Museum Languishes and History Learning Suffers A museum is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artefacts and

other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary so goes the definition extracted from !ikipedia" #urely this is what the $gmore %useum, &hennai seeks to do" 't does have a collection, it does care for it and it does make it available for public viewing" And yet, it is so disappointing" 't is so for many reasons" (here is such a lack of organisation and imagination or creativity in the display that it beggars another definition of the word" )n #unday, ' went to the %useum with my colleague to reconnoitre the area so as to bring our children over to study certain sections of the museum" !henever we have brought our students to the %useum, it has been to study and to learn, not merely to view" (he sections that we have used have been those housing the 'ndus *alley )bjects and the geology section" +or sometime, we have been wanting to view the Amaravati section and also the prehistory section with a decent collection of artefacts from ,eolithic and %egalithic sites in 'ndia" (here are two parts to my essay narrating my ire and anguish" (he first part is general and connected to all the people who come in to view the museum" (he museum has kept entry and parking cheap and that is good because it attracts many to it" )n #unday, in the hour and a half that we were there, we saw busloads of people, people with their children, grownups keen on making sense of what they saw" #o, there is an interest and certainly there is a need to create interest" #econdly, the museum is making an effort to keep an exhibit of the day neatly lit, and exhibited with explanations in both (amil and $nglish" #o far, so good" -ut, that is all" )f the sections open, the 'ndus #ections, the prehistory, and the Amaravati sections have been closed for over more than two years now" 't is not clear why" (he whole museum has been re.organised" (he main building houses sculptures from over the ages" (here is no real historical sense in the arrangement" #ome labels are cryptic (/ali, 0nknown, for example) or (/akshi, from a place far from &hennai)" /ou have mostly 1indu iconography and very

few -uddhist ones here" 't is not necessarily arranged dynastically or period.wise or in any way that could make sense to the general public" ' overheard a woman say to a young man, looking at the bull capital cast kept in a case2 -uddhism" 3ont you remember Ajanta and $llora4 And the young man sheepishly replied2 /es ' have read it but cant recollect" (here are terms like yakshi, chauri bearer, gandharvas, ganas and so on but no explanations" $ach exhibit could have been enhanced with explanations, neater, clearer writing and good photographs, maps, timelines, dynastic charts even" 'nstead, there are short, sometimes poorly typed labels that say nothing, do nothing and do not work at all" (here is so much interest and yet there is too little initiative to instruct and make available material that people have not been able to pick up in history classes (history classes have been times to switch off, stick to text, to complete syllabus and to answer 5uestion papers, havent they4)" #o, here is where museums can step in and educate people" ' have gone to a few (very few) museums outside 'ndia" (here ' notice special programs, worksheets, and guide sheets for children" 't is an educative tour6 not a mere walk through or rush through affair" 's this not possible here4 All through these exhibits, the eye notices the sculptures are of different materials" 1owever, it would have been good to have been told why the 1oysalas used a dark stone that was polished and intricately carved when compared to some other that presumably used granite" !ould it have been too much trouble to point out how a 7allava sculpture can be recognised and differentiated from &hola or *ijayanagara or &halukyan ones4 (here are printouts, photographs" -ut they are unattractive, black and white and poorly lit" A section development of scripts has been there for more than ten years8 with no change" A large rock says it shows 7allava script" -ut there is nothing discernable on it" %aybe an epigraphist or people who have experience of weathered scripts can make out the inscription" -ut the layperson84 'n fact, ' heard a group of excited people say, 9All this is about languages": And it was not" (ucked in a corner we saw a chart showing differences in 7allava, &hola and *ijaynagara styles of corbel, niche and pavilions (what are they4)" (he chart made little sense when there were ,) examples of any of these anywhere in the museum" A huge model of the #tupa at #anchi attracted a large number of viewers" !ho would have made sense of it4 !hy was it built4 !here is #anchi4 !ho built

it4 !hat is the reason for its 5uaint shape4 ,othing" )ne could learn nothing from it, except that it was the 9;reat #tupa at #anchi" (here is a sign that says2 %aintain silence" (here is no silence" (here is no atmosphere created for silence" A stentorian whistle fre5uently permeates the museum" (his is to ensure people do not touch or go to places they shouldnt" -ut, is there not a more dignified way to do this4 +or instance, a family group who wandered off to a restricted place came out apologising for going there" -ut the guard needed his pound of flesh and berated them further" ' felt, as ' came out, that there was an opportunity missed in every part of the museum" (here is a sculpture garden" (his was so promising that we went in" (he sculptures are labelled" -ut, beyond stating that this was %ahavira, this was a (irthankara (how did one know4) or that this was a ,andi8 there was nothing to instruct in an easy to understand way" (here was stone railing around the mango tree there that looked lovely" -ut what was the railing actually4 !e made out that it was possibly from a #iva temple from looking at the sculptures there, but there was nothing else" 'n the middle of the sculpture garden, with no clear context, lay a beautiful example of a petrified wood from (hiruvakkarai" (his is the difficulty with the museum" 'f one knew some history like ' do, one still came out with a ha<y sense of images in history" 'f one did not know much like many there, what would they have left with4 'f somebody asked them about the museum, would they have said2 /es, it was nice8" (here were sculptures8"4 (he campus is full of trees" ,i<hal organises tree walks there" 't is only then that one learns about the trees" -ut they are not labelled and there is no explanation" )ne tree that attracted attention was the cannon ball tree that was full of the fruit that gives it its name" At least twice we heard people think it was a bael tree with huge fruit" (he cryptic board2 &annon ball tree does little to help" Another missed opportunity" (he second part of my ire is personal, for it pertains to experiences of the teachers at my school" +or the past three years we have been experiencing difficulty in viewing the 'ndus *alley #ection" 7oor as it is in artefacts (seals are casts and pictures of seals are like black and white photographs from a history text book), we have been able to use this to the hilt because of a worksheet that we have developed that helps children build history through artefacts" ((his worksheet attracted the attention of the curator, who immediately re5uested a copy, which was given)"

-ut, the section was under renovation and was locked the first year6 the next, it was ready, but not inaugurated" (hen, it was inaugurated but yet not ready for public viewing" )n #unday too, there was no access to the section" !hy is this so4 !hat is wrong4 !hy is there such a lack of will, of initiative or of imagination in a place that doesnt seem to lack funds4 ' have seen school children being brought to the museum" (hey are hustled in lines" (hey barely see anything before the teachers tell them in raised and peremptory tones to hurry up" (hen it is done" (he mandatory trip to the museum is over" )ne such school, when ' asked, came all the way from 7erungalathur" A wasted journey6 a wasted effort" -ut what else can schools do4 ' have seen online museum websites that cater to school children" (he worksheets can be downloaded, printed and brought along" &hildren learn to #$$ the objects, make the connections needed to history and really =$A>," -ut not here" 3espite a new curator who seems to be infusing some life into the museum, the museum disappoints" 't falls short" 't has become part of the apathy that is now the fabric of our country" 3o wake up" 3o something or another generation of ill.informed people will emerge" 's this what we want4 . Akhila #eshadri ((eacher, (he #chool (?+')) &hennai