Yesterday we had the good fortune of going for the special
exhibition of artifacts from Egypt, courtesy of the British Museum which had
collaborated with Mumbai’s own Prince of Wales Museum. Normally the Mumbai museum
all these years was a very staid place with little changing but the quality of
exhibits kept me going and I loved taking Jispa there. First we used to take
her to the Natural history section, then we took her often to the other parts
of the museum. I loved rediscovering the museum with her.
Of late the museum is begging to get a new lease of life. It
seems that is courtesy the new museum director who is proactively trying to do
stuff. There are small small activities like getting your favorite animal rubber
stamped at a table near the section or a stamp of some symbol or something. Next
to it is a donation box in exchange where you can put in whatever amount you
want, in return for getting a card with the rubber stamps. There is also a
place where you get yourselves some head gear and get yourself photographed in
in. the last time we went to the museum, we had visited the special exhibition
from China which had two original soldiers on display from the famous
terracotta army.
This time the Egypt exhibition was in a class of its own.
There was a ton of PR preceding the exhibition. It’s here on display for around
six months so there is adequate time for a lot of people to see it. AS we approached
the entrance we saw there was a counter for the audio tours, reasonably priced
at 70 bucks a guide. We took three as we were three adults with four children. After
we had taken it and paid up we saw one counter where one young lady was sitting
with an official badge. Over her head was a sign announcing guided tours in Hindi,
English and Marathi. I asked the young lady if we could get a guided tour. She
said of course. In English? I asked. Yes. Ok cool we are on. So I told my group
that we have a guide and off we went on the tour. Our guide, Stuti was a young first
year arts student. She was amongst the best guide we ever had. She held the
attention of four kids, explained the Egyptian terms to them in an easy manner
while using words like cool, dudes, rocking, silly etc while questioning the
attention of the kids by asking questions of stuff she had already said. She
rocked. She was patient for the complete 2 and half hours we took. The exhibition
was also lovely with a lot of artifacts and around 4 real mummies. Wow. That is
so cool. At eth end, Spoke to her “thank you Stuti, it was lovely. Do we owe
you anything”. “nopes, she said, its free”. “ok, would it be appropriate if we
still gave you something”. “no, no. but thanks a lot” she said with a lovely smile.
Cool. We left thinking what a swell job she did. And not for money or
any tip, but because she wanted to do a great job. While we walked out we saw a
corner selling some Egypt branded curios of decent quality. We thought we
should buy her something. So we bought a note book with the kids signing and
writing some stuff at the back page and we got the kids to gift it to her. She resisted
a while, but then Jasmine explained that it’s only a book and it’s signed with
some notes, so she could actually accept it.
That experience left me with some hope. The museum is changing
and what I understand is that it’s because of its new director who is trying to
bring about change and bring it into the people’s realm and imagination. The
staff also suddenly seem very polite and welcoming. Things are changing. If the
museum can change thanks to the effort of one man, then a lot can.
Today I was discussing with HR. On Monday we had a Christmas
celebration with some games to be played in the evening. Very few turned up and
we finally had teams after we sent some emissaries to drum up guys to play. All
those who played, played heartily and had a great time. The HR chic was
complaining that we are like this only. No one comes. I explained it’s the culture
of our firm and this culture comes from the top. While we played, which cabin
guy on the floor except me was enthusiastic about the games? People only do
what they think they are expected to do. You will party and then be jammed for
it or be typecast for it. Who would then want to come in and play? Do the
bosses actually want you to enjoy or play lip service to HR initiatives? It’s
almost like these fun and games are for non-serious, non-managerial staff. Why
would people come?
All these years I have learnt, change comes from the top. One
man with energy like the Museum director can bring about change and enthusiasm
that can possibly help a million others dream. Jispa now knows (and me of
course) what exactly does a Mummy look like. My team knows that taking part in
fun events is good and that helping HR organize like their boss does is an even
better thing. Go out, do stuff. Change start from you, especially if you are
higher shit. Like I told the HR lady, which father is the right guy, the one
who says – here is ten bucks enjoy your vacation or hey, it’s your vacation, let’s
go and play in the garden. You get the culture you deserve.
