Understanding processes and practices of Collection Management at the V&A
The award gave me opportunity to understand the Collection Management System. It has enhanced my knowledge to adopt and create an effective collection management system in the museum where I am working. After coming back to India, I have given plans to adopt a proper collection management system, to undertake the digitization of the entire collection, re-organise the storage by using modern technologies, to undertake auditing and spot check of the collections.
Curating Naga collections
I undertook internship placements at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, and the British Museum, London.
Warli and Weave: training in the children's museum
During the fellowship I worked with staff at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green to facilitate a workshop for school children and adults in conjunction to the exhibition Warli and Weave. Drawing on work from Thane and Kutch in Western India the exhibition presented a special insight into two areas of contemporary Indian craft practice – Warli painting and weave. I prepared a learning pack for teachers and produced a temporary exhibition of artwork made by children in our workshop – ‘Top to Toe: Fashion for Kids’.
Understanding the antiquity of mankind: Interpretation of past human behaviour from archaeological artefacts with special reference to stone tools
The Nehru Trust award allowed me to visit the archives and manuscript collections of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, and Indian Collections housed in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. The ambition of my project was to better consider the beginnings of prehistoric archaeology in the Indian sub-continent with special reference to eastern India.
Research, study and display of historical arms and armour of Saurashtra, Gujarat, and Rajputana
The grant assisted with documentation of conservation and display techniques for arms and armour in the UK and was held in conjunction with a UK Travel Award.
Amaravati marbles: Study and Care
The Government Museum, Chennai holds a very significant collection of sculptures, in particular the sculptures from the Buddhist site of Amaravati. I took up the Fellowship in November 2000 in order to see the collection of Amaravati sculptures in the British Museum and to learn about display and conservation techniques. I learned from the British Museum how they had refurbished the Hotung and Asahi Shimbun galleries. The British Museum has conserved all the Amaravati sculptures and then mounted them on steel frames supported by treated rubber cushions.
Study of National Museum of Bhutan: Present and Future Prospects
This award was very useful in allowing me to develop a wide range of knowledge about the history and future prospects of the National Museum, and had a great impact on my career. The findings have been communicated to my colleagues in the National Museum and elsewhere.
Study on materials and records about the Madras Museum
The detailed history of museums has not been attempted much in India, but I had an inkling that such a detailed study might throw considerable light on development of the museum as an institution in our country. I also felt that the Madras Museum, which was in its 15th decade at that time, could be an ideal starting point for such a study because it had been carefully of the Madras Museum. The grant made searching for records and information in the Tamil Nadu State Archives, the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, and in the Madras Museum itself.
Caring for Textiles
Research on textiles, including their proper maintenance and display, in UK museums
Research, study and display of historical arms and armour of Saurashtra, Gujarat, and Rajputana
The study aided by this grant and two subsequent grants the following year has helped me to bring to reality in a practical way my dream of preparing a catalogue of arms and armour in the museums of Maharashtra, and also the cataloguing of arms in the Government of Chennai's collections. Primarily, it allowed me complete the identification of the arms collection in the Mahatma Phule Museum, Pune. The catalogue of this collection will be published shortly (2001).
