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Lifestyles from the past

Ranjita Biswas

Can everyday objects such as a nut cutter, a coconut scraper or a rotund pot be objects of art? Who would be interested in viewing them if they were placed in a museum?

In the hushed corridors of the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune, Maharashtra, these ordinary objects acquire a significance of their own.

One of the foremost folk art museums in the world, the Kelkar Museum is also a tribute to the woman in her many moods -- be it indulging herself in her toilette or cooking a sumptuous meal for her family.

The founder of the museum, Dr D. G. Kelkar (who died in 1990), gives credit for the setting up of the museum to his wife, Kamalabai. ``Without her help and love I would never, never have been able to make this museum a reality. No other lady c ould have spent 50 years of her life wandering all over the country with a man so obsessed,'' the poet-connoisseur writes.

The journey for the husband-wife duo, however, did not start with the aim of establishing a museum, but as a personal collection of things which represent fast-disappearing lifestyles.

Kelkar decided to hand over his decades-old collection to the State Government, which converted it into a regional museum, after his collection was appreciated by people from India and abroad.

The museum has many galleries. Though additions have been made over the years to the original collection, the home -- as the centre of family life -- is still the most important section of the museum.

An astonishing number of beautiful household articles, especially kitchenware, can be seen in the museum. For instance, there is a coconut scraper with a mirror at its head. It is not difficult to imagine how the artisan visualised the woman examining h erself in the mirror while scraping the coconut. There are pots for storing oil in various shapes and sizes, spoon-stands from Gujarat and an exquisite brass dinner plate fashioned as a banana leaf from 19th-century Maharashtra.

A trip through the museum makes one realise that Kelkar found nothing mundane. For those who think pedicure in plush beauty parlours is a recent introduction from the West, the `vajris' or foot scrubbers displayed in the museum could be an ey e-opener. Ranging from terracotta pumice stones to other highly stylised ones, the `vajris' show how very conscious women of the past were about personal care.

Kelkar has also collected a variety of combs which are displayed in the toilette section of the museum. What catches one's attention is a comb that pours oil from one end as one combs the hair.

The `tambool' or paan-chewing tradition in India too is given adequate attention through a wide range of `paan-daans' or containers for betel nuts. The Kelkar collection has nut cutters with amorous couples, zodiac signs, animal motifs and women in various poses.

In short, there is nothing connected with a woman's life that does not find pride of place in the museum. And even though the Kelkars only wanted to collect these items for their personal interest, they have surely succeeded in providing th e Indian woman the best tribute she can get through the museum.

Women's Feature Service