<p>Imagine getting the following list of clues for a Treasure Hunt in Bangalore City...<br /><br />- A very proud pot, that blows its own trumpet in 4 directions! (Hint: Ground Floor, 1 C AD)<br />- A Wodeyar king without a crown<br />- A crocodile and a peacock making music together<br />- A four-armed yellow monster enjoying a ‘tasty’ yet reluctant meal<br />- Going to war with a quilt on your head?<br />- Original property documents from 485 AD<br />- A 4000-year-old, four-legged ‘vase’ from Coorg!<br /><br />Now before you begin wondering where on earth these ‘treasures’ might be, relax…they’re all at the Karnataka Government Museum (next to Visvesvaraiah Science Museum) on Kasturba Road.<br /><br />If you’re feeling adventurous, don’t read any further! STOP right here and head to the museum. All 7 clues will lead you to exhibits that can be found on the ground and 1st floors of the main museum (not in the sculpture wing or the Venkatappa Art Gallery). So do you want to test your DQ? (That’s ‘detective quotient’, in case you didn’t know!)<br /><br />On the other hand, if you feel ‘Hey, exams are over! My brain is on holiday’, then read on.<br />The very first clue is, as I hinted, on the ground floor, among the pottery exhibits. It’s a beautiful plump terracotta pot, with four ‘trumpets’ sticking out of its upper half. It dates back to the 1st C AD, and was found at a site called Tarabanehalli in Bangalore District. <br /><br />Clue No 2 should take you upstairs to the section with Mysore paintings. And there hang 2 unusual royal portraits. Normally, kings are painted in dashing hunting attire or in all their ceremonial finery, topped off with a grand crown. But here you’ll find Raja Krishnaraja Wodeyar dressed like a humble priest, while doing his puja.<br /><br />Clue No 3 is easy; when you climb up the stairs, right at the landing are glass cases with musical instruments in them. One case has a Mayura veena (carved like a peacock) and a Makara veena (shaped like a crocodile), arranged side by side. <br /><br />The croc veena looks positively evil – he’s a weird yellow and has a wicked grin like he’s just gobbled up and digested the poor veena player.<br /><br />In the section where all the miniature paintings hang, you will find one gruesome painting that sent shivers down my spine – that will solve Clue No 4. Head to the weapons section and you’ll find a very cleverly designed war helmet – metal on the top and thick quilting to line the insides. So there’s your answer to Clue No 5. Then, right in line with the model of Srirangapatna fort on the ground floor are a set of copper land grants, where you’ll find Clue No 6. And I’ll leave you to find Clue 7, which is pretty easy – an elegant tall jar standing on 4 legs, excavated from Coorg and belonging to the Megalithic period (3500 – 1500 B C). My first thought? “Surely the warrior Kodavas weren’t into flower arrangements 4,000 years ago? I wonder what that was used for?”<br /><br />So now that you’ve got the hang of a ‘Treasure hunt inside a museum’, here’s what you can do this holiday. A few of your friends can head to the museum with a pencil and note pad. Check out interesting exhibits and write down all that you can about them. Then come home, and write out some wacky clues for each of the exhibits that you liked. <br /><br />Hand over that list (without the answers) to another set of your friends and toss them a challenge like, ‘Crack that and there’s a treat waiting for you!’ (Which of course can be something as cheerful as a bar of chocolate.) Then get them to write clues for YOU to solve. Crack those and maybe you can get that bar of chocolate right back!</p>.<p>OTHER THINGS TO DO<br /><br />- The weapons’ section is absolutely fascinating. You could make rough sketches of all the deadly gear; come home and draw them on to any picture of your favourite hero/heroine. Imagine Sachin dressed for ancient war-fare with chain-mail (an armour), the quilted helmet, and a sword in his hand instead of a cricket bat! If I could get a decent-sized picture of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow from ‘The Avengers’, I’d paint on an extra pair of arms someone out of an Amar Chitra Katha comic and give her the shield, the chakra yudha, the fierce saw-edged sword and the double-sided dagger to wave about.<br /><br />- Use the museum as the starting point to explore other places in Bangalore. There are innumerable prints done by British artists of Tipu’s summer palace, the Fort and other historical places now swamped by the bustling parts of Old Bangalore. Take pictures of all these crowded places (using the same ‘point of view’ as the artist) and come back to this museum and compare the 2 images taken over 2 centuries apart!<br /><br />- Have you ever wondered how museums get such a collection of treasure? One is through donations. I spotted a few. Upstairs, with the Mysore paintings is a huge grid of scenes from Hindu mythology, donated by one M S Ranganatha from Rajajinagar. The collection of pottery shards from Mohenjodaro was donated by a British woman. Check out if you can spot any more private donors. Think about whether YOU could ever donate something precious and priceless to a museum. </p>
<p>Imagine getting the following list of clues for a Treasure Hunt in Bangalore City...<br /><br />- A very proud pot, that blows its own trumpet in 4 directions! (Hint: Ground Floor, 1 C AD)<br />- A Wodeyar king without a crown<br />- A crocodile and a peacock making music together<br />- A four-armed yellow monster enjoying a ‘tasty’ yet reluctant meal<br />- Going to war with a quilt on your head?<br />- Original property documents from 485 AD<br />- A 4000-year-old, four-legged ‘vase’ from Coorg!<br /><br />Now before you begin wondering where on earth these ‘treasures’ might be, relax…they’re all at the Karnataka Government Museum (next to Visvesvaraiah Science Museum) on Kasturba Road.<br /><br />If you’re feeling adventurous, don’t read any further! STOP right here and head to the museum. All 7 clues will lead you to exhibits that can be found on the ground and 1st floors of the main museum (not in the sculpture wing or the Venkatappa Art Gallery). So do you want to test your DQ? (That’s ‘detective quotient’, in case you didn’t know!)<br /><br />On the other hand, if you feel ‘Hey, exams are over! My brain is on holiday’, then read on.<br />The very first clue is, as I hinted, on the ground floor, among the pottery exhibits. It’s a beautiful plump terracotta pot, with four ‘trumpets’ sticking out of its upper half. It dates back to the 1st C AD, and was found at a site called Tarabanehalli in Bangalore District. <br /><br />Clue No 2 should take you upstairs to the section with Mysore paintings. And there hang 2 unusual royal portraits. Normally, kings are painted in dashing hunting attire or in all their ceremonial finery, topped off with a grand crown. But here you’ll find Raja Krishnaraja Wodeyar dressed like a humble priest, while doing his puja.<br /><br />Clue No 3 is easy; when you climb up the stairs, right at the landing are glass cases with musical instruments in them. One case has a Mayura veena (carved like a peacock) and a Makara veena (shaped like a crocodile), arranged side by side. <br /><br />The croc veena looks positively evil – he’s a weird yellow and has a wicked grin like he’s just gobbled up and digested the poor veena player.<br /><br />In the section where all the miniature paintings hang, you will find one gruesome painting that sent shivers down my spine – that will solve Clue No 4. Head to the weapons section and you’ll find a very cleverly designed war helmet – metal on the top and thick quilting to line the insides. So there’s your answer to Clue No 5. Then, right in line with the model of Srirangapatna fort on the ground floor are a set of copper land grants, where you’ll find Clue No 6. And I’ll leave you to find Clue 7, which is pretty easy – an elegant tall jar standing on 4 legs, excavated from Coorg and belonging to the Megalithic period (3500 – 1500 B C). My first thought? “Surely the warrior Kodavas weren’t into flower arrangements 4,000 years ago? I wonder what that was used for?”<br /><br />So now that you’ve got the hang of a ‘Treasure hunt inside a museum’, here’s what you can do this holiday. A few of your friends can head to the museum with a pencil and note pad. Check out interesting exhibits and write down all that you can about them. Then come home, and write out some wacky clues for each of the exhibits that you liked. <br /><br />Hand over that list (without the answers) to another set of your friends and toss them a challenge like, ‘Crack that and there’s a treat waiting for you!’ (Which of course can be something as cheerful as a bar of chocolate.) Then get them to write clues for YOU to solve. Crack those and maybe you can get that bar of chocolate right back!</p>.<p>OTHER THINGS TO DO<br /><br />- The weapons’ section is absolutely fascinating. You could make rough sketches of all the deadly gear; come home and draw them on to any picture of your favourite hero/heroine. Imagine Sachin dressed for ancient war-fare with chain-mail (an armour), the quilted helmet, and a sword in his hand instead of a cricket bat! If I could get a decent-sized picture of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow from ‘The Avengers’, I’d paint on an extra pair of arms someone out of an Amar Chitra Katha comic and give her the shield, the chakra yudha, the fierce saw-edged sword and the double-sided dagger to wave about.<br /><br />- Use the museum as the starting point to explore other places in Bangalore. There are innumerable prints done by British artists of Tipu’s summer palace, the Fort and other historical places now swamped by the bustling parts of Old Bangalore. Take pictures of all these crowded places (using the same ‘point of view’ as the artist) and come back to this museum and compare the 2 images taken over 2 centuries apart!<br /><br />- Have you ever wondered how museums get such a collection of treasure? One is through donations. I spotted a few. Upstairs, with the Mysore paintings is a huge grid of scenes from Hindu mythology, donated by one M S Ranganatha from Rajajinagar. The collection of pottery shards from Mohenjodaro was donated by a British woman. Check out if you can spot any more private donors. Think about whether YOU could ever donate something precious and priceless to a museum. </p>
