Art in step with time

NEW DELHI: For long,this black steel wedge filled with golden arabesque shapes has been a mystery to motorists using the Barapullah Flyover. But now that a signboard is up at the site and an organization devoted to popularizing science has done an event here , people have started realizing that this is no whimsical installation but the arm (the technical name is gnomon ) of a giant sundial. One that really, and correctly, tells time.

Set in the loop of the flyover, on the Sarai Kale Khan side, the instrument is by no means unique in a city blessed with one of Jai Singh's Jantar Mantars. But it has the advantage of not remaining besieged by protesters round the year. And Delhi Development Authority, which designed and built it, is working with other organizations to make it user-friendly.

DDA is proud of the gnomon that weighs 42 tonnes, and measures 12.7m high and 24.5m long.Itisdecoratedwithtilesborrowing motifs from the Indus Valley era. Designed in-house by DDA's Landscape Unit, it was built by the agency's engineers under the structural guidance of IIT Roorkee, and sculpted by Gagan Vij, said DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar.

For a pieceof art,theinstrumentissurprisingly useful. A group of scientists that tested it on the winter solstice — December 21 — found its north-south alignment correct and declared it accurate. But don't use your watch totestit. Whatthesundialshowsis "localtime" asopposedto your "clocktime" which,in India, is the Indian Standard Time (IST ) calculated in Allahabad. For example, it is noon by the sundialwhen theshadowof the gnomon disappears. But your watch — set to IST — will read 12.21pm at that time, as Delhi is 21 minutes behind Allahabad.

Reading time off the dial is a bit more complicated than checking your watch because the sun does not cast shadows from the same position every day. So, an "equation of time" has to be factored in to get accurate time. Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE ) has installed a board at the site describing how the sundial works and a table of values for "equation of time" will also be put up soon.
Till then, DDA officials have to contend with visitors who are disappointed by the sundial's "inaccuracy".

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