President APJ Abdul Kalam is on a mission to rescue history, which is drifting away from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Chairs designed by Lutyens and artefacts from a Viceroy’s kitchen are on display
NEW DELHI: President APJ Abdul Kalam is on a mission to rescue history, which is drifting away from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
It all started six months ago with the President making a trip to Rashtrapati Bhavan’s kitchen and store and discovering many unused antique kitchen equipment lying around.
President Kalam, known for his creativity, immediately came up with the suggestion of putting the entire collection of old kitchen accessories in the form of a museum and six months down the line the President’s house has formally opened its gates to India’s first ever Kitchen Museum.
Inaugurated by the President himself, Kalam’s ‘kitchen museum’ exhibits interesting artifacts from the Viceroy’s kitchens, which were used at Rashtrapati Bhavan almost six-seven decades back.
“All the objects on display dates to 1930s-1947. Once the President conveyed his desire, we sought help from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) and put the whole thing together along with CPWD staff at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” explains SM Khan, press secretary, Rasthrapati Bhavan.
The museum, located right below the dome of the 340-room Rashtrapati Bhavan, showcases amongst other things a giant coffee maker with a brass top, a cardboard picnic box which can be opened out and made into an alfresco-dining table, chairs which are original pieces designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, ceramic dinner sets and post meal items such as ice-cream cups, jugs and kettles, silverware and crystal.
This is the second museum to come up at the Bhawan after the children’s museum, which was also set up by Kalam in 2004.
“The kitchen museum is now going to be a permanent fixture. It’s now a part of Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Khan said.
Ironically, although the museum has been opened for public viewing, the staff at the President’s residence are still trying to ascertain the historical detail of each artifact.
“We are trying to find out which accessories were used during whose stay. The idea was to give the public an opportunity to see these antique equipments,” says a source at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
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