The Man Who Repaired Clocks
Short story about the time we cannot repair, and the moments we can still give.
For forty years, Ravi repaired clocks in a small shop at the end of the street.
Wall clocks, pocket watches, clocks that had stopped decades ago.
He liked to tell his customers, "Give me enough time, and I'll fix any clock."
One day, a girl of about ten walked into the shop holding an old alarm clock.
"Can you fix it?" she asked.
Ravi examined the clock. The hands were rusted, the spring was broken, and the glass was cracked.
"I'll try," he said. "Whose is it?"
"My grandfather's. He died a week ago."
Ravi looked up.
"Every morning at six, he used to wake me with this clock," she said. "Then we'd sit together on the balcony and drink tea. He always gave me his biscuit, even though he always said he wanted it."
She smiled for a moment.
"I want the clock to work again."
Ravi worked on it for three days. He took it apart, cleaned it, replaced parts. But the mechanism was completely ruined.
When the girl came back, he set the clock down on the counter.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't do it."
She said nothing.
"But you fix clocks," she whispered.
"That's right."
"Then why can't you fix this one?"
Ravi looked at the clock. For the first time in years, he had no answer.
At last he asked, "What did you love most about your mornings with your grandfather?"
"That he never hurried. Even when I was running late for school, he'd say we still had a moment."
Ravi smiled sadly.
"You know, all my life I thought I was repairing time. But I only repair the things that measure it."
The girl took the clock.
"So what do I do with it?"
"Maybe keep it by your bed. Not to wake you up, but to help you remember."
"Remember what?"
"That when someone tells you they have a moment for you, sometimes they're giving you the most precious thing they have."
A week later, the girl came back to the shop.
"I didn't come to get anything fixed," she said. "I just wanted to tell you that yesterday morning I got up at six. I made two cups of tea and sat with Mom on the balcony."
"And did you put a biscuit next to her cup?" Ravi asked.
"No," she laughed. "I gave her mine."
After she left, Ravi closed the shop early.
For the first time in years, he went to visit his brother.
He had nothing special to say to him.
But he had time.
Time will eventually take away everything we love. But until then, it gives us the chance to love. Don't wait for a special occasion to give someone your time. Sometimes, that moment is all that will remain.
Bhagavad Gita 11.32
An original, fictional Ohananda story inspired by Bhagavad Gita 11.32, where time is revealed as the force that eventually consumes all things. Ravi, the girl and the clock shop are fictional; this is not an ancient tale, a historical account or a scriptural quotation.
In chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna reveals his cosmic form to Arjuna and says:
"I am Time, the mighty destroyer of worlds."
Bhagavad Gita, chapter 11, verse 32 (free translation).
Time is not only what a clock measures. It is the force that eventually takes everything away. Yet precisely because nothing lasts forever, every moment we give to someone else becomes a gift.
Questions & answers
+What is the message of "The Man Who Repaired Clocks"?
Time is not only what a clock measures. It is the force that eventually takes everything away. Yet precisely because nothing lasts forever, every moment we give to someone else becomes a gift.
+Is this a true story?
An original, fictional Ohananda story inspired by Bhagavad Gita 11.32, where time is revealed as the force that eventually consumes all things. Ravi, the girl and the clock shop are fictional; this is not an ancient tale, a historical account or a scriptural quotation.
+Which wisdom tradition inspired this story?
Bhagavad Gita — Bhagavad Gita 11.32. How to act when action feels impossible.
Who could you give a moment of your time to today, for no special reason at all?
