By Shobha Rao Smilemaker

Mangaluru, Nov 13: If you are interested in looking at ancient collections, then please do see the Srimanthi Bai Museum at Bejai in Mangaluru.

In spite of visiting the city bus stand in Bejai since decades, I had completely missed this museum which is situated close by on a prime elevated location. On a rainy afternoon, the drive up the small hillock itself was a calming experience of nature co-existing with the other concrete structures.

We were greeted at the museum compound with old stone sculptures and statues and even a 14th century cannon.

The museum building exterior looked like a cosy home, and later I discovered it was exactly that - the private house of a Col Mirajkar, whose photo greeted us at the entrance.

I noticed the interior style was very different from a typical Mangalore home of that era, with long semi-circular shaped rooms, balconies and even staircases. Later I read that this Mangaluru house was designed as per the structure of Italian homes of the 1930's. On the first floor, as I viewed the amazing private collection of the Mirajkars, I imagined how it must have been for them to stay at this unique styled home, surrounded by artefacts from around the world like antique furniture, glass panels, crockery, metal hand crafted items, Gandhijis, photographs, etc. which were all used by them. Eg. I could just picture Mirajkar taking out a cigar from a rhino leg box, using one of the exotic lighters on it, and tapping it on one of the fancy mother of pearl ashtrays placed on an even fancier deer horned table!

The children's section was a delight to the senses, of particular interest were the variety of dolls depicting the different kinds of local spirits worshipped in Mangaluru. And for the first time I saw puppets used in the local Yakshagana folk art style.

And imagine the magnanimity of the Mirajkar brothers in gifting over the whole house and its expensive unique collections to the Indian Government in 1955. It was officially inaugurated as a museum in 1960 and named in memory of their mother Srimanthi Bai, whose bust and photo was prominent in the ground floor.

We walked through the paintings gallery, and later admired the ancient stone tools, wooden items, coins, idols, musical instruments, furniture, arms, variety of lamp holders, clocks from all around India. A copper inscription containing the verses of 17th century poet was a highlight.

All in all an interesting afternoon of smiles for those who are fascinated with ancient specimens depicting historic or cultural importance.

Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.