00:00 On August 14, 1931, B.R. Ambedkar said to Gandhi in a meeting at Manibhawan in Bombay,
00:06 "Gandhiji, I have no homeland.
00:09 How can I call this land my own homeland and this religion my own, wherein we are treated
00:13 worse than cats and dogs, wherein we cannot get water to drink?"
00:18 The Independence Day issue of Outlook looks at Dalit movements across the country.
00:22 In that, the issue analyses what freedom means for Dalits in our country.
00:27 Ambedkar collaborated with scholar Suraj Yengde to put together the issue.
00:31 In a discourse on museums conducted by Outlook magazine and the Bihar Museum, Vyas Aloni,
00:36 a JNU professor in the School of Arts and Aesthetics, talked about the need for a museum
00:40 of untouchability.
00:42 Editor Chinkee Sinha then asked him to write a piece, "Imagining a Museum of Untouchability."
00:47 He writes, "The practice of untouchability and the heinous crimes that are committed
00:51 in the form of brute killings, rapes, and public beatings are still in practice.
00:56 How about a space that depicts all of this?"
00:59 Museums in India are also known as Ajayab Ghar, the house of the strange.
01:03 The same term exists in many languages.
01:06 In Marathi, it is called Ajab Bangla.
01:08 The collection of objects and antiquities started getting showcased under one roof,
01:13 and that's how museums in India were born.
01:15 The princely states being the seat of power in their respective regions also had their
01:19 treasure houses that were open to public viewing.
01:22 The colonial administration started showcasing collections of antiquities, materials unearthed
01:27 from archaeological excavations, stuffed animals, birds, and lives of various communities in
01:32 the form of small sculptural models.
01:34 Interestingly, the French occupation in Karnataka coast produced a picture album of various
01:39 castes and communities as a part of picture manual for the French administration in their
01:44 territories.
01:45 Thus, it became a picture resource for the people of India.
01:48 The likes of Herbert Hope Risley studied different tribes in India and produced a photographic
01:52 documentation.
01:54 As far as community or people's museum is concerned, there are many museums showcasing
01:58 the lives and culture of Adivasi communities, which the urban population often deems as
02:03 backward and undeveloped.
02:05 In post-independent India, many museums emerged as a part of government initiatives, and nowadays,
02:11 private museums have also come up.
02:13 Military history in museums in India carries a narrative of the dominant communities, whose
02:18 names still exist on the regiments.
02:20 There is a general perception that only the past is museumized and not the present practices.
02:26 These strange ideas and attitudes take away focus from many problematic social issues
02:31 in our society.
02:32 It is ionic that even after India became a republic, the Indian public at large gets
02:38 politicized only in terms of casting votes.
02:41 This hardly helps our society emerge as a just society representing modern democracy.
02:47 Resolving conflicts to create a better society by constitutional means is the desired dream,
02:52 but the practice of untouchability and the heinous crimes that are committed in the form
02:57 of brute killings, rapes, and public beatings are still in practice.
03:01 In this context, what are the possibilities of conceptualizing a museum of untouchability?
03:07 Any atrocity of savarnata is a psychotic perversion and its manifestation is always brute, in
03:14 conflict with humanity and moral human values.
03:17 Who all are afraid of a museum of untouchability?
03:20 Why is a resistance to such an idea?
03:23 The constitution of India has banned untouchability.
03:26 It does not recognize a caste, but a group of castes for affirmative action.
03:31 Any museum begins with history.
03:33 So the museum of untouchability has to also begin with history.
03:37 However, untouchability begins the disease of the mind.
03:41 This material manifestation is a difficult process.
03:44 Nevertheless, the museum will have several sections showcasing the idea and objects of
03:50 atrocities.
03:51 The museum can be divided into several sections.
03:54 After crossing the first entry gate, the viewer shall be asked to remove their chappals shoes
03:58 and they will be made to walk to the next entry gate holding their footwear in their
04:03 hands.
04:04 This walkthrough in broad daylight will make them realize how one feels when he or she
04:09 is not allowed to wear footwear while crossing caste Hindu locality.
04:13 They will be allowed to wear their footwear after a display fashions.
04:17 You have crossed the territory of caste Hindus.
04:20 Now you are entering a more liberal place.
04:22 So wear your footwear.
