For a long time, I had an ardent desire to visit the Indian Museum which is situated in Calcutta. One day the opportunity came to me almost suddenly.
My cousin called Ratan came from Luknow to stay with us in Calcutta for a fortnight during the summer vacation. He has not seen the Indian Museum. So my elder brother was asked by my father to take me and Ratan to the Museum.
We entered the palatial building of the museum. On the ground floor, there were large halls where there were numerous skeletons of huge animals, maybe of the pre-historic age. There were captions indicating the details of the specimens.
Apart from the large skeletons of various animals, there were peculiar costumes and deadly weapons of kings, soldiers, or tribal people of different ages, which were preserved with great care inside glass cases.
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The steps led us to the upper floors of the Museum building, where we saw various types of stones, minerals, and strange carvings on stones with images of ancient Indian gods and goddesses. The palm-leaf manuscripts wrapped with red cloth and inscribed with writings in Sanskrit or Dravidian languages could also be seen.
The floors of the Museum were kept clean. The guards were alert about the safety of the preserved articles. The visitors were silent and disciplined who moved slowly almost in a queue in the Museum halls.
We came out of the Museum at about 4 P.M. Our heart was filled with joy. It was really a remarkable experience at gained within a few hours of my teen-aged life.