The Brief Mistry of Time

Today it is Sunday, October 26, 2014 while I am writing this post. Today, at 3.00 O’ clock in the morning all clocks are shifted 1 hour behind here in France. So, at 3 all digital clocks, all computer clocks, all mobile clocks automatically starts displaying 2.00 AM.  All mechanical clocks need to be taken back 1 hour manually. It is special day here in Paris or maybe at many parts of Europe. May be it is common for Europeans, but for Indian like me it is new funny event. 

When I woke up today morning my digital clock and Mechanical clock shows one hour difference. :)

 

In India there is only one time zone. And time is same all the year. But, in Paris, it changes twice year. In March on last Sunday, they will restore all the clocks by 1 hour. It is done here for daylight saving. I think it is good idea and necessary step, because during this time of year, there is dark outside until 8.00AM.  But, all daily routine work starts early morning and due to dark all lights needs to be kept on. But, by shifting clocks 1 hour behind, it is possible to tune the clock and with the sunrise and sunset. This must be saving lot of energy.

Daylight saving is normal for Europeans, but it raise many questions in my mind. It generates many funny situations and I am not sure how they are handled. Clocks are changed in the midnight while everybody is sleeping. Most of the people can continue their life in normal way. But these situations, given below may produce lot of confusion.

Case 1:

For example, if some baby say Baby A, is born at say 2.45AM on 26^th October, but since clocks are switched back at 3.00 AM to 2.00AM (by one hour), 2.45AM will come again after one hour this baby A is born. Suppose baby B is born at this moment, then its birth time is also 2.45AM. So actually baby A is 1 hour elder to baby B but their birth time is same 2.45AM. Funny, isn’t it? I will try to know what happens in this situation. Is their birth times are marked as 2.45a AM and 2.45b AM?   In India, people believe lot in astrology. According to astrology baby’s birth time is extremely important. Difference of one minute can change fate of newborn. I don’t know if Indian astrologists have given thought about this solution.

Case 2:

Another situation can produce the confusion in minds of Police or investigating agencies. Suppose some crime happens at 2.30AM at some place. Now, if criminal person returns to his/her home in next say 15 minutes. But, since time is taken behind by one hour, at 3.00 O’clock to 2.00 O’clock, 2.30AM will come again exactly after one hour. So criminal may be able to prove that he/she was at different place (at home in this case) when crime happened. Of course brilliant police here must have thought through this already. But I am not aware how they deal with this situation.

Case 3:

It is interesting case. It’s my own. I came to Paris in October and I will be returning India in December. When I came from India to Paris time difference in India and France was 3 hours 30 minutes. So I gained, 3:30 hours in my life. But, when I will return to India, time difference will be 4 hours and 30 minutes. I will be returning 4.30 hours. So technically speaking I lost one hour in my life. On absolute scale everything is same though. To gain my lost one hour, I need to come back here again when time changes in March.

So playing with the time is always dangerous and can produce funny events. To see what all can happen just see the movie series “Back to the future”. It can be really mess. Can you guess any other situation? Do you know answer to my questions? Please let me know.