New Delhi, National Museum – Indus Valley Detectives

I know, I know, it’s shameful that this was my first trip to a Museum in Delhi.  Just for the record, I have had every intention of taking my children (who have been begging to go).  Taking into account ‘better late than never’, I decided to remedy this and do it well.

Back in April, I stumbled upon Flow India.  You can check out their website here.  I have to admit I was somewhat wary, because I have been subjected to lifeless tours and uninspiring historical talks in the past, and considering there was a chance  that this might be yet another one of these, I decided there was only one way to find out.

I signed Ria and Brandon up for the Museum Detectives – Mysteries of Ancient India Tour at the National Museum.  We had done some reading about it and since the Museum has original  artifacts, I thought it would make a more lasting impression.  (It was really neat to  see the actual bronze dancing girl, the jewelry, the delicately detailed toys and the pillar bases, amongst all the other wonderful archaeological finds instead of pictures in my black and white boring history text books).

I do not remember all the names of the facilitators, except Arundhati; but they were all very engaging and interactive with the children, which I so appreciated.  Not wanting to disrupt the group, I tried to follow them at a distance and stay in the, may I add warm, shadows…(eventually I retreated to the AC and my book)!

The children really enjoyed themselves.  It was great to hear them tell Adam and I what they saw and speculate on the kind of life that the Indus Valley People might have lived.  A picture paints a thousand words, they say.  Brandon and Ria’s little sketches and notes were rewarding.  Far from the “please don’t subject us to that again”, their reaction was, in fact, quite the contrary.  They asked if they could please, please go again!  Brandon was fascinated with the skeleton exhibit, especially with the bangles on the wrist!  No guessing what he sketched – skeleton, bangles and all!

Ria said she liked Numismatics – say what?  The study or collection of coins or medals.  I will definitely be making more use of this creative group of people!  I might learn a couple more impressive terms to throw around!

They seem to have a nice calendar for the summer, in case any of you blogging and slogging Moms in Delhi are interested.  Too bad we will be missing the Art Workshop but I am planning on visiting the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and will let you know how that goes.