Septuagenarian turns home mini museum

Is it a museum? one wonders at first glance. No, it is a house. It is better to put it this way: it is a house with a feel of a museum. That is the impression one gets as one enters the house of Yeguna Krishna Murthy, 79, at Lothukunta. A gangalam greets you that doubles up as a coffee table; brass vessels of different shapes and sizes adorn the wall and at every nook and corner – antique item collectors’ envy. 

Murthy’s house is no less than a museum. "Antiques are not just objects; each of them has a story to tell,” says the management consultant who has more than 900 items of brass and copper from all across the globe.

"Let me state an old fact that behind every man’s success there is a woman, and so in my case, too, I credit the two most beautiful ladies of my life – my mother who had initiated this museum and my wife who had let it happen,” said Krishna Murthy. 

Stating that he was not very keen about antiques in his early days, he informs, “I started my antique collection when my mother had to travel from our home town in Andhra to live with my wife and me at Bangalore.” “Collecting antiques is a difficult job,” says Murthy. He has had to travel to remote parts of the country and, “people get suspicious, when I insist on buying the discarded items even if they are in the worst of conditions.”

 “A door with different printing blocks was laid out on a door by my wife,” says Murthy. He also adds that getting these different blocks with such a lovely task needed great observation and search. Collecting pieces was a result of many sacrifices and my wive’s tolerance and patience who let my house be filled up with them and kept the antiques clean. Initially, I used a lorry to transport things when I shifted from one place to another.” It touches a chord as he worries, “I have no idea about what, and where my museum will be after my death as I have no children.” 

He also adds that he wants people to connect to past and learn how our ancestors lived.  “I want people and children to learn about the past and enjoy the evening tea by talking about the past and oldies discussing their lives with their grandchildren.” “The only thing which gives me the most happiness is discussion of my antiques,” he signs off. 

 - Nihad Amani