Monday, August 20, 2007

An Englishman in New York

This is the chair on which sat the "writer" of the Indian Constitution when he handed over that bulky but a watershed document to the first president of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad. I am not sure many would know who the write of the constituion of India was although most of us would be aware of the importance of that document in defining our national lives and our freedom and democratic principles in the last. Some of us who are a bit older would of course know Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar or Babsaheb Ambedkar as the father of the Indian Consitution.
It was almost by chance that I happened to visit the small and rather quaint museum at Pune which has a few of his personal belongings such as his books, working table, dining table, crockery and cutlery, clothes, walking sticks etc. To me he looked a more western than many of his contemporaties and I did not anywhere see the hideous blue suit and the red tie which is most of his statues and calendars are painted. Instead there were some very elegant white shirts and dark grey suits. The museum itself is small but well kept by the Symbiosis Management Institute and happens to be on the main Senapati Bapat Road across the passport office.
Finally, for those of you who would be wondering why this entry is titled the way it is: Poona is traditionally the land of Peshwas and brahmins:)