International Museum Day Today: Shooting Stars, Vintage Lamps, Impact Diamonds & Delhi Sultanate Weights

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A diamond created by impact of meteorite, 19-century lamps from Russia and Austria and weights with inscriptions in Brahmi. These are among the curios in the private collections of three local residents.

On the eve of the International Museum Day, Free Press talked with the enthusiasts who have been preserving different slices of history.

Shooting stars

A room at Awadhpuri residence of Kriti Kumar Jain, who retired as warehousing corporation AGM 18 years ago, has a collection of minerals, stamps and postcards. The exhibits in his personal museum include uncut diamonds, lithium ore, magnetite, silica, impact diamonds (diamond that arises from the impact of meteorites on Earth) and slate stone from Udhampur (Jammu).

He also possesses postcards from East India Company era to the present. Besides, there are stamps carrying photographs of birds and mushrooms from all over the world including Africa and Europe. “When I was young, my mother showed me a shooting star streaking across the sky. And that was how I developed interest in collecting minerals,” he said.

Let there be light

Artist and social activist Aftab Laiq Ahmed of Inder Vihar Colony (airport road) has a collection of devices that provided light before the invention of incandescent bulb. The collection includes a prehistoric pothole lamp, weighing 27 kg, marshals, which were portable sources of light and also diyas including those made of metal and terracotta.

Kerosene lamps, lanterns and petromaxes from British and Mughal era are also in his collection. There is a Russian carbide lantern made in 1860 and German’s Baby Petromax manufactured in 1900. Then, there are Victorian table lamps made in England and an Austrian Astral Lamp manufactured in 1890.

“My father developed interest in collecting lamps during blackout in the wake of the Indo-Pak war of 1971 when he lived in his ancestral home in Aligarh,” says his daughter Khushnoor, who is pursuing her PhD from Barkatullah University on the topic “A historical study of lamps in India from 1853-1947 AD”.

Weighty matters

Electrical engineer Ranjeet Kumar Jha has 10 quintals of weights from ancient to modern India. These weights were used to weigh commodities in different periods, from Delhi Sultanate to British India and in princely states including Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Dhar, Saurashtra, Kutch, Bombay and Badi.

The weights carry inscriptions in different scripts from Brahmi to Roman. The collection includes weights used in Bhopal princely state inscribed with images of two fish. Jha who won Limca Book of Records says, “Preserving weights is a tough job.

Though most of them are made of rust-free iron, I have to keep them wrapped in polythene. I also use talcum powder to ensure that they don’t deteriorate,” he said, adding, “I am writing a book on Indian Weights and Measurement Systems.”

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