History at the fingertips

The efforts of two individuals from either side of the India-Pakistan border have helped in creating the first museum brochure in Braille

Little did Siddhant Shah know, as he took to the podium in March this year to speak about the need to create access within museums for the differently-abled, that four months hence he would be creating history. One of the speakers at the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference, held at the City Palace, Jaipur, his talk impressed many in the audience, including Asma Ibrahim, director, State Bank Museum and Art Gallery Department in Karachi, Pakistan.

The only practising woman archaeologist in the country, she has worked relentlessly over the years to make the State Bank Museum the first in Pakistan to be accessible to the physically challenged - with ramps in place and a staff that is well-versed in sign language. "However, a Braille book was one of the most important things that we lacked," she says. When she got to know that Shah, a heritage architect and access management consultant, had written India's first open Braille and tactile guidebook for the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum at City Palace, Jaipur, Ibrahim knew that she had found the right person for the job. "He volunteered immediately for this cause and we have been able to create history by producing the first-ever museum brochure in Braille for a Pakistani museum," she says.

To be unveiled on August 14 this year in Karachi, the brochure features text about the seven galleries - history, governors, coins, currency, stamp, currency and art - in Braille. There are tactile representations of the museum's architectural elements as well as of the coinage and currency notes on display - be it the rare seals from the Indus Valley civilisation, coins issued under the rule of Alexander the Great, the Mughals and the Durranis or the ½ rupee note from 1942 that formed part of the Japanese Invasion Money during World War II.

"I couldn't visit the museum, so Ibrahim mailed the necessary material to me. The museum website is quite exhaustive. Moreover, I have had experience working on similar material in India, so it all came together well," says Shah, who has designed and conducted tactile art-walks and prototypes for organisations such as the National Museum, Delhi, and the DAG Modern, among others.

  He has focused on simplicity, materiality and texture in the brochure design, and has tried to take his past efforts forward. For instance, he worked with a henna artist to create tactile reproductions for the City Palace Museum guidebook. For this brochure, he has worked again with the same artist but has also tried to increase the life of the reproductions by laminating and embossing the surface. "And, instead of just using black dye, I have worked with colour dyes as well. There are different degrees of impairment, and those with low vision will be able to comprehend the coloured graphic," he says. In all 13 copies have been produced, with three featuring tactile reproductions and 10 with only Braille text. "The three will be kept as guides within the museum, while the rest will be circulated among visitors from schools and institutions," says Shah.

More than the process of creating the brochure, the task of sending the courier to Ibrahim turned out to be a tough errand. "It is extremely difficult to send something as simple as a Braille book. No one at the post office would touch the packet with Pakistan written on top," he says. Shah showed them the book, explained the concept, but not one person understood. He met with similar resistance at offices of private courier companies. "I took someone from a blind school along to read from the book, so as to help them understand the concept better, and the staff had the audacity to ask: kya yeh waakai andhe hain?," he says.

Finally, Shah travelled from Jaipur, where he works at the City Palace, Museum, to Mumbai, his hometown, to send the courier. After 25 daunting days of figuring out ways to send this package, the Braille brochure finally made its way to Karachi from a Mumbai GPO. "Working on something like this gives me a kick. It won't just open the museum to a wider audience but the brochure can also be used as a training aid later," he says.