Inaugural Address at the Chennai Museum 151st Anniversary

Heritage and Innovation

I am delighted to participate in the 151st Anniversary function of Chennai Museum today and happy to inaugurate the new galleries and the reorganized galleries. The Government museum, Chennai is preserving the archeological, anthropological, artistic, geological, numismatics, flora and fauna resources of the ancient south Indian culture. These features have gradually taken shape over the last one and half centuries and have grown into 8 galleries with one theatre.

I appreciate the action taken by the Government of Tamilnadu in preserving and projecting the cultural values of the south Indian society to the world. I congratulate the team who have meticulously planned and implemented the Museum modernization programme. I congratulate all those who have worked hard to make this happen.

Our Heritage

The museums are the mirrors that show our proud heritage. They reflect the way our ancestors lived, what they cherished and often what we miss. The museums remind us of what was erased from our life by the onslaught of newer technologies, newer languages and newer way of life. They are reminders of where we came from. They give us a great pleasure by satisfying our inner urge to see what we are missing in this "modern world". I understand that 90% of all of what we use in our daily life would have been invented only in the last 100 years. Those that have been invented several centuries ago and had formed the most cherished invention of the mankind in those days become the exhibits in the museum today. The intricate artwork, the painting, bronze statues, sculptures and many other expressions of the great talent of the man of yester years, the talents that were erased by the Industrialization are the ones that adorn the museum of today.

I was delighted to see the Chennai museum in the website. I have visited the museum and saw the renovated galleries with interactive visual effect due to use of modern technologies. I also had a virtual walk through into the bronze gallery of the museum.

My Dream

Many would like to know all about how the Tanjore temple was built, who were the architects behind that, how Raja Raja Chola conceived and built with the technologies available at that period. Similarly, I would like to see the original of "Thirukkural" wrote by the great philosopher and Saint Poet Thiruvalluvur. Thirukkural is the only work with 1330 kurals written 2000 years ago, does not have any reference to caste, religion, state or country. What a brilliant mind? We would like to know about this great personality. How to do that? A number of researchers have to toil and find out the mind of the Great saint poet Thiruvalluvar. Even though we may not see the original of the Thirukkural, we will have the graphic description of the mind which composed this great work.

If our future generation wants to know, what was the original configuration of the temples, monuments, dams like Karikalan's Grand Anicut, etc., in south India, how is it possible?. I suggest the Museum can play an active role by capturing the present monuments in its original form with its historical evidences in a Digital media and convert it into digital library. This digital library can provide the vital answer to our posterity.

Lively Museum

When one enters the museum, a sense of inquisitiveness has to be created by the environment, which will make the visitor comfortable and feel great, enthusiastic and create a sense of pride, about the Indian culture and it's past. The exhibits must induce a sense of multifaceted personalities the way in which they view. The goodness of the museum must make the visitor to linger on the thoughts, which will ignite them, which will give them solace and peace in many directions and also spread it. It should be a serene, calm and clean atmosphere which will promote a feeling of divinity. The visitor should be in a position to guide himself to the specific area of his interest, rather than being driven by the predefined path. Present day technology can provide solution to this issue. Each and every gallery should equip with LCD Displays and multimedia presentations - giving the salient features of that gallery, cultural impact, historical facts behind exhibits - so that the message reaches the minds of the people and be a source of inspiration. The optimum mix of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Multimedia will provide dynamism and real time visualization.

We can even make it more interactive by customizing it in real time for any user who is willing to pay. For example, we can give the camera to a human guide at the museum the pictures will be relayed to a viewer's home through the Internet. Looking at the picture, the user will direct the Guide to go closer to some pictures or objects that he likes to see more or ask questions which the guide will answer. We need such innovative techniques to make our museums reach every one, just in time in any place. Then we will have our culture and heritage sharable and make them bring joy to every one. The museum should leave permanent imprint in the minds of the visitors.

Future Challenges

So far, we have successfully preserved, maintained and attracted the visitors and projected the ancient past of the south Indian culture. We have completed 150 years; this is the appropriate time for us to redefine our objective and Vision of the museum so that its role can be tailored, for enabling it to contribute towards the developed India VISION 2020 initiatives.

If we look at the artifacts of the museum, we gain some insight into the skills, ingenuity and creativity of the artisans who have conceived and produced the items such as bronze statues, sculptures, coins, pots, agricultural storage tanks and implements, artistic paintings, military weapons etc.,. These skill sets have enabled the people in ancient days to generate revenues, business and given export opportunities. Due to invasion of foreign culture many of these skills have lost its productive value. Now, it is imperative for us to reexamine these skills which are the treasure of our countrymen, and blend these skills with the modern technologies, and transform these skills into new products which will provide cost effective substitutes for the modern products.

Transformation

Museum should provide life to the old culture. Museum should transform itself from the role of custodianship to entrepreneurship. This in turn will make the museum self sustained as well as help to propagate our cultural values to the world.

Each gallery should have a joint collaboration with educational institution and industry as well as with the international marketing agencies. They should carry out research in specific areas and promote new products from the cultural heritage and traditional value systems. This effort in turn will promote cost effective production of these items. We should convert the tourism industry into a business proposition, for creating employment opportunities and national wealth generation.

I wanted to share one thing after seeing the beautiful paintings Raja Ravi Varma. It reflects the creativity of the great artist. I can see thousands of budding Ravi Varmas in the face of our children, I have got thousands of paintings from young's artists, particularly from school children. Art is a great culture and it shows the creativity, inherent talent of the individual and his capability to visualize the scenario, nature and the future possibilities. I am just thinking, how to provide an opportunity for budding artists to imbibe the key characteristics of Raja Ravi Varma. The museum authorities should conduct art and painting competitions and conduct periodic seminars with new technology exposure to the young artists. They should also create a platform for the international art agencies, business experts to visit and see the inherent potential of our artists, which can pave the way for the export of these artistic items. This should be a continuous process.

In the past, we have been using the mud pots for cooking, drinking, storage etc., were widely used. Nowadays it has become an exhibit component of museums. With the advent of modern cooking vessels and utensils and methods, these items are lost its significance. Museums can propagate the thoughts of using the ancient utility value items like pots and revive the work for the artisans. When you display these kinds of olden utility items which were used in ancient days, we should bring out the goodness, benefits and the values of its usages, both from cost effectiveness; health considerations and pollution free bio degradable, use and throw items like tumbler pots used in many parts of northern India.

The images of Indian gods and sculptures have beauty and significance. This phenomenon can be made use of by the museum authorities by specially organizing the training programmes for artisans in the stone carving, bronze/metallic/terracotta sculpture making etc., with the help of state and central governments, industries and academic institutions. This action will result in substantial business and employment opportunities for entrepreneurs and our artisans. The government must encourage export of these items and remove the obstacles encountered by the entrepreneurs and artisans.

Conclusion

I strongly believe that today's museum has a major role to play and should act as a cultural window to our country. It should provide a platform for innovation, creativity, and propagate cultural values, and promote research and development towards enriching our ancient technologies blended with modern techniques. It should graduate from the custodian of ancient culture into a platform for disseminating cultural values across the world and take a lead role in transforming India into a developed country by the year 2020.