Indian Subcontinent

The geographical area now includes modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Many cities have changed names since independence in 1948. A first time ball service in India was established at Calcutta in 1835. Later, there were three Calcutta time balls in parallel operation. Another early time balls were erected at Madras but it had a chequered history and Madras preferred a time gun as the principal signal for extended periods. Another early time ball was operational at Colaba Observatory in Bombay during 1840, later moved to Bombay Castle. Another time ball was installed at Bombay docks in 1891 and became the principal signal. A time ball at Karachi was announced in 1874 and time balls later existed there at three different locations. Another was established in 1919 in the Andaman Islands. Colombo in Ceylon initially had a time ball, replaced by a semaphore signal which was in turn replaced by another time ball.