An evening with stars....

I had been with Vikram to Birla Planetarium today. It was a long time plan we had in mind but it happened today unexpectedly. It has a so-called science museum with I guess 8 galleries on various disciplines. It also plays a 3D show and the planetarium show, all for a single ticket.

At the entrance of museum, a security who could be as old as 65 years, checked our tickets and explained to us the things to be seen in very detail. When we turned to go inside surprised at this detail of explanation, he called us slowly took us to a corner. Then he said "tea ku edhaavadhu kaasu kudunga sir. government employee sir. Sambalam kammi" etc etc. Me and Vikram looked at each other and couldn't help laughing. We gave the old man a change and went inside.

The museum is in a pathetic condition to say the least. Compared to Birla museum at Hyderabad or Vishweswaraiya museum at Bangalore, this is nothing. I wonder if anything has been updated in the science related sections for many years. Most of the exhibits were out of service. Every exhibit has a switch to operate but the probability that it works turned out to be less than 30%. If this is what the government projects to tourists as science, then I wonder what they will think of India!!! The only worthy thing I felt was the mirror world that had quite a few exciting illusions with mirrors.

We rushed up after seeing few galleries to the 3D show. There was one big crowd of school kids shouting like a fish market there. We stood there waiting for the delayed show talking about state of Indian education. Just then, from inside a group of kids from the previous show came out. From their faces we could make out that it was some "My Dear Kuttichathan" kind of 3D that was running inside. We decided not to risk it anymore. :P

We made our way straight to Planetarium and after about 15 minutes delay we were allowed inside. The show was the only saving grace of the whole evening even though it was Tamil.(we had no other option as the English show was sold out) As usual our people without any self discipline started with whistles, unnecessary claps and glowing mobile torch lights on the dark ceiling.

If maintained and conducted well, the whole thing could have been a wonderful showpiece for visitors and a memorable visit. Atleast for the sake of situated in a place near IIT and Anna University, I wish that the Government takes some measures to improve the condition of the whole setup.

Anyhow, we had fun and watched a lot of unintentional comedies. :)