Suyash Srivastava

The visit to the Bihar museum was ecstatic. I was already excited to visit the children’s section and so that’s where we entered first. The ambience there did not seem to be that of any other museum. The general perspective towards the museum is that there are ancient artefacts on display with dim lights and have silent visitors walking and observing. But here, we felt the contrast the very moment we stepped inside the children’s gallery. Did we just enter an amusement park? The energy there seemed to be so high! Well, sure it was no less than an amusement park. I have never known about Bihar and its ancient history more than when I grasped the knowledge by being a kid in the museum. The picture gallery with moving pictures brought Harry Potter fantasies into reality. Encountering a huge screen showcasing Madhubani art in motion at first was just scaling up the excitement to explore more what's inside the museum. The write-ups on the display were no less interactive. They place the reader straight into the era it was talking about rather than giving out straight information. Watched comparison between todays’ and older time through a lens on an interactive screen, played games to understand more about Mauryan dynasty. Talking more about interactive spaces, step on a stone and some replica of animal shows up and the children screams in excitement, go inside of caves draw on screen and the projector projects it on the cave walls as cave paintings. There were innumerable examples to make the space interactive and knowledgeable enough for kids, though even adults found themselves engaged in it. The museum displayed the unacknowledged stories of Bihar and the ethos of Biharis which gradually invokes the pride of Bihar in all forms. It is a treat to one's mind when one unravels the thought process involved in building such a space. A space that is in stark contrast with its surroundings, so generous in scale yet not overwhelming. A space that is neither contemporary nor local yet an amalgamation of both. Space is built in congruence with the purpose of it, i.e. timelessness just like the wealth of knowledge it contains. The museum made me fall in love with Bihar and its ethos even more in just a single visit. It was impossible to gather up all the knowledge within a few hours so I bought back home inquisitivity to know more, something that’ll take me back to it someday somehow.