BENGALURU: With interesting museums dotting its landscape, the city offers ample opportunities for people to delve into various areas of interest, be it art or science. Here’s where you can head to-
Where: Indian Music Experience, JP Nagar
Located at the lush Brigade Millennium Enclave in JP Nagar, the Indian Music Experience (IME) is India’s first interactive music museum.
IME houses three sections consisting of an interactive exhibit area, a Sound Garden and a learning centre. The exhibit areas comprise eight thematic galleries, which showcase over 100 instruments along with three mini theatres and interactive installations to enhance the experience.
From rare memorabilia of shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan to a collection of gramophone records, IME has a rare collection of musical artefacts. One can indulge in a journey of Indian music over the years, from Hindustani to independent rock music.
The Sound Garden features instruments like sound wave, a millet-based instrument and singing stone, which lets one hear vibrations and introduces you to the principles of sound.
As a learning centre which imparts high-quality music education, IME is an initiative of the Indian Music Experience Trust, a non-profit public charitable trust, supported by the Brigade Group.
“IME is our way of preserving the vast musical heritage of our country and helping people know more through exhibits and interactive elements that we have here. It is our way of giving back to society, encouraging the next generation of music lovers and documenting music history for future generations,” says M R Jaishankar, founder, IME, chairman and managing director of Brigade Group.
HAL and its aviation history
Where: HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum, Old Airport Road
Secluded and hidden under the wings of its rich aviation history, HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum showcases the growth of Indian aviation over the past six decades. It stands as a testament of growth and development by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) since its inception.
Industrialist Seth Walchand Hirachand started HAL in collaboration with the Government of Mysore on December 23, 1940.The museum is spread over four acres of land and is divided into sections. A typical tour of the museum would begin from a picture gallery.
It tells the story of HAL through photographs depicting various milestones, visits from dignitaries from all over the world, through time. The second part of the museum is dedicated to aircraft models, situated on the campus premises. There are 22 models in the space.
The indoor halls showcase models and engines of aircraft like Basant, Pushpak and Hansa. While the museum glorifies its static aviation displays, it also offers an audio-visual facility and display of translides giving an exhilarating experience.
Besides this, the true-motion stimulator creates a thrilling ride. The outdoor campus showcases models of MIG 21 fighter or trainer, Lakshya, Hindustan Jet Trainer 36, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and Ajeet.
The museum can hold another 10 models and the old ones are regularly replaced with new ones, according to the supervisor.
Despite being far from the city, the museum never fails to attract visitors. “Annually, the number of visitors has increased since its inception – from 500 to around 20,000 visitors – and we are content with the results. We display unique exhibits and have won recognition as an international museum,” said B Sunil Kumar, superior VVIP guide of the museum.
A cerebral experience
Where: Human Brain Museum, NIMHANS, Lalbagh Road
Located on the ground floor of NIMHANS Neurobiology Research Centre, the Human Brain Museum is home to an extremely unique collection of specimens collected over the past 35 years. The museum started with a vision to popularise neuroscience and de-stigmatise neuropsychiatric illness in society.
As an establishment, the museum does a wonderful job at being interestingly educational for visitors. The Human Brain Museum has brain specimens collected over the years (from donors) which are formalin-fixed and mounted in plastic jars and displayed on open shelves.
They contain specimens ranging from cases of head injury, cerebrovascular diseases, neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative disorders and brain tumours. In addition, the museum also houses limited number of specimens from other human organs with infective and vascular diseases along with other mammalian brains.
This unique facility is a centre of attraction for students as a valuable source of neuroscience material. Each specimen is labelled with an explanation that provides understanding of how the illness effects the brain and often, we can see the physical manifestation of these illnesses on the specimen.
For an up close and personal encounter with art
Where: Click Art Museum, Whitefield
Run by Iona Entertainment in Virginia Mall, Whitefield, the Click Art Museum is a place where apart from just appreciating the art, one can also be a part of it.
‘Trompe-l’oeil’ is a painting that is cleverly designed to trick people into thinking that the objects represented in it are really there. It employs the use of optical illusions to make a painting look three-dimensional.
The Click Art Museum’s stylistic paintings takes it further by making it interactive. The museum is home to several paintings where visitors can stand on the demarcated areas on the floor and click pictures from various angles that show them interacting with the art or even be a part of it.
The initiative was started by Chennai-based painter A P Shreethar who painted all the exhibits in the museum in an effort to make art more interactive and appealing for everyone. This museum easily grants everyone’s wish to be a part of the beauty we see in museums, while having fun with friends and family.
Strings attached: a Dollhouse for all
Where: Dhaatu Centre For Sharing, Banashankari
Dhaatu Centre For Sharing, a non-profit organisation in Banashankari, is a puppet theatre and museum that offers an enriching visual learning experience for visitors. Everyone who walks through its homely gates is welcomed to learn everything Dhaatu has to offer – from puppet making and puppet theatre to the significance of puppetry in India.
A distinctive feature of this place is its collection of 600 puppets and almost 10,000 dolls and antiques, all carefully collected over the years from all over India, including West Bengal, Maharashtra and Karnataka, as well as other countries in Asia and Europe like France, Belgium, and Spain.
From small finger puppets to large rod puppets, the place is a host to all types of puppets – each with a character and unique story of its own. Founder and director Anupama Hoskere conducts puppet shows that are inspired by Indian epics and folktales like the Panchatantra, and stories by the sage, Kalidasa.
“I strongly believe that learning is for everyone, so I don’t charge anyone for visiting the place. They can book an appointment or simply walk in and learn everything about puppets and puppetry. We learn through sharing our passion and my passion is this,” says Hoskere.
With an ardent passion for dolls and puppets, almost all the puppets at Dhaatu have been handmade by her. “Karnataka has a 300-year-old tradition of puppetry, but it is fading. Hardship made people keep puppets away, but it’s up to us now to preserve our culture.” adds Hoskere. Dhaatu opens its doors for viewing the entire collection for a month from September 28.