Museum mystery

JUST as well the Indian Military Academy spoke up when it did. Barely had national dailies splashed the news of the pistol missing from the ...

JUST as well the Indian Military Academy spoke up when it did. Barely had national dailies splashed the news of the pistol missing from the Naval Gallery of the National Museum than the IMA issued a statement that Pakistani General AAK Niazi8217;s personal weapon, which he had surrendered to Gen J S Aurora of the Eastern Command after the fall of Dhaka in December 1971, was safe in its custody.

The morning8217;s papers quoted S P Singh, director, conservation, as saying, 8216;8216;We don8217;t know if this was the real weapon or a replica, and there8217;s no way we can find out since the curators are on leave.8217;8217;

Crafted to imperfection

8216;8216;Do you have any brochures?8217;8217; was the rather plaintive question from Ellen Pike, a history teacher from the US. It says much more about the Crafts Museum than S Aparna, additional development commissioner for handlooms with additional charge of the museum, would like it to.
Since no brochures are available, Pike8217;s curiosity about the majority of artefacts and the 8216;8216;beautiful, ancient-looking cart outside the village complex8217;8217; goes unsatiated. 8216;8216;This place has a rich collection but not much information,8217;8217; says a disappointed Pike.
Among the other missing factors: armed security personnel, metal detectors, CCTVs and anti-theft systems. And a blink-and-you-miss-it reception which claims to organise guided tours on prior notice. Also unavailable for her comments: S Aparna.

The National Museum obviously has a lot to thank the IMA for. Apart from saving it major embarrassment over the pistol, it has removed all doubts about its status as unassailable custodian of history. One week may be too short a time to expect the institution to shake off 54-year-old habits, but for the sake of the thousands of schoolchildren who are herded around its galleries every year, one hopes the gun episode has come as a wake-up call.

The only question would be where to begin. Try the publications available the reception counter. A Guide to the National Museum doesn8217;t mention the Naval Gallery8217;s Maritime Heritage collection alongwith many others. The brochure makes only passing mention of the collection. And it isn8217;t included among the galleries that have exclusive catalogues.

The library isn8217;t much better. 8216;8216;The museum doesn8217;t have any catalogue that documents the 2,00,000-odd exhibits,8217;8217; says Pratibha Parashar, librarian and information officer. Demand answers from National Museum director-general R D Chowdhury, and this is what he has to say: 8216;8216;I can8217;t tell you why there has been no catalogue in the past. But we have come out with catalogues for specific galleries. A comprehensive physical verification of all the art objects is underway, once its complete, we8217;ll bring out the catalogue.8217;8217;

History repeats itself

THE National Gallery of Modern Art might be packed with paintings, sculptures and photographs worth a king8217;s ransom, but director Rajeev Lochan is not particularly worried. 8216;8216;We have 13 guards, 22 gallery attendants, a 24-hour caretaker,8217;8217; he says. What they don8217;t have are metal detectors, physical frisking, CCTVs or any sort of anti-theft system. Point that out and Lochan retorts, 8216;8216;How can anyone walk away with a large painting?8217;8217;
Apart from the security, there8217;s little to distinguish the NGMA from the National Museum. The exhibits bear labels that are cryptic at best. Or maybe the museum pre-supposes that all visitors are necessarily art aficionados? 8216;Raja Ravi Varma, holding a fruit, oil on canvas, 45215;10 cm8217; may spell it all out for the art student, but only tantalises the unschooled. For more, says Lochan, the visitor only needs to visit the education department in the gallery.

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IF the public is-it-isn8217;t-it over Niazi8217;s pistol wasn8217;t bad enough, the museum8217;s own employees have cast doubts about the authenticity of many of its possessions. In a writ filed by the National Archives and Museum Employees Union in 1997, 8216;8216;they sought an examination of the battle axe of Nadir Shah and all objects purchased between 1985 and 1997,8217;8217; says their lawyer R P Gupta. 8216;8216;They also alleged the misplacement of a couple of objects.8217;8217;

The High Court ordered the museum to set up a verification committee and submit a report within three months. 8216;8216;The committee is in its fourth year and the work isn8217;t complete yet. They submitted a report on March 15 this year, saying that they have verified 24,526 objects. Another 849 were pending verification, 84 needed further verification and 52 objects were found not okay,8217;8217; says Gupta.

If the museum staff themselves aren8217;t convinced about the genuineness about their objet d8217;art, one can hardly blame the visitors for being confused. What compounds their misery is the shoddy labelling; while some aren8217;t labelled at all, others are intelligible only to the student of art history.

Right at the entrance stands a beautiful marble sculpture. One needs Education Officer Vijay Mathur to explain, 8216;8216;Actually this has just come back from an exhibition. It is a Saraswati Chauhan created in 12th century Rajasthan.8217;8217;

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One wishes Mathur was at hand with help for the labelled objects too. Apart from the new miniature paintings gallery and the pre-history and Harappan civilisation gallery, the labelling appears to be lackadaisical. Try being Japanese and understanding a card that says 8216;Buddha with Avalokitesvara, wood carving, Khotan, 6th-7th century8217;.

Kurumi, visiting India from Japan, says it well. 8216;8216;The sculptures are no doubt beautiful, but I can8217;t get any information about their background. It would have been better if they had earphone guides.8217;8217;

Chowdhury agrees. 8216;8216;Once we are through with modernisation of the entire museum, we will be able to give more descriptive labels to the visitors. Then, they won8217;t need guides,8217;8217; he promises.

You8217;re on record, Mr Chowdhury. And history stands witness.