A walk into the past

As yet another International Museum Day falls today, one is reminded of the neglected state of museums in the city. The government recently floated a few initiatives to revive and restore the existing museums but there seems to be no sustained effort to keep these spaces alive and interactive for the public, especially the youngsters. 

While a trip abroad is never complete without a visit to a museum, those in Bengaluru don’t even figure in the list of must-see places of long-time residents of the city. The State Museum, Wood Museum, Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum and HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum are mines of information but not many people visit them or even know about them.

There are many like Rajeev A, a software developer, who have never visited a museum in Bengaluru. “I don’t know where the museums here are located because there’s not much awareness about their existence or the activities they offer. The government must do more to get people to visit these centres,” he says. He also points out that tapping into the IT crowd in the city would be a good way to draw people to visit museums.

“The city has a floating population and popularising the culture of museums among them is a good way of getting them to feel one with the city,” he adds. Youngsters like Sahana Charan, a student of design, recollects that she has visited a museum from school but hasn’t had the interest to go back since. “It’s our heritage but there’s no driving force to revisit museums. There’s must be more interactive spaces within the museums here, and I feel that information must be presented in a crisp and attractive format. There’s not much trending on social media as well,” Sahana points out.

There are a few groups like ‘Rereeti’ which believe that museums are holders of tradition and must be preserved for posterity. “Imparting education and creating more awareness is important for getting more people to visit the museums in our city,” says Tejshvi Jain, founder-director of ‘Rereeti’. She points out that museums here aren’t as user-friendly and interactive as they should be. “Museums here must strive to develop spaces that are attractive and visually appealing. Visual communication is a powerful tool and museums must cash in on that,” she adds.

There are several organisations like the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) which have chalked out several proposals that the government could implement to refurbish the existing museums. The interest among people for visiting museums has not diminished but museums here are not catering to keeping that interest alive, feels Meera of INTACH. “Museums are always highly recommended to travellers, tourists and people of a city. Every city is proud to showcase its museums, but sadly none of the museums in Bengaluru are highly rated. Museum establishments here have to update themselves and package information in a more interactive way,” says Meera.

Drawing a comparison, she says, “For instance, Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum always has children and tourists milling around, but the State Museum looks deserted most of the time. It is high time museums do everything they can to reinvent themselves.”