yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

  Re-defining Museums A day-trip to this amazing place in Patna Some images An art installation at one of the open spaces amidst the buildings An empty gallery A gallery with many visitors - 3,000 turn up each day on an average This may be an island in the city - but one which is connected with its people  A 'library' for researchers  There was also a 'classroom' - a workshop on traditional Mithila painting in natural colours was underway Staff kept the spaces clean  These photos in these frames kept changing  The museum has its share of surprises - and they work   Like the museum at Allahabad this too has space devoted to the Bideshiyas or the Batoiyas  Only this one was more interactive and had technology stamped all over  What would happen to our history if Alexander Cunnigham and Huen Tsang were to suddenly disappear? Same that would happen to our lives if tea and coffee went missing? I enjoyed trying my hand at the interactive installati...

Sher Shah Suri's Tomb How did they visualise this then? A structure in the middle of a pond! Locally known as Paani Rouza Sher Shah Suri's tomb is beyond stunning. The tomb is Located in Rohtas ( Bihar ) - about 125 kms from Banaras. On our way back from the tomb it struck us that we were driving on the Grand Trunk Road - one that Sher Shah Suri had built.  Would the makers have known then that centuries later it would be Sasaram's claim to fame, provide refuge to local young folks ( there are walk-paths around the structure and pond! ) and have people come to pay respects, to pray.  A structure large yet not intimidating (is it the water! ) and grand yet accessible. ASI's curbs on boating and carrying plastic inside seem to have helped keep the water clean.  When we have maintained the monument so well can we also pay more attention to signage? To what introduces us to the monument, to the first object we sight as we enter the monument.  Moving beyond the Tomb...

Mundeshvari temple: History in every stone An edited version of this piece has been published in the Friday Review .  Many thanks to colleagues and friends together on this trip, Fiona Buckee for sharing her paper and the team at The Hindu. Mundeshvari Temple is considered the oldest functional temple in the country - I came across this clichéd sounding line multiple times. And questions arose. How old is it then? Is it older than Banaras and its temples? Banaras with all its history, mythology and umpteen temples. Few more questions arose and then I forgot all of them. Mundeshvari is located in Bhabua - 100 kms from Banaras. I then landed upon the temple again in Saba Dewan’s classic Tawaifnama where she writes: ‘Some recent scholars are of the opinion that the goddess installed in the Mundesvari temple might well have been a deity worshipped originally by the aboriginal population described in the Vedic and post-Vedic texts as asura and daitya. In the long-drawn-out struggles ...