150-yr-old govt museum stands the test of time

An eerie silence pervades the building. As you enter, an elderly woman, a staff er for 23 years and counting, sitting on a rickety stool looks at your electronic ticket. The sights you behold immediately transport you into a distant past. Welcome to India's second oldest museum, where time has stood still for over a century .
The Government Museum on Kasturba Road is nestled between Visvesvaraya Industrial Technological Museum and Venkatappa Art Gallery .Step inside and you can see showcases adorned with antiques like three-legged pots, Neolithic stone implements, mythological figures, floral designs and clay bangles from excavations in Brahmagiri, Banavasi, Jadigenahalli and Hampi, among other places.
One of the largest collections from the Mohenjo Daro era is a visual delight for the connoisseur and layman alike.
Surprisingly, the crowd is thin at the museum, which is observing its sesquicentennial celebrations on Wednesday. It completed 150 years on August 18 The armaments on exhibit are elabo rate, covering the period from the 17th to 19th century. There are helmets, bows, swords and spears, metal vests, guns and cannons. Coorg drums, pungis or bansuris, conches and tam bourines wither away behind dimly lit glass windows. Miniature paintings are also seen in all styles: Rajput, Mughal, Persian, Bhundi, Deccan, Orissa, Mysore and Tanjore.
Museum staffers said they recorded nearly 2 lakh footfalls in 2014-15. Mahboob Jilani, who does clerical work, said, “An archaeological museum isn't for everybody.“ “We have a minimum of 200 visitors daily; this can go up to 1,500 during the holiday sea son. In Sep tember, we welcomed 154 foreign tourists,“ he added.
Anoth er staffer set for re tirement said , “We used to receive many more visitors some 30 years ago as compared to now.But the museum's beauty remains the same. Artefacts that were added before I joined are in perfect condition till date.“
HT Talwar, director, Government Museum, said, “Low ticket rates of Rs 4 (adult) and Rs 2 (for children) give the impression that the museum has nothing to offer. But it does. We will put forward a proposal to increase the ticket rates.“
Need guides here
An interior designer recollected the first time she came to the museum with her father. She said, “It will easily take half a day to explore the museum but the lack of information is disappointing. One has to Google what one has seen. I wish they had guides.“ For instance, a magnificent Burmese bell with inscriptions in one corner of the Mohenjo Daro collection looks out of place. Even staffers don't seem to know the link. A group of art students at the museum said they drop by often to sketch the architectural wonder. Mala Sen, art instructor, said, “The works inside are beautiful but lack information.“
The museum was established in 1865, in Greco-Roman style. It started functioning in a temporary building on Museum Road and was shifted later to a new building in 1877 on Sydney Road (now Kasturba Road).