Mumbai woman behind world-class Bihar museum

Batul Raaj Mehta sits in her Parel office 1800 kms away from Patna recreating for us the experience of walking into the justlaunched Bihar Museum touted as groundbreaking At the entrance to the Childrenrsquos Gallery which opened to visitors on August 7 a large House Sparrow mdash Biharrsquos state bird mdash guards her eggs Further in a GFRC rhino stands beside a heap of faux poop Children giggle around it until they learn that rhinos identify their families by smelling each otherrsquos dung The natural history wing of the gallery leads to a Mauryan archway leading you into the world of one of the most powerful ancient dynasties that ruled from Pataliputra You play a strategy game on interactive panels Chanakyastyle and if you win you spend some quality time on a throneThe entrance to the Bihar Museum has a sculpture of the State Bird PIC COURTESY BIHAR MUSEUMldquoBefore we began work on the Childrenrsquos Gallery we had several discussions with underprivileged children from Kilkari a staterun childrenrsquos centre in Patna What would they like to see in a museum we asked One of them said they wanted a time machine that would allow them to meet Chanakyardquo recollects Mehta principal consultant South Asia for Lord Cultural Resources the Canadian cultural heritage developing firm that worked closely with Japanese design firm Maki amp Associates on this projectA star attraction is the imposing GFRC Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete rhino made in Xiamen China Behind him lies a mound of fake poop PIC COURTESY BIHAR MUSEUMSpread over 135 acres on Baily Road the museum that chief minister Nitish Kumar conceived amidst criticism in 2009 is expected to open in phases Following the Childrenrsquos and Orientation Galleries that opened earlier this month the History Galleries are expected to open next yearDetermined to make it more than a drab history book lesson Mehta and a team of 10 members across Mumbai and Patna most of them women spent considerable time figuring how they would entice the visitorThe famed Mauryan sandstone sculpture of Didarganj Yakshi 3rd C BCE will move from Patna Museum to the new site PIC COURTESY BIHAR MUSEUMThe fantastical they concluded would meet the historical And so there is an exhibit of a well from which emanate the voices of five travellers who tell you why they love the Grand Trunk Road built by lsquoLion Kingrsquo Sher Shah Suri who took control of the Mughal empire in 1540Batul Raaj Mehta PicShadab KhanNitish Kumarrsquos plan to use it as a vehicle for reclaiming Bihari pride meant that when Lord won the contract in 2011 the first question Mehtarsquos team asked was what does Bihar have to show ldquoWhen one mentions Buddha Mahavir and Ashoka one doesnt immediately connect them to Biharrdquo she saysIt meant starting from scratchBut there is another challenge mdash defining the scope of the new museum when the Patna Museum established in 1917 already stood not too far from the proposed site Mehta and team had to consider the stories that each of the two museums would tell and artefacts redistributed between them ldquoWe decided that the Patna Museum would hold artefacts dating from 1764 when the Battle of Buxar established the East India Companyrsquos rule to the postIndependence years when President Dr Rajendra Prasad bequeathed state gifts that he had received in travels commemorative scrollsrdquo Mehta shares The Bihar Museum on the other hand would house history dating back from 1764Think Patna and you think micro Think Bihar and you think macro ldquoAnd so the new museum would be about Biharrsquos influence on the entire subcontinent And of course include stone tools and other prehistoric relicsrdquo she saysTo get a closer glimpse of local culture the Mumbaikars from Mehtarsquos team milled around visitors at Patna Museum observing the culture of viewership ldquoWorldover museum visitors do not like reading long labels attached to artefacts This was true of Biharis too Besides they liked everything being out there like you see in Bhojpuri movies We catered to that sensibility by relying on interactive methods to engage the visitorrdquo But the project hasnrsquot been free of controversy Planned at a budget of Rs 500 crore funded principally by the state it invited questions from opposition over misplaced priority Shouldnrsquot funds have been diverted towards improving infrastructure and development projectsBihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had this to say ldquoWe Biharis have a hunger for knowledge mdash we want to knowhellipThat is in our character that is in our nature and that is our DNA That is why this museumrdquoSome say itrsquos a product of election haste but Mehta lauds the government for its vision She talks of the ldquosoft powerrdquo of museums in inculcating a cultural knowledgebank Then there are the trickledown economic benefits too ldquoA day well spent in the museum may encourage visitors to spend an extra day in Patna This means more hotel bookings and meals at restaurants But a museum canrsquot force you into it It rather needs to encourage you to spend more time on its premisesrdquo says Mehta Whorsquos up for a trip to Patna this year