Fortunately for last
nearly 25 years, the museum movement in India has been gaining ground very
fast. Besides the opening of new museums, in their outreach programmes, major
ones among them stage conferences, seminars and discussions on important themes
of museology, which by far creates much needed awareness in the public at
large. After all the public involvement
is a challenge for the museum professionals. If the museum fails to attract the
mass, it has failed in its mission, I think.
In this connection, in
a lecture series, one programme was held at the local Habitat Centre on Sept.
17, 2016 on the theme entitled “The Dynamics of Culture Conservation:
Institution Building Practices at BLD Museum and INTACH”. The prominent
speakers were Jyotindra Jain, former Director, National Crafts Museum and
Tasneen Zakaria Mehta of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum. While delivering
his lecture, Mr. Jain commented, “Museum is dead” which has baffled me. What
did he mean? Has any new definition of museum been coined? We are not aware.
Since the covering
newspaper report is laconic, one has to depend on his conjecture. We know that
in the present age of technology and fast communications, the traditionally
known areas of museum have been encroached upon. TV, Smart phone, internet,
parks etc are attracting crowds which normally was in the museum kitty.
Moreover, these media are in ones pocket to provide instant information. So who
will spare a day to visit a museum? If the speaker referred to these, he was
right, but only partly.
Like the above gadgets,
the museum as such has also undergone a sea change. It is no more generally
known ‘ajaibghar’. A couple of years back, the Museums Association of India, in
its Patna annual conference had the theme of use of technology in museum. I
remember that my presentation was entitled “Go Tech to save museum from wreck”.
To cope with the changing situations, the museum field has also started
adopting technology and diversifying its activities to embrace the common man.
Moreover, since it has strongly been established over the years that the museum
is also a centre for education, more and more writers, journalists, researchers
and authors have jumped upon its bandwagon to explore this new and interesting
subject.
In this light I feel
that the museum is not dead. It is very much alive and kicking and will remain
committed to the service of the community.
