Modi govt’s new Yuge Yugeen has set off lamentations about the loss of the old National Museum. But the institution did not always do justice to its role as the custodian of India’s patrimony.
Tasneem Z Mehta, managing trustee and honorary director of Mumbai’s Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, called it a good project in need of more professional management.
The National Museum building was designed by the first Indian chief architect of Central Public Works Department, GB Deolalikar and constructed by Bhagwat Singh.
A part of Modi govt's Central Vista project, Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum will open in three months. But work on moving the artefacts at the National Museum has not yet begun.
Museums like the Smithsonian have mounted shows on the Spanish flu, but Indian museums show no drive to document, collect, or preserve India’s Covid story.
Meat fat stock to lamb offals, the Harappan menu prepared by chef Saby and OSMS — which Delhi’s National Museum steered clear of — is an alarm clock to willing delusion of ‘pure veg’ India.
Historical facts take a backseat when you have gods on display. And it’s not just the babus in National Museum, museums struggle with religious artefacts world over.
Nick Jonas is not trying to modernise the mangalsutra, but his gesture shows that choices can be equal. If commitment must be flaunted, it need not be gendered.
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