Museums - in general, and Gandhi Museums - in particular, are not necessarily the most exciting or happening places to visit, esp, on a vacation trip with the present hyper-charged-up generation. So, came as bit of a surprise to find out first hand that Madurai's Gandhi Museum - http://www.gandhimmm.org - was anything but dull.
The front part of the museum portrays British, French, Portugese etc entry into India in its different parts - Goa, TamilNad, Karnataka, Punjab, Bengal etc. Nothing dramatically new - except that this portrayal was evocative in its rendering, covered a lot of historical ground succinctly, touched a chord and elicited futile what-if questions in the mind.
What-if, Siraj-Ud-Dualah could have sensed Mir Jafar's treachery before hand. What-if, Tipu had had a better sense of building alliances and partnerships? What-if, Veerapandian Kattabomman had managed his relationships with Ettapa or/& the King of Pudukottai better? And more such..
What also stood out was that the British usually lost the initial battles only to regroup, replan, reconspire to win the bigger war. For e.g., the first two Mysore wars, The First Anglo-Maratha war.
There are lessons to learn.
The front part of the museum portrays British, French, Portugese etc entry into India in its different parts - Goa, TamilNad, Karnataka, Punjab, Bengal etc. Nothing dramatically new - except that this portrayal was evocative in its rendering, covered a lot of historical ground succinctly, touched a chord and elicited futile what-if questions in the mind.
What-if, Siraj-Ud-Dualah could have sensed Mir Jafar's treachery before hand. What-if, Tipu had had a better sense of building alliances and partnerships? What-if, Veerapandian Kattabomman had managed his relationships with Ettapa or/& the King of Pudukottai better? And more such..
What also stood out was that the British usually lost the initial battles only to regroup, replan, reconspire to win the bigger war. For e.g., the first two Mysore wars, The First Anglo-Maratha war.
There are lessons to learn.
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