Andhra Adventures XV: Araku Tribal Museum

Araku Tribal Museum is located in the Araku town, a small town in the valley surrounded by hills and many waterfalls. Now, most museums are famous for what they showcase and the galleries they curate for their visitors. What makes Araku museum stand out in my mind is its very structure which is indigenous, absolutely native right from the architecture to material used to colors and contours. A double storey round building in red with white motifs painted on it, with white window frames and white outlines standing on green lawns. One look and you know it represents the essence of an Indian community.

Step inside and it is like being the world of local tribes, as you see the setting of their homes with dioramas depicting their day-to-day activities. There are scenes from the market and dances from various festivals. A small board explains the tribe and the scene. The walls full of masks and there was even a scene depicting the make up being done for the drama. Musical instruments, clay pottery and walls paintings with local motifs keep the eyes engaged. For once I felt the museum too crowded with lots of articles around, but then I soon realized that this is a part of creating the ambience, and this is how the houses in Indian villages and tribes are. A ramp inside the building takes you on the next floor and it happens so seamlessly that I realized it only when I was upstairs. Design is an integral of this museum, something I have not seen very often in India.

When we visited this museum, art installations were being prepared in its lawns and its corridors. We saw the artisans working on the wrought iron, cutting the thin iron sheets into various shapes and sizes and then joining them by welding and creating stories in metal. In the corridors, there were clay artisans making clay tablets, delicately carving figurines on wet mud. I wandered around the area, sat and observed the artisans, spoke to the supervisor who told me that they have come from Bengal to create these art installations, though the workers were all local.

Another structure stands in the form of an ornate hut with pillared corridor around it and beautifully painted walls in black, red and yellow. It had some other ethnic scenes depicted with white and red being the prominent colors and long boats in the middle. An amphitheater like setting, along with space for tribal shops are being set up and if used properly, these can be instrumental in making the space a living space through a bazaar and through a platform for performing arts.

A small water body has been created in one part of the campus with modern bright colored boats floating in it. While the idea of boating is good, and gels well with the concept of a living cultural space, the boats did not merge with the rest of the ambience. Probably a bit of design thinking there would have helped here. I would have also wanted a storyteller to explain me the culture depicted in the museum along with local stories and highlights. Written documentation is disorienting as you feel I can always go to Internet to read it. It is the people who make all the difference to a traveler’s experience.

Nonetheless, it was a pleasant visit and I definitely recommend this museum to anyone visiting Araku.