Alarm Clock
The small para on alarm clocks in the blog on Hari's new school has inspired me to write a bit more on this. I don't think I did justice to the status held by an alarm clock in every Indian household. Every normal Indian household will have an alarm clock. The day starts with the alarm clock and ends with it. It is usually the chosen favourite of the head of the family. Whether he goes to work early in the morning or not is immaterial. If anybody has to be woken up early, he will keep an alarm and set the clock beside him before going to sleep. It is an unbroken tradition still followed in many homes. My most wonderful encounter with alarm clocks was at my grandfather's place. Not a day would pass without my grandfather fiddling with the different keys in his new digital alarm clock. He used to have the traditional bedside clock - you know, the one without batteries. It was his duty to key the clock, to set the alarm and tap on its head when it rings. He did not trust anyb