As always, I wake up on Monday morning and wonder how the week went by so quickly. Today, as always, at the end of the month, I wonder how the month went by so fast! Indeed, this month went faster than a summer breeze. The breeze that has been so illusive this year. May has always been the muggiest and sweatiest month of the year – heating up like a pressure cooker just before the rains break in early June. But the occasional sea breezes, especially by sunset, makes it tolerable. However, this year with its unusually hot summer, May was really bad and I can’t say I’m sad to see it go.
Everybody says that this has been the hottest month ever, thanks to increased pollution, deforestation, construction of buildings and of course El Niño.
Worse still this last week is going to be the hottest part of the summer – 9 days of intense heat or Nautapa.
This photo of cloud laden sky is deceptive.
I can’t wait for this week to get over and pray that June brings cooler times.
Today is International Museum Day, a fact that I came upon purely by accident when I put on the computer and was wondering what to do.
The weekend was unusually busy and I woke up with a head devoid of ideas on what to write – a rather sad situation since I have an assignment due in two days.
So even though I am still not inspired to get on with my assignment, I am inspired to write about Museums and what I like about them.
This is beginning to sound more school girlish than warranted but then Museums are all part of History, a subject normally one doesn’t bother about outside of school.
FROZEN IN TIME
Funnily enough, the only museum I actually saw as a school girl with my class was in Class 3 when we visited the Prince of Wales Museum. We were taken to see the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro when we were studying about the Indus Valley civilization. I was fascinated by the models and fragments of pottery encased in glass cases in a darkened room.
It looked almost the same when I took my children to see it after it was re-christened Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya. And it was still almost the same when I visited it with my grandchildren. Frozen in time like the objects displayed.
However, the museum is much better maintained now and organises wonderfully curated cultural events in its well-kept gardens. There is also a special museum for children and of course , a wonderful gift shop for souvenirs.
Currently, there are three exhibitions at the Museum to which I shall take the grandchildren during the summer break from school.
This quaint little museum has the strangest collection of objects, but they do tell a fascination story of Mumbai’s past.
MUSEUMS ABROAD
There was a time when I spent a large amount of time in Washington DC and since Prima Donna lived in Foggy Bottom, I used to visit all the Museums I could walk to.
I will, however, never forget my trip to the National Gallery where my young 3-year-old nephew ( at that time) kept asking “Mom, are we at the Rotunda?” On a later trip to the same museum, I told the children to look out for the most famous exhibits and only visit them.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
The museum I was most disappointed with was the Louvre, which I was dying to see almost all my life. Perhaps, it didn’t live up to my expectations because I saw it soon after recovering from Dengue but I can never forget how let down I felt after seeing the tiny little picture of the Mona Lisa.
SOME UNUSUAL MUSEUMS
In most cities, you will find more than one museum. And some of them are dedicated to the most unlikely things.
This was a fascinating place and I could have spent two days exploring the treasures of ancient Egypt.
We saw theGrand Egyptian Museum at Giza in passing. It was under construction at that time but scheduled to open later. But it only opened in November. 2025. This is supposed to be the largest museum ever devoted to one civilisation!
A most unusual museum was the Escher Museum at the Hague which is a small but fascinating museum featuring the works of the Dutch graphical artist M. C. Escher.
Now that Mother’s Day is done and dusted, I can finally say that I think it is a whole load of hype.
As a mother to two very competent mothers and grandmother to three adorable grandchildren, I can say that many of the messages I received yesterday quite honestly made me gag. Of course this is my personal opinion and may offend many women who aren’t mothers or those who have become mothers after much difficulty.
But, call me lucky or simply ungrateful, I feel that Mother’s Day puts mothers on a pedestal that frankly is largely overdone.
Suddenly, mothers with whom we’ve fought, argued, resented, bullied, and largely loved aquire the status of GODDESS. That mother who we rebelled against, whose appearance we commented upon whose attitude we objected to becomes that beacon of ALL THAT IS WONDERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL.
Come on!
It’s a bit much. Why can’t we adopt a more normal attitude towards mothers and not elevate them on a particular day, showering them with flowers, spoiling them with gifts and suddenly treating them with reverence on the second Sunday in May as an early 20th century at the initiative of Anna Jarvis, an American activist who apparently was so disenchanted with its unexpected commercialisation, actually tried to get it ‘Uncelebrated’!
Of course mum’s like to get that special hug, and feel appreciated but all those grandiose epithets!
Get real. There are times when I felt like lying in bed and waving my arms and legs about like the little baby who was screaming to be picked up. There are times when I feel like having a tantrum too. And times when I feel like walking out in a huff, banging the door behind me like my teenage brat.
Come on. We are human too. Love us with all our warts.
Twenty- five Seven 