Bhaskar D.
Google
Wandering through the old V&A Museum of Bombay, the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum as it is now called and it felt like stepping through a time warp made of iron, basalt, and civic self-belief.
There’s that extraordinary cannon with a dozen mouths, looking like something dreamt up by a Maratha Da Vinci who had read too much of the Arthashastra. More on that in a later post. There’s the black basalt elephant that once stood sentinel on Elephanta Island, now patiently enduring selfies under the Byculla trees. Around it sit the ghosts of empire, statues of governors, reformers, and forgotten worthies, all now gathering pigeon droppings and philosophical dust.
The arcaded gateway, the old milestones declaring the Limits of the Town of Bombay, the inscribed slab with its Sanskrit and English vying for authority, every object is a palimpsest of trade, technology, and ambition. Even the museum’s own label admits its purpose: to showcase the “raw products of Western India” and how they could be “converted into manufactured articles.” Empire, after all, was the world’s first venture capital firm.
Yet the place has aged gracefully. The mint-green walls gleam, the brass shines, and the labels tell stories of artisans, traders, and the improbable global network that made nineteenth-century Bombay a node of Asia’s economic imagination. The floor tiles were a relevation and the busts of the founders a testament to the philanthropic and cultural vision of those people. Compare that to the CSR activities of today. Meh.
It’s hard not to smile at the irony. What was once a museum of industrial extraction has become a museum of cultural reflection. Standing there, surrounded by statues and relics of authority now stripped of power, you realise how history reclaims its own space. Slowly, quietly, beautifully.
Still, it was depressing. Museumology has moved on since the 19th century and the displays were atrociously arranged and explained. Not happy at all. Amazing stuff and no explanation on where who why dates nothing. It’s a crying shame. People who forget history are condemned to repeat it with people who say this sitting on the side posting plaintive posts on LinkedIn.
Sighs.
