A survey of wall paintings conservation in Dungarpur, Rajasthan, and other sites
This was the first award that came my way when I was embarking on a professional career in India. I was full of hope and a vision of all I could do for art conservation in India and the award helped me take my first step in that direction without having to wait or lose steam. It reinforced my confidence in myself and in my belief that if there is a worthy idea and sincere effort then there are people to support you.
An interpretative study of the text and paintings of Sursagar from the Mewar School
I received the award at the outset of my research for the doctoral thesis. The timely award enabled me to travel to museums and document the set of paintings which formed a good portion of my research material. It also facilitated the correspondence with various other museums abroad and in India, enablng me to gather information regarding their collections and most specifically the Sursagar set of Mewar that I was working on. I could also use the money of the award on processing of photographs of the paintings, copies of which I evenutally sent to the Trust as part of my project report.
The excavation of a Chalcolithic site in North West Rajasthan
With funding from the NTICVA between January and April 2005 I assisted with a number of archaeological projects in India. Firstly I spent one and a half months excavating at the site of Gilund, Rajasthan. The excavations at this Chalcolithic site were being conducted jointly by Vasant Shinde of the Deccan College Pune and Gregory Possehl of the University of Pennsylvania. The second part of my project consisted of three weeks studying at the Deccan College. Lastly I spent one week assisting a student from the University of Chicago with fieldwork for her PhD dissertation.
