Mumbai airport museum offers a rare flight into world of artefacts

Through Jaya He Safari, you can see 7,000 products depicting Indian art, culture

Mumbai: The Mumbai airport has commenced a week-long outreach programme to create a buzz among passengers about Jaya He Safari, where passengers can book guided tours of 7,000-odd artefacts that adorn the walls of integrated Terminal 2 before flight departures. The museum has even tied up with the International Council of Museums to make sure it occupies a place on the world map.

The programme coincides with International Museum Day on May 18. “We offer customised tours starting at 15 minutes. Tours depend on the interest and time available with passengers,” Rekha Nair, director, Jaya He, said.

Terming Jaya He a new museum, Ms. Nair said besides an average of 10 tours daily, a lot of passengers have been observed to be repeat visitors. “The theme for the museum week is hyperconnected museums. We are involved with institutions working on design and architecture. We also offer an internship programme,” she said.

Ms. Nair said the museum has been created in a public area amidst a host of climatic conditions. “People can touch and feel artefacts. This is something that you cannot do in other museums. Passengers are our ambassadors or evangelists. They carry a bit of India everywhere. We are looking at the younger generation, and in the museum week, we want to take them back to their childhood.”

The museum director also said while The Louvre in Paris has a footfall of around 10 million, Jaya He has a ready-made set of 48 million passengers who transit through the terminal every year.

Jaya He is spread across four levels at Terminal 2, showcasing art and craft, paintings and sculptures depicting Indian art and culture. During the museum week, passengers will also get to interact with artists Anil Nayak and Moreshwar Patil, who are involved in making of artefacts.

“They will be making live sketches of passengers. These sketches will then be distributed to them. We will also be shooting videos of passengers visiting the museum, which will then be put up on the website,” Ashwini Varma, who started as an intern, and now works at the museum, said.

In the last one year, foreign tourists have made up for 40% of the visitors. “Interns, who are college students, guide passengers. We receive a bulk of tour requests at night when international traffic is at its peak,” Ms. Varma said.

The T2 project, initiated in 2008, was often referred as the world’s most constrained project. But in March 2009, Sanjay Reddy, the vice-chairman of GVK group, laid out his vision to artist Rajeev Sethi when he said: “Make the airport so nice that people don’t mind missing their planes.”