Museums for me had been a place with a tangible historical presence. The association of intangibility and museums becoming more than a place with a collection for historical artefacts has been a very recent phenomenon.
My relationship with Museums began after I had joined my bachelor degree college. Bihar Museum was recently inaugurated and was located adjacent to my college. So for every possible break, we would enter the museum premises. The museum was still spanking new and the galleries were slowly being appended. Being history students in a group, for the first two months we were excused from the entry fee in exchange for our ID cards at the gate. This small gesture was a reason for us becoming a frequenter. Slowly, the space became my happy place. I would be excited for every next trip to the galleries to check out new additions. The additions became absolute but the excitement never subsided.
My latest visit to the museum was in March, when the lockdown was lifted. This visit was different from every other. It was after completing a museum management course for my master's. The perspective amplified, behind the scene working made much more sense now.
The sense that the artifacts have their own stories is something a lot of people can relate with. The sense that a place of historical significance has its own story is also well established. But, a modern place housing ancient artifacts storing their own stories of student trips, first-hand experiences of someone to euphoric moments of few. It is the essence of self- discovery that one must visit to see for themselves.