Just for children!

Blast from the past : Musical instruments and toys from the collection.Photo: Nagara Gopal.  

This winter vacation will be special for children for they can look forward to a refurbished children’s gallery at the Salar Jung Museum (SJM) in Hyderabad. Authorities are working overtime to ready a new gallery which will be unveiled on December 16.

Spread over 5,000 sq. ft on the first floor in the Central Block, it promises to be a visual treat for the youngsters. Designed by Khasim Ali Khan, a scion of the Salar Jung family, the Rs. 40 lakh-gallery will showcase hitherto unseen collections of Salar Jung. In all there will be 6,000 objects on display of which 50 percent will be drawn from the reserve collections of the museum.

Visitors can see clay models depicting life in a typical Indian village, especially in the Telangana region. This is in addition to porcelain birds and animals of China and Japan, replicas of fruits and vegetables, beautifully modelled wild animals in bronze and other metals apart from clay models of domesticated animals. The toy armies, both artillery and infantry, depict warfare at the time of the Second World War.

Tiny versions of musical instruments like harmonium, veena, guitar, tabla, dholak, being showcased for the first time also bear testimony to the vast range of interests Salar Jung had in collecting objects. The cynosure of all eyes is the huge glass case in the centre of the gallery that houses a toy train complete with railway stations, platforms and tracks. This apart, one can get a peep into the transport system of yore — Horse drawn carriages, jeeps, cars, buses, aeroplanes and even rocket models. Some of the new objects being displayed were acquired by Salar Jung himself. “The whole thing will be of immense educational value to children,” says A. Nagender Reddy, in-charge director, SJM. The existing children’s gallery on the ground floor will be converted into a textile gallery once it is shifted.


What’s more? Children can also look forward to playing virtual games in the new gallery. Two touch screen game panels are being installed at both ends of the gallery by the National Council of Science Museums to create interest among children. A world of imagination and exploration awaits kids at SJM. They can connect, understand and explore.

J.S.Ifthekhar,

Hyderabad based journalist.

Article published in The Hindu

Dated November 21,2015