A vegetable vendor from Lucknow has handed over a special gift for the Ayodhya Ram Temple - a clock that displays time of nine locations from eight countries simultaneously. He also gifted one clock each to Ayodhya Junction and Hanumangarhi temple. 

Anil Kumar Sahu (52) gifted the clock to Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, ahead of the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple on January 22. 

First made in 2018, the clock displays the time of India, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Tokyo (Japan), Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China), Singapore, Mexico City (Mexico), Washington DC and New York (USA).

Notably, Sahu has the patent for the clock as he received the 'certificate of registration of design' by the Central government's Patent Office in 2018. He says that he now wants to include GMT in his 24-hour dial clock and make it big enough to denote timings in 25 countries later on. 

Sahu reveals the source of his inspiration

When asked about the inspiration behind the clock, Sahu said, "In 2015, I got a call from my landlord from Oman, and there was a discussion about the time zone. It was from here that the idea of designing a clock denoting the time of a number of countries took shape." 

"I gave the first clock to the Khatu Shyam temple in Lucknow. I gifted another clock to the Kotwa Dham and Kunteshwar Mahadev in Barabanki," he said. Sahu also has aspirations to gift one such clock to PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

He further said that he plans to commercially manufacture such clocks, but his hands are tied due to paucity of funds. According to Sahu, the cost of making the 75-centimetre-long diameter clock is around Rs 3,000 and it takes around one-and-half hour to make one. 

He also went on to share his story which includes a lack of interest toward studies and inclination toward electronic gadgets. Sahu revealed that he hails from Sakhiyaan in Fatehpur and moved to Lucknow in 1997. He further said that dropped out of school at 8th grade and failed to pass 10th grade after enrolling again at 9th. Despite selling vegetables since 2004, Sahu said that he has educated three of his daughters.