1858 was an important year especially since it concerns my subject matter. It was the year when Lady Canning the wife of then Indian viceroy John Canning asked Bhim Chandra Nag to create a sweet named after her. The sweet he named Lady Canning is highly popular today as ‘ledikeni’. Now to come to the second important occurrence of that year that forms my immediate concern. It was also the year when Cooke&Kelvey the British watch company came to Calcutta. When he visited the already famed shop (it was 30+ years old by that time in 1858) Thomas Cooke was impressed with what he tasted. Being the quintessential punctual British - so always in need of a device to maintain time and an established watch manufacturer at that - upon finding that there is no clock at the shop, he decided to gift one . When he divulged his wish, Bhim Chandra Nag was thankful, but he also communicated a very practical problem. How would the English illiterate, Bengali speaking employees see time with...