7. Time Measurement
There is only one popular system of time measurement in the world – the “sexagesimal” system, i.e. a system based on division by 60. I actually wondered why we humans use a decimal system (10-base) for measuring everything but time and why base-60 of all things? Apparently, it goes back to the ancient babylonian and sumerian civilizations. They used a 60-based system for counting, possibly because then anything can be easily divided by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. So, when used for time measurement, this system allows us to divide an hour into 2 parts, 3 parts, 4, 5, or even 6 parts quite easily. Though, I am sure that if we humans had started to use any other system, we would’ve gotten used to it and would’ve found that quite convenient. And also, why don’t we use the sexagesimal system for counting other things then? This might go back to ancient India where zero was invented which led the wheels of the decimal system in motion.
Another thing worth mentioning here is that humans have also experimented with decimal time. Apparently, France used a decimal time system (1 day = 10 decimal hours, 1 decimal hour = 100 decimal minutes, 1 dMinute = 100 dSeconds) for 6-7 years during the French revolution (1794-1800). More recently, the Swiss watch company Swatch (and the Swiss know a thing or two about measuring time or at least selling time measuring gadgets, i.e. watches) came up with a decimal time system where a day was divided into 1000 decimal minutes or “beats”, counted from 000 to 999; 000 being midnight and 500 noon. Needless to say that the system didn’t pick up (even though Swiss watches remain as popular as ever).
Coming to the iMetric system of time measurement. There are no surprises here. Indians also measure time in the same way as everyone else: 1 day = 24 hours, then 60 minutes and 60 seconds. But that doesn’t mean that Indians are ever on time. If you are planning to meet with an Indian and they say “I will be there in 5 minutes!”, those ‘5 minutes’ van anything between 5 minutes and 2 hours. This is the reason why IST (Indian Standard Time) is jokingly referred to as Indian “Stretchable” time. So, when a wedding invitation card in India mentions a dinner time of 7 pm, the guests don’t show up before 8:30 pm. Also, I have never seen those “2-minute noodles” sold by Maggi in India being cooked in 2 minutes, at least not the way Indians prepare them.
Also, India also briefly had daylight saving time, not surprisingly during the British Raj. The British government found it inconvenient that when they changed summer/winter time in London, the time in India remained the same. So, they experimented with daylight saving in India for some years (1942-1945; during WWII). This was stupid on two accounts – 1) India is a relatively low-latitude country and the difference in day-time length is not that stark in summer or winter, and 2) Indians are already so confused and nonchalant about time that you are inviting a disaster by adding the clock-change component. Actually, this might be the reason why India doesn’t use multiple time zones even though it easily could –
India lies between longitudes of 28 degrees East (a place called Ghuar Moti in Gujarat) and 97 degrees E (Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh). That’s a difference of almost 70 degrees. Because the Sun takes 1 hour to move 15 degrees, India observes a difference of around 4 hours 40 minutes in the sun-rise (and sun-set) in the easternmost and westernmost parts. If Indian states were independent countries, they could easily be using 3-4 different timezones to cover this large difference. But they don’t and it’s a good thing because think about all those train routes of 36-48 hours or even longer running across India. Operating those trains would be a bigger chaos than it already is. Or those cricket matches taking place in different Indian cities during an IPL (Indian Premier League) season. Trains might be or not be on time but we Indians can’t tolerate any confusion about the time of a cricket match!
In the end, India is happy with just one timezone even though it means that you have a really early sunrise if you are in the states of Assam or Meghalaya but a quite late sunset if you are in Rajasthan or Gujarat. It’s similar to the extremely late dinner culture of Spain which follows CET – Central European Time – but lies much further in the west relative to other central European countries.
Dates and Stuff
Yes, Indians love to eat dates!
Oh right, we are talking about “dates”. No, most of us Indians don’t (openly) date because our parents don’t allow it!
But I think we were talking about “dates”, the numbering of days in a month and year and other calendar stuff. Well, that’s a complicated subject.
Remember the year 2012 when people were worried that the world was coming to an end? You know what was all that about? Calendar. Apparently, the ancient Mayan civilization had a calendar that ended in 2012 (some say, it was only because the Mayans ran out of space on the rock they were writing their calendar on). This story is but one illustration of the existence of many different calendars in the world over the history. In India itself, there are many different calendar systems with their own date systems.
Let’s discuss some of the most used calendars in India. There is of course the Gregorian calendar (aka “Christian calendar”) introduced by the British. Unless it’s about religious stuff, Indians use the Gregorian calendar. So, when they say “date” in India, Gregorian date is what they mean.
Then there is the Hindu Vikram Samvat calendar that started counting the years 57 years before the Gregorian one. In all Hindu religious ceremonies and pujas, the priests mention the Vikram year, month and date. It’s a solar calendar that uses lunar (not lunatic) months. So, the dates are as per the phases of the moon and are called tithis. They don’t line up at all with the dates and that’s why pretty much all Hindu festivals are a source of great contention – on which date do you celebrate Diwali or Holi or Rakshabandhan … Usually, the Hindu calendar tithi of a festival spills over two dates. Half the experts go for this date and half for the other. The common public just picks one based on their faith in the experts, based on their neighbors’ choice and sometimes based on personal convenience!
Then there is Muslim Hijri calendar which starts counting the years from the year Hazrat Muhammad traveled (made a “hijr”) from Mecca to Madina, i.e. 622 years after the Gregorian calendar. It’s a lunar calendar and would have the same problem of a day spilling over two Gregorian dates but most muslims follow the Mecca time or dates in case of contention.
Then there is also the Bengali samvat (spoken as sambat in Bengali) which has its epoch 593-594 years after the Gregorian calendar and is a solar calendar. I don’t have much idea about this calendar and I never had to.
Surely, there are many more calendar systems in India like the Parsi calendar (for the small zoroastrian community in the western parts of India) and I can’t list them all. The point is that India has many systems to define dates. Though, you shouldn’t have problems navigating India due to that because the Gregorian calendar is used by default for everyday life. Though, that doesn’t mean that Indians have any special respect for dates. But they still respect dates more than time!
A British friend was once telling me, in a half funny, half annoyed manner, that many older Indian guys that he dealt with for buying and selling houses all had a date of birth 1st January. How was that possible? Well, it’s not a magic trick! Noting down the date of a child’s birth wasn’t something that Indians bothered themselves with. People of the generation of even my parents, i.e. born in the 1950s and 60s, don’t know their exact birthdays. They probably know the religious calendar day they were born on but not an actual date. So, when they needed to register for university or a job or something, they just chose a random date. And because 1st Jan is just the most convenient date to choose, many elderly Indians migrating to the UK in the decades past were all seemed to be born on the new year’s day. It’s not like a whole generation of women jointly decided to get pregnant on a fixed date and then deliver the baby on exactly 1st Jan! Though, how cool would that be!
So, there you have it, the Indian measurement “iMetric” system. There are too many shades and too many little things in the system to cover it in one piece of writing. So, don’t blame me if you apply the knowledge you gained here in India and fall short.
