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India: Here's why all clocks run backwards in this village

The anti-clockwise movement does not violate any physical laws

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What if your wall clock or wristwatch's hands began moving anti-clockwise? The world around you might turn upside down, and your schedule might go for a toss.

But life for hundreds of villagers in north Chhattisgarh, India, has been running perfectly well even when the hands of their watch moved the opposite direction. They must be time-travelling, you might think; quite the opposite.

For the Gond tribals of the Koriya district in north Chhattisgarh, such clocks tell the time perfectly. Their clocks function not clockwise, from left to right, but anti-clockwise, from right to left.

Only the position of some numerals from one to 12 needs to be altered. So, it is 11am after 12pm, not 1pm.

The decision to adopt the 'anti-clockwise clock' was taken in 2008 by the Gondwana Samaj, stemming from a long-standing Gond belief that movements from left to right are inauspicious.

According to a report in news18, the tribal families of the Gond tribal community associated with the Adivasi Shakti Peeth in Korba district believe that their clock is the most natural one as it follows the laws of nature. They say that the earth rotates anti-clockwise, that is, right to left. Even the moon revolves around the earth in an anti-clockwise direction.

"Clock hands moving anti-clockwise do not violate any physical laws," M.S. Rawat, professor of mechanical engineering at Bilaspur Engineering College told Hindustan Times. "Making them move clockwise is just a convention we follow. It's like driving on the left side of the road. Countries which drive on the right manage their traffic perfectly well too!"

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