Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Director-General, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
My sincere thanks to Rotarians Shernaz Vakil, Jagdish Malkani, Bimal Mehta, and Ajit Lalvani and all the members of the Rotary Club of Bombay for sending a strong message to the world that cultural heritage is not just bricks and stones but our identity; and ignoring the power of culture means destroying the social fabric of the society. We should not forget that all kinds of development initiatives in our society are meant for human development and enrichment.
This human development is woven into the fabric of our contemporary communities, in our day-to-day lives, manifested in language, performance, art, traditions and other tangible representation of existence. Culture is important and the solution – if you keep 10-15% of the budget of development culture with that money you restore monuments, preserve tangible and intangible heritage. We are blessed with intangible monuments.
CSMVS is illuminated with the efforts of the Rotary Club of Bombay, our garden is maintained by the Rotary Club of Bombay, and even the solar energy with which we conserve almost 35% of the energy has helped the museum and the management.
A museum as an institution holds an important place in society because not only does it tell the story of men and women or how humanity survived in the environment over the decades but also because it houses things created by nature and by man in the past and present.
Objects representing varied cultures provide an opportunity for people from diverse countries and cultures to become partners to the world narrative and to motivate them, to reclaim and reposition their own unique regional, national, global identities in the changing cultural landscape of the world. Our history is glorious, interesting, painful and surprising. You need to understand it now more than ever.
What attracts people to a museum? It was Neil MacGregor who said that the whole point of the museum is to sort out your places in the world. It is in a museum that you can look at your past and think about your relationship to it that is more important now than it has been for a very long time. As the world gets more global and the history of identity gets more complicated, it is important to have places where everyone can come and look at themselves – their history, their stories, and their future.
Our museum completes hundred years on January 10th, 2022. It is perhaps one of the few institutes in the country that was created by the people, for the people and not aided by the government. The museum had been shut for two years; we approached the Central and State government, they didn’t even acknowledge our letter but when we approached the people of Mumbai, everyone came around us. I was sharing this with the trustees: in 1904, when the citizens of Bombay under the leadership of Sir Pheroze Shah Mehta expressed the desire to create a cultural space in the heart of the city and Bombay Presidency, they said we will provide you with a piece of land, but the citizens of Mumbai should be in a position to maintain it. After a hundred years, this cultural institution is still maintained by the people of Mumbai. It is a rare example. When the institute was suffering during the pandemic, it shared its story and hundreds of people approached us to come up with the ‘adopt a gallery’ scheme. People adopted galleries and objects and we created a new exhibition. Do visit when you get the opportunity so you can see how the people responded to our appeal and the museum was saved because of that. That is our strength.
Yes, the journey was glorious and full of surprises. Again, preservation is arguably the biggest challenge of the conservation society in the country and the world at large, similar to other challenges such as health and environmental sustainability. All great thinkers right from Aristotle have reminded us on many occasions that humanity sustains as long as culture exists and this is something that is never forgotten. UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, said, “Culture alone is not enough to build peace. But without culture, peace cannot be lasting.” It is a proven fact that the preservation of cultural heritage, documentation of human history and dissemination of knowledge will depend not only on the community of professionals but also on an informed and interested public and that is you all.
Ours is a world-class storage facility; we think of climate control. While the pandemic was going on, the museum was shut, the staff was not there yet nothing happened to the collection. Thanks, again, to those who percolate the funds and support us and today we have the best storage facility and conservation lab. The lab is more like a hospital; in case of any difficulty, we have our in-house lab to look into the collection and that is something I wanted to share. You get to see community participation. The building is a symbol of cultural unity, you look at the audience and you see people from different communities sharing the space, looking at things, and it is an open space for conversation. Over 200,000 children visit the museum. We provide a creative space without any imposition. It is a time for them to grow, all the activities are curated by children and our staff orients. The children select the books, the art and everything. We started Museum on Wheels to reach out to people outside south Mumbai. We have reorganised our visitor shop. We are also looking forward to opening the new auditorium.
Thank you for your support, the garden is looking beautiful, and, because of you, we can save energy and money.
Rotary Club of Bombay runs Bhavishya Yaan and I used to take art and drawing classes, and I collected priceless drawings and letters from these children. So, would the CSMVS be open to showcasing this collection at the children’s exhibition?
Yes, definitely. Just curate it.
You have been bold in introducing a lot of initiatives, opening the museum to music concerts, etc. How do you manage your stakeholders and trustees?
Before transforming the institute, you need to transform the staff and trustees. I did an extensive study; the history of this museum is the history of the city. In most government museums, trustees think they own the collection. Here, we teach them that we are temporary custodians, and it is public property. If we all keep these things in mind, then you share everything with the people. This is their space: the more you open up, more people participate, more events and more money from different cities and they start to look into it. We don’t have a union or any political problem. We have a beautiful work culture; we have had our problems but people and organisations come forward and help us to get through.
You said that museums should transcend beyond generations. Are the young also turning up at the museum?
There was a time when only grey-haired people visited and now you have to find grey-haired people with a magnifying glass. This is the case now; it is all youth.
Is the Cyrus cylinder an original? How did you acquire it?
We didn’t acquire it; it was a loan from the British Museum. It is in their collection. I, along with a few of my Zorashtrian friends, expressed the desire to have the treasured category here. We wrote to the government, they agreed and the British Museum also agreed as a special case. The Cyrus cylinder came to Mumbai and there was great attraction and excitement among the community.
You see the technology-enabled experience in the museums, where are we in this?
I am not a technology person. It is a difficult one to answer. I look at the technology as my servant, not as my master. We are developing a sophisticated museum in collaboration with IIT Bombay, it is shaping up very well. We want people to come and visit and experience the museum, so, it is a debate. I said we have to take the help of technology, but it should not dominate; it is important to maintain the balance.