German scholar doing PhD on Tribal Museum

Astonished by the number of visitors, says in West museums have become picnic spots

BHOPAL : She came to India two years back with her husband and her interest in art management took her to places of art and museums. For six months she took several tours to different places in India learning about the culture and art of the new place and today Ina Ross is doing a PhD on Tribal Museum and studying, why this museum attracts so many visitors unlike other museums in India.

During her first visit to Tribal Museum in Bhopal, one and half years back, she was amazed to see the number of people visiting the museum and that was when she decided to undertake a research as to why the museums of India are not getting many visitors and why Tribal Museum of Bhopal has so many visitors. She is now doing PhD in museulogy from University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and University of Bonn, Germany.

Presently in second phase, Ina began her research by talking to people finding their interest and what brings them to Tribal Museum. “I have a set of questionnaire but I seldom follow it because after the basic questions like their names, age, religion, places they visit, I change my questions according to the conversation. I talk to people coming from low income groups and tribals more because they provide me a better insight into why this museum is flourishing so much. I have talked to vegetable sellers, rickshaw wallahs and they tell me more about what they expect from the museums”, said Ina.

People write poetry on tribal art

Adding she said, “I visited so many museums in India and I never found a family spending Sunday visiting a museum like we do in west. It is more a tourist place and they don’t spend much time in learning what those museums are actually serving. Tribal museum on the other hand had so many people coming here. I have seen locals coming and spending whole day. I have also seen people write poetries, composing songs, reading books, talking to the tribal artists, which is found in no other museum in India.”

To meet her needs of research, Ina visits Bhopal almost every three months and gives the credit of her research to Nidhi Chopra, an employee at Tribal Museum, who helps her in her study. “The study which Ila has undertaken will definitely help Tribal Museum to get in more visitors and also make it popular in foreign countries. This is the first research on Tribal Museum and her keen interest instigates our interest to help her in whatever way we can”