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Journalism of Courage
VADODARA, JULY 19: The Baroda Museum has got a collection of over 66,000 antiques. Two years back it decided to buy an X-ray machine to examine damage to paintings and other objects. Since then the machine has been lying in the store-room. The reason: It is meant for examining patients!
It has been a costly goof-up. The machine was procured at a cost of Rs 2.5 lakh, the amount taken from a Rs 5-lakh grant the museum had received. The actual X-ray machine, used for checking the artifacts, cost only Rs 60,000.
Picture restorer B M Mali, who placed the order, is being blamed for the goof-up, but he says: "Mistakes do happen. But nobody has opened the X-ray machine wrapper yet to find out whether it can be used even on paintings. You can’t jump to a conclusion straightaway. We simply don’t have a power point (to plug in the machine) to know the truth."
However, Curator (Arts) Satish Sadasivan says a radiologist from the S S G Hospital had examined the machine and confirmed that it was meant only for use on humans, not on paintings.
Sources said there is more to the incident than meets the eye. X-ray machines meant for paintings are imported because they are not manufactured in India. The one that the museum has was purchased locally.
Sources say Sadasivan has recommended to the Director of Museums removal of Mali from service for this goof-up as well as for other lapses. In fact, at least three in-charge directors handled the case but none bothered to take action.
Mali is also accused of having allowed damage to be caused to Holy Family, a painting by Bonifazio Veronese. An assistant of his, while removing a nail from the inner frame, grazed the painting with the point. The frames were removed from many a European paintings last year to allow a photographer unblocked view of the masterpieces.
Mali said he was not aware how the nail came to be stuck in the painting. "Such damages are common. I can show you around to prove the point," he shoots back. He says the damage to Holy Family, detected only last week, must have been caused unintentionally.
Mali has other allegations to make about the museum. He demonstrates that a Rs 5 lakh burglar alarm is not working. "None of the pieces of the alarm system are connected. How will the alarm go off?" he asks. "I am being blamed for every thing by people jealous of my air-conditioned cabin," he says.
One fact he cannot refute: He has a bachelor’s degree in applied arts, whereas picture restorers are meant to have degrees in either chemistry or painting.
Mali has a stock answer: "Why does the government allow me to continue in the post if I am unfit." He says he has undergone two years’ training in restoration in Delhi.
