Nestled between the Artificial Jewellery Shop and the Medical Supplies corner an elderly man sat on a high stool, fiddling with watches. He was surrounded by all manner of clock and watch parts and a small glass case displayed timing devices for sale, costing between a few dollars and several hundred. Gerald lives by the mantra “In India anything is possible”, but hopes for repairing his twenty year old travel alarm were fading.

Its a really cheap clock but its been a lot of places with me over the years and has sentimental value.

We approached the gentleman, asked if he repaired clocks, and he seemed to think it could be done. Of course, in India no one will ever admit that they cannot do something. We had spent the better part of two hours trying to get my IPad keyboard repaired or replaced ( it died suddenly), with no success. Each new person kindly shepherded us to the next “electronic shop” (nothing more then a tiny niche off the main market street crammed with plugs,memory cards,computer cords,etc.), but in the end , no go.

Do you mind waiting ten or fifteen minutes? He thinks he can do it.

I knew how much that clock meant to Gerald and I was enjoying watching the action on that very busy main street, so I said “Sure”.

It was after our dinner, about 8:00pm, and most of the Indian families who were spending their holidays in Udaipur were rushing around in rickshaws at dizzying speed or walking single file to avoid being sideswiped by a car. The evening was just beginning for them and the mood was festive with the whole family in tow- young couples with their children, in -laws on both sides and the occasional lone auntie or uncle.

I had the advantage of being able to see everything from my slightly perched position but not get in the way of the rush of bodies and cars. The main road was narrow, windy and not made for all the vehicles and cows that travel through.

Suddenly chanting and drums came from a loudspeaker nearby, and I craned my neck to see where it was coming from- a wedding procession perhaps? The last call to prayer from the mosques was over an hour ago. When I looked up I saw a Hindu shrine on the upper floor of a building across the road, where an evening puja was just beginning.

In the midst of all this frenetic activity, the clock man smiled at Gerald and said:

Clock fixed now.

The charge was 70 rupees (about a dollar) and we left, knowing that the clock still had many thousands of miles to journey in the future.