Pavithra’s Perspective

The second time was on the movie screen, watching Mani Ratnam’s Thiruda Thiruda, which featured the National Art Gallery in the song Chandralekha, and being stunned: what was this beautiful, beautiful palace, and how long had they taken to build the set? More time would pass before I realized that it wasn’t a set, but actually a monument right here, in Chennai.

Somewhere during my late teens, as a firm History enthusiast, I began to haunt the Government Museum and its environs, when the magnificent façade caught my attention again. Over the years, I went back, discovering newer nuances, and its background: that it came into existence in 1907 under the auspices of Diwan Bahadur Namperumal Chetty following upon the architectural style of Henry Irwin and that, originally meant to be used by the Victoria Technical Institute to display local crafts, it transformed into the National Art Gallery in 1951 … but it would take a few more years and the conception of my book series, for me to stop being content to just gaze upon it and take a pen to record its beautiful features. It took me at least 4 days to complete – but I enjoyed every moment of recording the delicate Mughal touches in this architectural feat.