An MP3 tour of country’s historical masterpieces

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Visitors to National Museum will get comprehensive update on exhibits of national importance on stereophones fitted with MP3 players
Sourav Sanyal

New Delhi, October 17: BEGINNING Friday, yellowing history book pages will give way to MP3. Visitors to the National Museum will now be provided with a comprehensive update on exhibits of national importance on stereophones fitted with MP3 players.

A first for any government museum in India, masterpieces covered under the audio tour include the famous statue Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro, seals dating back to the Harappan civilisation, holy Buddha relics, metal Nataraja statue, the acclaimed Hajhi Madni painting depicting the marriage procession of emperor Shah Jahan’s elder son Dara Shikoh, a dazzling gold necklace of the Taxila period (1 BC), punch-marked coins which heralded the use of metallic currency in the subcontinent among others.

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Initially, there will be 55 stoppages in the tour. The number can be extended. The MP3 player would have digitised information on 55 exhibits in different galleries,” said a source from the museum.

All that a visitor has to do is press the index button corresponding to the index number of the exhibit concerned and background information would be played over the stereophone,’’ said the source further.

Work on getting the ‘audio tour’ in place started last year. Narrowcasters India - a subsidiary of Narrowcasters Australia - which has developed similar multimedia packages for the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Parliament House in Canberra besides several other projects in the Asia-Pacific region, have executed the project.

Speaking to Newsline, Narrowcasters Director Sanjay Khandelwal said: ‘‘Narrowcasters will provide on going management and operational support, as well as customer service staff. The audio tour will be available in Hindi, English, French, German and Japanese. “

“The audio tour will help visitors learn more about the rich heritage, art and culture of India,” said Khandelwal further.

‘‘Visitors would be carrying small MP3 audio players. They can go anywhere they want and see the exhibits in any sequence. When they get to something that interests them, they press a number and listen to recorded commentary in their own language,’’ said Khandelwal.

While domestic tourists would be charged Rs 150 for English and Rs 100 for Hindi service, corresponding rates for international tourists have been worked out.

MP3 players can be picked up from the ticket counter at nominal rates.

Sources added that the new concept would make people more aware of their heritage and culture in a better way.