“Avoid Museums. If you are in a city, isnt it far more interesting to go in search of the present than the past?” suggests Paulo Coelho in Like a Flowing River . Paulo Coelho is one of the most celebrated authors worldwide and incidentally, one of my all-time favourite. I respect him. But this suggestion of his really shook me. I woke myself up from the half-slumber attitude wrt to Art and Culture I have been practising since I came to NCR, 11 months to be precise (Till my stint at IIT Roorkee, I always craved for Museums, Art Galleries, Theatre performances and Theme Fares. When you have Bengali sentiments but grow up in a non-bengali small town , you really miss-out another world, the world of art and Culture. I will discuss that is some other post. When I came to Noida, I had virtually reserved a weekend every month, for next 12 months , exclusively dedicated to Art Galleries, Theatre, Exhibitions, Museums. But my count in last 11 months is just a single show “Good-Bye Blue Sky”). I decided to take up the task of testing Coelho’s suggestion. Coelho cant be wrong. May be I need to change my interests.Next task was to identify a Museum in Delhi. A thorough search put the count at 22. The task of selection seemed so daunting that I had to adopt the strategy of elimination (Does that remind you of MCQs in your Entrance Papers?). Options such as Air Force, Railways and Children Museums were readily eliminated. Several were closed on weekends. Crafts Museum at Pragati Maidan was the best of the choices available. So dedicated my Saturday to it.
The place was deserted, except for the guards and the care-takers. I knew that the interest in stuff like Museum has dwindled in NCR (If you think I am talking like a Septuagenarian, ask anyone who is residing in Delhi for past 30 years), but lessened interest meant only 15-20 people, I didn’t know that! This meant either of the two things – either the place sucks big time or the Septuagenarians are correct, or maybe both. I was delighted to see Bihar figure in many places – stuff of Oraon tribe, kantha and a bit of silk trade. It is a tragedy that you get to hear about the place either in Museums or in countless class IV workers in the street (More about that, some other time) or in Newspaper reports of abductions. I was more than elated to see Bihar in a positive light, even though for a change.
Bengal was everywhere – from musical instruments of the Oraon tribe to Kantha embroidery, from Chromolithographs made in Germany but marketed in Bengal to Jamdani and Baluchari print Saris, and all of these were of late 18h century. I learnt a point or two about Fashion, Titillation, Bhut, Trade in 18th Century, How religion affected business, Stonesmanship (Or, whatever you call it) and Bankura (My father’s place of Origin).
Bhut
In 18th Century, a tribe in Karnataka actually worshipped ‘Bhut’ i.e. Ghosts.They believed in the dead ancestors and dieties e.g. Nandikeshwar, Chamunda etc to protect them from natural calamities. All the idols they made were of Jackfruit (Katahal) timber. Though I wonder why only this timber was used !
Fashion
Fashion has come a full circle. Let me explain it. Kantha(shaped square or rectangular, its a piece of Textile from Bengal and Bihar by Hindu and Muslim women) has an interesting origin in Bengal. Very few could afford cloth in rural Bengal in that era. So the women picked up usable pieces from used clothing and stiched them up. In order to make them look good, threads from Saree borders were used to border it. What used to be the innovation of the poor to meet its clothing necessity has become so fashionable these days.
Trade in 18th Century
- Some of the Chromolithographs (a painting used to decorate walls and is a multi-coloured print on paper or something else. It was hugely popular in America, Europe and in affluent-class India in the Victorian Era. ) in the Museum were made in Germany. One said ‘Printed in Saxony‘and the other ‘Bombay: Made in Germany‘.
- British discouraged the Textile industry in India and tried to capture the market by flooding its own products. Supply-Demand equations suggested Britain to import the stuff from Germany, which had a flourishing textile industry in 1880s. Textile Mills of Manchester and Glasgow, and of Krefeld in Germany worked for extended hours to meet the demands of the Imperial Empire – especially in India.
- Parsis captured the opium trade with China, after British decided to quit the business. The ships delivered opium to China hinterland and returned home with silk and fabulous wealth. The rich Parsi Woman now became fashion conscious and wore imported Sarees (Kor ni Sari – A Sari with Borders).
Titillation
British identified that the affluent-class and middle-class in India had a fascination for fair-skined European Women. To encash this desire the British came up with textiles havng prints of European Women in somewhat revealing outfits. This was also evident in the postcards, oleographs and chromolithographs of Victorian Women. Now who says titillation is new to India?
How religion affected business
A sign of god or goddess in anything enhanced the desirability of any commmodity among the rural folks. To tap tis market British brought Cotton Sarees and Dhotis with pictures of dieties on them. Shiva and Krishna were the most popular porcelain dieties. Oleographs with Durga were also popular.
Stonesmanship
Nathuram of Agra Stone Works became favourite of the Brtish for his stone-works. More than 500 people worked for him in the Agra region on a variety of stones – Lapiz Lazuli, Malachite, Onyx, Amethyst etc. His claim to fame became international after he won international Awards like World Columbian Commission International Exhibition, Chicago in 1893 and Britsh Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924.
Bankura
How do you feel when you see something two centuries older and from the place where your paternal fraternity belongs to? Excited and curious, isnt it? Till now I knew Bankura for its 1:1 sex ratio and contibution to Bengali music – from classical Bishnupur Gharana to Bengali Rock Band Jiggasa. But the textile map of India suggested it was an important silk-centre as well.
There was a flip side as well. Severe mismanagement seemed evident when you look at the non-craft side of the Museum. The place deserves much better visitor friendliness than what is present.
- I was struck by the security of the place, or rather the lack of it. Most of the care-takers were either dozing or reading newspapers with least interest in the visitor. When I spent almost 15 minutes at the Bhuta Gallery, one quipped – Arre Saab, isme kya rakha hai? Udhar exhibit mein jayiye, bahut kuchh hai dekhne ko. (Man, whats here to see? Go and visit the Exhibition.)
- In many places Photography and Videography was banned. But in some, you can take snaps after taking permission. Even when I found the place to take permission, there was no-one there to take care of my request.
- Most of the Cultic Objects didnt bear any nameplate making it difficult for the less informed visitor to infer what the object is.
- The Tribal Map of India said Oraon tribe is in North-East of Bihar, North Bengal and North Orissa. I couldn’t disagree more. How come South Bihar (which became Jharkhand in 2001) and North East not mentioned? There are many of them in the Tea Gardens of Assam. The ArchBishop of Ranchi is also an Oraon.
All in all, a great way to spend six hours of your weekend. Where else can you a free trip to History (Paternal and National) and Culture with all the pieces of evidences?
Sorry Paulo, you are not always correct, at least not in your view about all the Museums. And I strictly recommend visiting Museums (at least the Crafts Museum) to all the categories of tourists. If the Museum is in your own country, you might get to learn several things like I did from my tour. Or, if you are a foreigner, you might be able to learn a good deal about the culture of the place before actually foraying into the city streets. Bon Voyage.
As the introduction starts , it seeemed that old Kalyan has returned, who can just let the reader see the thing what he is writing , but to my great disappointment the post turned up to be more of a pointed note than what the title revaled.
Felt that , there should have been little more of feeling , with pinches of thoughts.
The post was close to perfection , but still there was something lacking.
Sudeshna,
Glad to see you in constructive criticism mode, finally. Point well taken and noted. But one thing ‘The post was close to perfection’. How could it be, if it is ‘more of a pointed note than what the title revealed’?
On a closer look, I infer that the post should have been split into 2. One part taking care of the information and the other part, its analysis. Had earlier planned it taht way, but feared that it would not attract the reader (I could see the interest of peope in stuff like Museum. In a place with 1.5 crore population, all you had on a Satuday morning were a few families and ‘nuts’ like me).
Thinking how to rectify the mistake. Thanks again.
Kalyan ,
I was compelled to write”the blog was near to perfection” because of the introduction you posted .It was really good.
okkk so now u people starts ur intellectual conversation here itself.
well Kalyan i also thinks that this should have been split into 2, at least dnt put one inside each other …
vaise no issue. u r utilizing ur precious time doinn something which most people dnt think about.
gd one kalyan(katta).
information was gd, at one pt. of time i felt tht i am reading wikipedia(website i admire most after youtube,gmail, google, orkut & bloggers.com)
a well balanced article. thts what makes me believe tht u can write for a newspaper. writing-with some aim in mind- gd yaar.
I loved the ending most.
Paulo is one of my favorite authors. but he never disappointed me as i never trusted his words completely because very strongly i believe tht everybody has its own way of looking and perceiving things. I always admired paulo, richard bach, ayn rand and Aubrey Menen, and loved the kind of personalities they are, learned alot from them but never tried to be like them completely. Again, i “ll stress on never. coz i know the bottomline we all can be great i our own way.
Cheers!
@Sudeshna
I would continue to wait for your critical reviews, and would try to put up more interesting introductions.
@Deepak
Thanks for the applause (Did someone clap over there?)
@Jasdeep:
OMG. Dude, I am flattened. The post reminded you of Wikipedia ! This is the most encouraging applause I have even received for my posts.
Interesting read. Are you still on your museum trail?