| |
HERITAGE: MUSEUMS
Criminal Neglect
Crumbling edifices, stolen artefacts, unappealing
design, atrocious displays and missing inventories mark the state of Indian
museums today. Apathy and lack of funds suggest our heritage will continue
to rot.
By S. Kalidas
Last week, Stefano
Grossi, an Italian doctor, had a day to kill in Chennai. He was not exactly
feeling homicidal but the heat and humidity were driving him close to
it. Hoping to beat both climate and boredom, Grossi decided to instruct
himself on Indian culture by visiting the Government Museum. But by the
time he was through, far from killing time, he was ready to kill the mandarins
of the Indian cultural establishment.
 |
|
 |
| CORRODING CULTURE: (Clockwise
from left) A vandalised Buddha; the graffiti-scarred mammoth at the
Chennai museum; an antique being dragged across the corridors of the
Indian Museum in Kolkata |
So what drove a simpatico Italian to verge on
the maniacal? Since Grossi's story epitomises the experience of the average
museum-goer in India, it would be instructive to hear his tale out.
Established in 1851, the museum is India's second
oldest repository of archaeological, cultural and zoological remains after
the Indian Museum in Kolkata. At the entrance, Grossi enquired whether
he could engage a guide to explain the exhibits to him. Pat came the reply:
"There are description boards to guide you, saar." Grossi then
asked if he could buy a catalogue or a brochure. "Not in stock,"
mumbled the attendant. Grossi paused to wipe his sweat as he passed two
9th century stone dwarapalakas from Thanjavur guarding the sculpture gallery.
Open windows with iron grills let in the humid breeze-the air-conditioning
he had hoped for wasn't there in this temple of beauty.
To pursue true knowledge, Indian wisdom told
Grossi, he must persevere, preferably with pain and penance. And persevere
he did, as he faced the museum's mission statement: "The cultural
and educational values of museums have to be fully utilised in Third World
countries." It was signed R. Kannan, commissioner of museums, Government
of Tamil Nadu. For a 5,000- year-old civilisation to aspire to the status
of a Third World country was an ambition that baffled the Roman in Grossi.
But then, who was he, a mere malecchha (foreigner), to pass judgement?
Ignoring the all-pervasive graffiti, Grossi
tried to contemplate the sanctity of the Chalukya and Amravati sculptures.
He looked for signages in vain. Many of the boards had been crudely removed
or callously defaced. The one beside a Buddha sculpture told him: "Navin
really loves Usha". The love birds hadn't spared even the ivory of
the mammoth in the zoology gallery. Messages of love and heart-and-arrow
signs were carved on the skeletal remains. The prehistoric section was
closed as the building was so "dilapidated that it was declared unsafe".
But for the Chola bronzes, Grossi's misadventure with Indian heritage
would have ended sooner than the heart-wrenching 45 minutes it actually
took. By now Grossi needed a cold drink but the museum didn't have a restaurant
or even a canteen. A couple of makeshift stalls by the entrance sold cheap
snacks. "They've been allowed here on humanitarian grounds,"
said a museum official.
From Chennai to Delhi and Mumbai to Kolkata,
even in this age of artfully packaged and technologically hyped cultural
identities, Indian museums-barring a few exceptions like the private Calico
Textile Museum in Ahmedabad or the Crafts Museum, Delhi-seem to belong
to the Jurassic age of museology.
|
|
| GETTING IT RIGHT: The Indian Museum, Kolkata, realised
the need to hire design and lighting specialists to improve its display
|
Along M.G. Road in Mumbai one can routinely see
children urinating on the outer wall of the Prince of Wales Museum. Renamed
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum a few years ago, it may be cleaner
and slightly better off than many others, yet it is far from even approaching
international standards when it comes to display, lighting and visitor
facilities. The wall oozing moisture in the main lobby may not be one
of its better attractions but what is conspicuous is the absence of description
tags on many exhibits, not to speak of the damaged oil canvases of 18th
and 19th century European painters. There are no specialist guides, no
gift shop, and more importantly, no conservation laboratory. In fact,
there is no conservation lab in the whole of western India.
|
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives
