Where ordinary objects tell extraordinary stories

A lota, a colourful trunk, an old metal lock and a rolling pin -- objects that were once a part of everyday life have now found a new home in the relocated Sanskriti Museum of Indian Textiles & Everyday Art at the Humayun's Tomb World Heritage Site Museum. It reopened on 1 August for visitors, inviting them to look at a selection of two thousand artifacts and at least 500 beautifully patterned textiles of Patola, Bandhini and Pashmina among others. Collected over four decades by Sanskriti founder OP Jain, these artefacts were earlier housed at Sanskriti Kendra in Anandgram. The collection was gifted to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in 2023. “The curatorial flow covers everyday objects and an entire lifecycle of a person. Right from their childhood to when they grow up and learn to read and write, and then the next stages of life through work implements and kitchen categories,” says Archana Saad Akhtar, Programme Director, Design, Aga Khan Trust for Culture.