Saturday, July 12, 2008

Speaking of chariots

Since we're on the subject of temple chariots, this is me at the Crafts Museum in Delhi. This chariot is really beautiful. It stands in an open courtyard, exposed to the sun and the rain. The wood has a weather-beaten look that I find very attractive.

The Crafts Museum (the official name is National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum) was designed by Charles Correa. The collection was largely put together in the 50's and the 60's (the year immediately after Indian independence).
.
The design of the Museum displays a rare sensitivity and empathy with the objects displayed - everything seems to "belong". The buildings are low-lying, the scale is appropriate for a display of rural arts and crafts. When I walked into the museum, I felt like I was in a real village, witnessing a local fair. If you go anytime after October 1st, you'll find live demonstrations of several crafts.

5 comments:

Lakshmi Bharadwaj said...

Yeah, the chariot is really beautiful! And we do share something in common. even i luv weather-beaten wood. :-)

Sandhya said...

Ahh!! This brought back wonderful memories I made there with my boyfriend, now my husband, while we were dating! Thank you for keeping us close to home with your lovely blog.

Anonymous said...

Hey I was looking for Delhi based blogs and found yours. Would you like to join the Delhi bloggers group? We interact online and we also meet a lot of times, offline.
If you wish to, You can do so here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/delhibloggers/join

Anonymous said...

is that a real chariot once upon a time or a replica made for the museum

Anonymous said...

Good article, thanks. I really like it!