mechanisms and try to repair them. The floor of his home was strewn with mechanical components and tools as he and students pored over clocks.
He was actually a time-keeper, Vandana recalls, as a Captain at the Sports Ground.
As a teacher, Kake’s interest and enthusiasm were boundless. If he decided one day that he wanted to learn baking, he would borrow an old oven from a friend and start learning to bake. “A similar desire to learn stitching led him to acquire a sewing machine, and we were all stitching one thing or another after school,” recalls his friend and former student, Vandana. “This is how many things started in our free progress system in the school for example, stitching sewing, cooking, baking and so on…” From 12 to 1.50 pm his house was like a workshop where students used to come and learn all sorts of things… computers, puzzle-making, repairing old irons, laptops, whatever ….older students taught the young ones and then Vandana would serve some refreshments - which was an additional incentive.
“Every afternoon, Kake’s room would be full of his students working with their hands on something or the other – mostly clocks,” recalls Tara Jauhar, fondly. “After he passed we had a difficult time storing the clocks, I gave most of them away”.
The black clock with the ship contained within it, still exists, though it doesn’t work anymore. When it was functional the ship used to move with the second hand…the ship swirled from side to side and in the background there was sunrise and sunset and lights moved constantly. He got 5 of these clocks from Pondicherry Sunday market for Rs 200, repaired them and distributed them…
