‘I’m not going to stop doing the things I believe in’

The Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum’s Tasneem Zakaria Mehta on the role of museums in Mumbai

She’s seen as the very public face of the museum she helped revive (the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum), and on Monday evening, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta regaled an appreciative audience with her insights about the role of a museum in a city like Mumbai. In a talk organised by Shaili Chopra’s Shethepeople.tv at The Bombay Canteen, the cultural czarina also reflected on how heritage and history can be presented in a more contemporary way to engage the youth.

The Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum showcases the city’s cultural heritage and history, but Tasneem has always known of the need to keep it programmes to suit the tastes of the current generation. “The idea that some of the officials have that museums should be all about very serious things is not at all true; museums across the world are changing and they are changing radically. MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York) for example has yoga classes, so the members can go and do yoga inside the museum. What does yoga have to do with modern art But it’s a fun way to bring people together and that is what we are trying to do. Of course we try to keep it anchored in our collections, in our ideas about Mumbai, something connected with the larger themes of the museum, but the real idea of a museum is that it is a meeting place,” she said.

The BDLM, once derelict, underwent a comprehensive five-year restoration and was re-opened in 2008. Looking back on its revival, Tasneem said, “When people come here and look at our 19th century architecture, they are really amazed, even though it’s in such a decrepit condition and full of clutter with billboards and posters stuck all over and you can’t even see half the building. But with the museum, we wanted to set a benchmark — this is what transformation can do.”

In a bid to engage the youth with contemporary art, Tasneem has several plans in mind. “For youngsters, it just should not be about shopping and movies and friends, they need to engage in something that evokes a ‘wow’ response from within. We try to present a whole cross section of programming. We have film screenings related to music, art, culture, we are soon going to start poetry sessions and make it more appealing to the youth, besides we are using the social media in every possible way. We are on Instagram, Facebook, we also have one of the best websites,” she stated.

She also feels that museums are not just about relics in a corner but have a much larger role to play in salvaging the cultural essence of the city. “We conduct museum and INTACT walks, we have done them through Byculla, Bandra of course Fort is an obvious area, but there are many other heritage areas in the city. We are talking about the Koliwadas and Kotachiwadi. We have taken a PIL as the builders wanted to knock down Kotachiwadi and we have actually managed to stop it from being knocked down because the community also wanted us to get involved. We are now going to start working on restoring all the fountains and statues in the city,” she said.

Not letting the callousness of bureaucrats affect the functioning of the museum is something Tasneem has learned the hard way. “Once a government official told me, ‘You keep knocking at our doors and that’s when we do it.’ If we didn’t fight the good fight our cause would simply go away. If you are doing the right thing, you just have to say I’m not afraid of you and I’m not going to stop doing something that I believe in,” she concludes.

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