Posted on: 16 January 2012

Dust and babudom have mummified our museums
By Anil Dharker
Times of India - 15 January 2012

Here, at last, is some good news for our national treasures: the ministry of culture has announced a tie-up with the British Museum for a five-month leadership programme for senior personnel from Indian museums. The first batch of 20 people from 12 institutions across the country are expected to start on their training soon, and hopefully will come back to rejuvenate our museums.

And do they need rejuvenation! In fact, some of them are so moribund that what they need is resuscitation. Go to the Indian Museum in Kolkata and you will see PWD-coloured walls, wonderful paintings displayed in corridors with tube lights. Go to the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai… you probably won't: in a metropolis where contemporary art flourishes in private galleries, NGMA sits like the Sphinx, monumental yes, but dead and gone a long time ago. The depressing roll call of neglected institutions includes the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, the National Museum in Delhi, the Victoria Memorial Museum in Kolkata, to name just a few. Most of them are headless, some with no director to lead them for years.

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Add Chennai Connemara Musuem to the list. Sad state of affairs.

very hard hitting and factual article by Anil Dharker...

Recently there was some talk of cataloguing the collections of various museums... sort of an inventory by a central body which was vetoed by no museums including one in mumbai and pune..... wonder why? Despite our awesome collection of artifacts in our various museums, display is pathetic and static ....Hope Jawhar Sircar can bring some improvement to this nearly moribund state.

Musuem culture is still in its infancy in India. Most worldwide musuems have flourished only since the middleof last century, even though being in existence since the 16th or 17th century when they were in private hands (read monarchy). Many musuems are also funded by institutions and universities. There is hope for us, provided the above mentioned program of 20 people does not end as fully paid pleasure trip.

Hope the training turns out better for our museums.