Working on the Chamba Rumals, Chandigarh Museum by Vedant Chandel

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 Chamba Rumals, as far as I (and Rakshanda) go. Then began the work period.

The same day, after everyone had left, I (and co-volunteers Anubhavpreet Kaur and Vidushi Chandel) stumbled upon what turned out to be our sanctuary for months to come  - the Museum Library. The place had everything you could need for this task at the very least and it wasn't long before it became a refuge for almost every SA volunteer. For me, Anubhav and Vidushi, we started spending more time there than the museum employees and even came to know the place better than them. 

The work that I put in with Rakshanda for the task has definitely been amongst the

best that I ever did. This very task became the first obsession for us, and we surely delivered some of our best work. The same goes for the rest of the teams, who, I believe, quite clearly connected with the task because unlike our previous tasks out subject matter was right in front of us, making the task all the more "real" and easy to relate with for us.

The coverage of the entire museum and learning from it, not just limited to our respective sections, was surely one of the most rewarding experience for all of us. This very task also led to the beginning of the formation of the more personal bonds in SA and familiarised the entire group with every individual

. The museum tasks might have brought professional success for some, not so much for the others but, these will always hold their place in SA's history books as the task with made SA "The Team" it is today. 

So, here it is to the boss of "The Team" - Shriya Gautam. Cheers!