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Museums made fun

DAKSHA’S DICTUM Mixing museology with archaeology

Lissom, delicate, elfin, these are the adjectives that come to mind when one first meets Dakshayini Gowda. But as the saying goes, do not judge a book by its cover and soon one is on Daksha’s train of thought, fascinated with the manner in whic h she has used her post-graduate degrees of museology and archaeology to create a hands-on museum on various historical periods of civilization.

Named ‘Sanchali’, which means movement in Sanskrit, the idea is to bridge past civilizations with modern day living through her workshops, says Daksha.

To hit the reverse button on Daksha’s life, she graduated out of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath and then went on to the Baroda College of Fine Art where she says: “with no set pattern, just an over-riding interest and a passion, I enjoyed doing a masters in both museology and archaeology. It was then that I decided to revive traditional Indian art forms and use them to bring history out of the museum and into schools”.

She had terrible memories of being taken to museums on her school trips as a child and constantly being told “Don’t touch”. This was the source of her inspiration. Her stints at the Centre for Vernacular Architecture, Bangalore, and Upasana Design Studio in Auroville also helped, and she began Sanchali to revive traditional art forms and make museum learning more interactive. “Starting with the Indus Valley Civilization I have taken art from various periods and in non-school settings, and brought various civilizations alive with my art work and talks.” The big difference from a museum is that children are allowed to touch and ask questions, breaking down barriers in communication.

Setting out the various terracotta artefacts of the Indus Valley Civilization for me to view, a whistle caught my eye. Every artefact is tagged with information about their historical significance.

The whistle was in the form of a bird and “it was probably used by children then to amuse themselves,” explains Daksha. With the help of these artefacts, Daksha whets the child’s appetite to learn and then explains the historical significance of the toy. “The Indus Valley was a fertile river civilization that existed between 3300-1900 BC. This period in history is marked by advancements of the Harappan people in architecture, arts and literacy,” she says.

It is the start of Dakshayini’s dream and passion and it looks like she will hit success, with today’s less constricted attitude towards learning. Support trickles in and she found the children of the Canadian International School enjoying her workshop. She is sure once the concept is made known, many more schools will connect with her and enjoy her “live museum”. Daksha is also very committed to rural schools where she feels she can give back to society through the less fortunate child.

Using this method of teaching, Daksha has noticed that history, comes alive and so the child has to make no extra effort to retain what he learns. So instead of history being perceived as boring and stuffy, filled with tough dates and tougher names to remember, Sanchali is her dream of being the confluence of art and history. “Let us make history alive and more interesting,” she says.

For further information, mail sanchali.in@gmail .com

This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track

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