Speaking Archaeologically™

“The past is a foreign country and art is the passport to it.” - Anonymous If my life could be a testament to anything it would probably be to the fact that staying up post three scrolling through Instagram while sipping on your second cup of espresso can land you in the most unexpected of places; sometimes ,even the right places. Now don’t get me wrong , I don’t mean to recommend such unhealthy behavior to anyone reading this but that is how I came across ‘Speaking Archaeologically’s’   Instagram handle some three months ago. Needless to say i t wasn't long before I fell in love with history all over again  and decided this organisation was something I wanted to be a part of . What followed that was me applying the famed and oft used three fold Bollywood strategy to get anything you want in life, which in this case included religiously stalking the Instagram page for recruitment posters or declarations, working hard to prove I’m worthy by sending in submissions and final...

What comes to your mind when I talk of an Archaeological recording workshop? A formal site visit led by a regimented Task In-charge?   If yes, then let me help you get rid of this preconception. Because the Speaking Archaeologically site visits are nothing like that. On the fine Sunday morning of 15th October,  I embarked on the bus journey from Chandigarh to Pinjore. Though I had visited the place before, but never knew there was a temple too. Anyway, it was a 45 minute long journey and I spent the whole time trying to wrap up the essay we had to submit the same day. I reached there by noon as we all were supposed to, where Shriya greeted us all warmly (See, what did I say? No formalities). We walked further, got onto the site, had a session on Hindu temples and conferred about them in detail. Studied Hinduism in its primary form, discussed Tantra, Mantra and Yantra, familiarized ourselves with different Gods, including the one pictured below. That's Ishana (Moon)...

On the sultry, hot afternoon of 11th September a group of eager archaeologists in the making (not really but this hope might help us  sleep better at night) gathered at this not so historical but extremely aesthetic cafe called S-Cafe. *Inserts side note, it has a great bar, 10/10. Would recommend even to a teetotaller.* It started off as most SA workshops do, with Shriya reaching on time and waiting for her volunteers to show up. After the formalities were addressed we were asked to take out our surgical gloves because no where in the rule book does it say that only surgeons get to have fun.The thought of Woodwork all the way from Africa had my heart and rear end thumping to the beats of Ngoma. Each of us were given a precious hand out which contained information to build the basis of not only the workshop but also provided a bird's eye view into the life of Bembé tribe (and tribals). The workshop aimed to teach us object analysis and this led to...

“Does anyone here knows History?” the pretty lady wearing red coat asks. “No.” they answer, after couple of minutes of speculation. “To answer or not answer.” This is what came in our mind that moment. As we were there for a sculpture session which automatically means that one’s got to know about history related to different topics. “That’s perfect.” the young lady in red coat says with a smile on her face. We take a sigh of relief and she further explains. “It’s wonderful you guys don’t know about it as sometimes what happens is when we are students of History. We come with a biased opinion and we block our learning area.” I look at her stunned, wondering how can someone give such a optimistic approach to this situation? I smile, and believe me, it got me so excited for the session we were just about to begin with. To Shriya, the founder of Speaking Archeology, is someone, so many people including me are grateful for. I kid you not when I say, in my few months of bein...

Fabric on Display When the word ‘Silk’ is mentioned, it immediately conjures an image of waves of light and luxurious fabric in bright jewel colours. However, when I get to talk about the ‘Silk Workshop’ of Speaking Archaeologically , all that I may ponder upon is the golden-mauve Thai Silk costume or the Chinese emerald-green Silk dress. After a series of written tasks, team tasks and Museum visits, the Silk Workshop acted as a source of recreation. The workshop was held in MCM DAV College, Chandigarh (Firstly, because the College staff calls it Shriya’s second home and secondly because more than half of the volunteers were students of this college,) A powerpoint presentation was prepared to highlight SA’s journey so far, it’s aim, achievements and all the activities that the volunteers were involved in.  Athira and Tarannum in  the traditional Chinese and Thai National Dresses    As I entered the Conference room, (the venue), the first ...

SA is all about understanding history in every possible way, which obviously includes a lot of museum tours and workshops. The tour to Shimla State Museum, though, was different : only three privileged members Vedant Chandel, Vidushi Chandel and I were a part of it, because we wanted to stay active for otherwise inactive weeks and work on regional archaeology. Since all three of us hail from Shimla,  we teamed up for the tasks ahead and thus The State Museum, Shimla was finalised as the place of our research. We walked all the way from Chotta Shimla to the  Museum, a path that covered at least three of the major heritage walks of Shimla. It took us about an hour and to reach it, and although it was tiresome, we still had fun. The State Museum Shimla is housed in a Victorian mansion, carefully altered to the requirements of a museum. It is built on the hilltop of  ‘Inveram’  and is ,sometimes, known by this name, too. It belonged to General Innes in the 1860sl...

February 16, 2016 Dear diary, Rani Haar from Chamba You know I’ve been running out of topics  to talk to you about but today,I have something particular to share with you.  Well, it’s hard to find a girl who isn’t fond of jewellery, I am no exception!  I’m obsessed with jewellery, not merely for its beauty or value, but the sentiments people have attached to them. It might be a gift or a souvenir by a loved one, especially grandparents, which is priceless. And so,  as you know, February was fun for me in SA because  my weekly task was about catalogues, for which Shriya had provided us with the jewellery pieces of Jammu and Kangra. To my delight, the very next task was about jewellery again, but it was even better, because I had to work on regional jewellery of Upper Shimla, a task, which, for me, was synonymous with home.  Of all the things we'd done in SA so far, it was this particular task that brought me closer to my roots. I ...

Our first visit to Government Museum was back in November, like Aditi Joshi told you , which started with an interactive lecture on geological periods from our very own Shriya Gautam. What followed were a series of interactive sessions on the development through the prehistoric eras. Finally, we arrived at the Art Gallery, where we were split into teams for our very first team task (Again, we have come a long way from there. But, yes, this was where it all began). I remember not having my partner around, the "now in vogue" Rakshanda Thakur.  So, as it turned out we were given our own sections to work with, I for one got textile Chamba Rumals on display, Textile Section Chandigarh Museum and disappointed (little did I know what was to come). As far as I can recollect, the others got subjects ranging from Mughal paintings to Manuscripts. We were given our own private time with our sections to narrow down on the subjects. And narrow down is what we did, to Cha...

As early as in Season 1, two people from sister colleges (and competing sister colleges at that) were paired together for  two tasks, just like the rest of their peers. What the Panel did not know back then, while making this random sorting of partners, was that this would be one of the most powerful and reoccurring partnerships on SA Volunteers. "Ideally, you partner with one person only once as a Volunteer, simply because, we want everyone to have a chance to work and interact with each other," says Shriya Gautam, who plays the head honcho of all the tasks allotted to the volunteers. This was a rule Vedant Chandel and Rakshanda Thakur were not going to follow... "Not because they are such rebels, but because, somehow, they always end up being sorted together, in the most serendipitous ways despite the best of our efforts," the Panel answers, admitting that maybe it's not such a bad thing after all. Vedant was labelled the Panel's Favourite...

Or shall we call it, The Second Half of the Workshop on Coinage ? I am very Shakespearean about names. What's in a  name after all?  I am sure the whole thing would still be a workshop on Medieval Painting even if it happened right after we finished working with those gorgeous coins.  So, there we were, still at The Rumour Mill , fed and watered and finally ready to start working on the gorgeous Basholi and Kangra Paintings, Speaking Archaeologically had been lucky enough to procure from private collections. Now to say that those paintings were a work of art is an understatement! The phrase"work of art" doesn't even begin to describe the intricate brushwork and the gorgeously innovative use of molten gold and silver for painting, that these paintings employed so heavily. Humayun, in the court of Shah Tahmasp I I suppose, I cannot  leave a bit of the history of these paintings out , if I have to do justice to what we did on the workshop. So, basica...