Why no one cares to visit museums in India

This must be the season of homecomings, for ghar wapsis are very much in the air. Mine, after almost of a month away from India, filled me with such joy that I was comatose for almost a week after my return. Paris in the spring is every traveller's dream and how we looked forward to our visit there last month. My mind was full of walks along the river and lazy mornings in a café watching the world go by. Sadly, Paris chose to turn so cold and wet that those dreams were never fully realised. The pity is that we were living in what is the most romantic and beautiful part of Paris — the Latin Quarter — considered the most ancient and atmospheric area of the famed city. Notre Dame, the Bastille, the Louvre, the Centre du Pompidou, the Musee d'Orsay and the Sorbonne are within short walking distances. The Seine flows along the area, dotted with beautiful bridges, some of them dating back several centuries. All in all, it was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime.
Despite picking up a bad chest cold due to our unpreparedness over suitable arctic clothing, like most tourists, I did a full paisa vasool. We did the mandatory trek up and down the Champs-Elysees, took pictures of ourselves against the Eiffel Tower, walked in the Tuilleries and Luxembourg gardens and sighed over the high-end boutiques. The first thing that strikes one is how compact and pedestrian-friendly most European cities are. This is as much to do with the fact that most were built before the age of the automobile made distances within a city unmanageable as it is with the fact that walkers are treated with greater respect and care than drivers. All over the city are bike-stands that offer free bicycles to cyclists to go from one point to another. Public transport is excellent and very reliable and driving around in automobiles is actually discouraged.
The other joy is the museums that Paris is so proud of. Of course, the Louvre is the jewel in its crown and its magnificent palace and sweep along the river is awesome in itself. After Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, it has become a sort of pilgrim centre as well. But more delightful and overwhelming is the Orsay that houses the largest collection of post-Impressionist art and the Centre du Pompidou with its outstanding collection of modern art that completes the triptych of museums. The Orsay, built into what was once a railway station, has imaginatively used the track and passages of the erstwhile railway station to lay out its collection, while the Pompidou is a gay tribute to contemporary art forms. Its exterior, with a colourful jumble of painted pipes, glass elevator and huge forecourt attracts thousands of visitors for its architectural whimsies alone. Then there are the other treasures, such as the Henri-Cartier, Rodin and Picasso collections dedicated to the works of single artists. One can spend months tramping through the city's museums and still not have done justice to its treasury of art.
Art appreciation is instilled into children, and at the Orsay, we trailed a batch of little schoolchildren who were being taken on a round of the museum by their teachers and the museum staff. Long queues snaked outside every museum and sometimes it could take one almost an hour to get in. Why can we not do something similar for our own museums? Our treasures are by no means inconsiderable but public indifference is a common feature everywhere in India. I went the other day to an outstanding exhibition of Deccan art, Nauras, mounted in the National Museum and there were not even four visitors apart from me. It breaks my heart when I see how cavalier our attitude is to our own art treasures, which are by no means any less than the collections of western museums. Our young people will stand for hours to see a B-grade actor from Bollywood but will turn their noses up at special exhibitions.
Since the government has failed to evoke any interest in our arts, it is time that corporate houses take the initiative. The Aga Khan Trust has shown us how an entire neighbourhood (the Nizamuddin basti) can be revived after it took up the restoration of the Humayun’s Tomb complex. It is time for others to chip in as well. Volunteers will come forward to provide support if they are convinced that the work is being handled by professional agencies that know what they are doing. The government’s efforts at cleaning up and restoring the Red Fort complex were such a disaster because the CPWD thought it could plaster broken areas with cement and consider the work done. Art restoration is a fine art in itself and with the close association of historians, architects and master masons has to be meshed in to produce the right results.
Similarly, students can be given short-term courses in art history and double up as museum guides to earn as they learn. Cataloguing art works is another area where there is much to be done. Sadly, often turf wars between various agencies come in the way of their working together and the loser is the nation.
Before it is too late, it is time to give this area serious thought.