Wendell questions impractical appeal of ASI to register their antiques within two weeks

Prakash Kamat in Panaji

September 16-Style Guru and fashion designer Padmashri Wendell Rodricks, in an open letter addressed to Archeological Survey of India(ASI) on Monday, has slammed ASI's appeal to individuals  to register their antiques within two weeks from September 13,2019.

In the letter, a copy of which is available with this writer, Wendell described the action of giving time limit of two weeks as "daft" and "impractical."
In his open response to the order/request of the body which is dedicated to protectoon, preservation and conservation of national monuments, to register all our antiques in private homes/collections/museums (in Goa) with its office, Wendell has questioned its lack iof clarity in its decision and apart from the short and impracticle time frame it is giving to individuals, he has asked if will this registration assure the owners  facilities like armed guards,CCTV and alarm system.
The ASI letter gives two weeks as of Friday 13th September 2019.
"Two weeks? Our homes Sir/Madam are over two hundred years old and you expect us to register the entire house objects in two weeks?" he asks.
The letter from Rodricks, inter alias, says, "Do you expect us Goans to employ staff to count everything in our homes? Our great grand mother’s earrings, our great great grandfather’s toilet seat, the floor tiles 400 years old, the laterite kitchen sink, the tiles on our roofs? Yes. These are the less precious objects. What you want are antiques that can be sold, traded and valued right?"
"If so why only private homes? What about public places? In all Government offices we see antiques. Chandeliers in the Adil Shah Palace heisted by Smart City don’t feature in this list? Why don’t you ask them all to register their antiques. For centuries (yes you read that right) the Cabo/Raj Bhavan has been "looted by successive Governors of it’s antique furniture, porcelain and silver. Are Government offices above this law?"
"Talking about law, is this a law or is this a request? What if we don’t want to declare our so called daily objects that you classify as antiques?"
"How can private homes like the Menezes Braganza in Chandor or the Figuereido House in Loutolim register their entire homes in two weeks? Are you going to depute them staff to do the count of the objects? It will take months. Are you going to go to every church, temple, place of worship to do a registry of their antiques? Where do we start? Old Goa itself will take almost a year or more to count it’s treasures... from books to candelabras, vestments to minuscule statues."
"Are you going to go into bank vaults to check our jewellery? Old Goan Hindu and Catholic gold that has been with families for generations? What about clothes? Saris gifted through families? The porcelain we eat from daily without looking at their over hundred year vintage? They are antiques according to you. The same goes for the chairs we sit on and the beds we sleep in, the home deities we worship and the walls that boundary our homes. They are all antiques."
The letter also raises a genuine concern about many such Goan individuals staying abroad.
" Goans What about Goans who live overseas or work abroad? You expect them to rush home in a week and list their antiques with you. That is daft and impractical Sir."
Taking the opportunity of the directive, Wendell,who is known to be active on social front in Goa has advised the ASI to "get this hare brained idea out of its head. Go and do your real work to protect our Goan heritage. Go to the fields and hills with treasures. Identify trees over hundred years old and protect them. Get the dovorems (go look up what those are) laterite platforms, the monoliths, the abandoned forts and garbage strewn tirths, the old wells used as dumps, the hero stones and sacred stones unprotected in forests. Get them registered and accounted for. Goa is an open museum for the taking and looting."
He has further said: "As for museums, have a proper Goa Museum or take over the Old Secretariat and place the precious objects for public viewing. Don’t build another ‘sinking’ museum that will be demolished in ten years. In the process more treasures will be lost."
He has spoken of how public in Goa speaks of how coin collection was looted during the transfer from the Menezes Braganza Hall in Panjim to the new ex Goa State Museum. The perceived loot that included rare Impressionist paintings.

Wendell Rodricks

Talking to this writer on Monday, Wendell said that this directive was "absolutely impractical and does not at all take into consideration the practical realities of individuals like him who have been putting in time, energy, resources in these projects of protection, conservation of their age-old heritage".
"They also want us to click three pictures of each item and file along with the list. Do they understand what they are doing. And what is the objective of this exercise. Why are they singling out individuals. Take us into confidence about this exercise. Give proper practical time frame," an agitated Wendell said.(eom)