Look back at our Rich culture

When we look at our daily life, it is surrounded by items manufactured en masse, from the clothes to food, home furniture to vehicles. Look at anything that we consume, there is nothing unique about it. Everyone else is using the same thing. At such time, when we get a chance to look at the unique items that were used by people in bygone times, we relaize how rich our traditional lifestyle was.

We got a look at the daily life of Indians since 12th century in the Raja Kelkar Museum located at Shukrawar Peth. Its a one-man collection of over 21,000 artifacts by Late Padmashree Dr. D.G. Kelkar. It reflects the richness of the daily life through day to day items like ovens, vegetable cutters, coconut scrapper, carved doors and windows, toys, foot scrubs and combs used by women, traditional clothes and ornaments. What is unique about these items is the creative way by which each item is created. The vegetable cutter is in various shapes of peacock and other birds, the foot scrub with handles depicting elephants in a combat, Sindur boxes in animal motifs and human figures, rare earthenware made of chinese clay and so on.

These items are collected from all over India including Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra and Kashmir. Each of the item is unique and created with lot of imagination. Today's plastic items are a far cry from these mundane but invaluable pieces of art.


A remarkable section dedicated to Ivory displays perfume bottles, chess boards, a full door and a statue of Jesus Christ made of Ivory among other items. There are numerous statues made of marble and other stones of dieties of various Indian religions. A section is dedicated to the toys from the bygone era. Another section is dedicated to the arms and ammunitions.

The section that I enjoyed the most was floor full of musical instruments. There are lots of instruments in different forms and shapes relefting indian craftsmanship. From the old age Mayur veena to the earliest radios and Yamaha piano, the collection has some unique instruments. There is a three sided tanpura and five headed Tabla. Also there are two tablas made of glass instead of the wood. Instruments used by famous personalities like, Bal Gandharv's Tamboori. Pannalal Ghosh's flute, P.L. Deshpande's Sarinda add to the attraction of the collection.

One of the main attraction is the reacreation of the Mastani Mahal. The legendary story of Bajirao and Mastani is famous all over Maharashtra. The palace that Bajirao created for Mastani was dismantled and recreated in its original glory in this museum.

At the normal speed, the museum can be covered in about one and half hour and if you spend time to appreciate the creativity of the skills of our people, then it will take much more time to cover the whole museum.

If you want to show yourself and your kids our rich culture, then this is the place to go.

Useful Information about Raja Kelkar Museum

Location:

Click here to see the location of map.

Links:

http://www.rajakelkarmuseum.com/

Charges:

In addition to the charges mentioned on the website,

Rs. 150 for camera
Rs. 75 for mobile camera

© Paras Doshi, 2009.

Lake near Wanawadi

It is always a pleasure to have guests at our home. We always look for places that can be visited within the city limits. There are the usual places like museums, temples, shopping streets (M.G. road and Laxmi Road in Pune) and the new funky malls. However, these are places that are found in all the cities and probably the guests want something better. We are lucky to have this nice park very close to our home. We have not only taken our guests but also friends who live in Pune but are not aware of this park.



Within a five minutes drive from our home, we reach the park that we have visited many times now and always enjoy going back again. The main attraction is boating. Instead of going all the way to Lonavala or Mahabaleshwar for boating, we can enjoy some nice time boating right next to our home. The park has both peddle boats and row boats.


Another attraction is a hanging bridge over the lake. It gives some anxious moments as one goes over it. The kids enjoy going again and again over it once they get a hang of it. There are quite a number of ducks floating on the lake at any time. There are lots of fishes found in some parts of the lake. Many people come over to feed them early in the morning. There are many different varieties of birds found around the lake. I am not into serious bird watching, else I could have indentified the species of the birds. But, it could be a paradise for any bird watcher. There is an open space where people can just sit around and enjoy the cool environment while the kids play around. There is a play area for kids with some slides and swings, but is not in very good condition.

Overall its a little paradise in the middle of all the hustle bustle of the city.




Useful Information on visiting the park.

Route:

Click here to see the exact location of the lake.

Since this park is within the complex of S R P F, you will need to go through one of the main gates of the complex. The guard at the gate will ask you about where you want to go. You can ask him a permit to visit the lake. If convinced, you will be permitted to enter the complex.

Charges:

Entry for the park is Rs. 5 per person. The boating charges are Rs. 15 per person. There is sufficient parking available for 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers.

Trivia:

Aamir Khan's Mangal Pandey was partly shot here !!