Caption: N.J. Ramakrishna seen with his gramophone player and radio. Picture right shows lanterns & rare wooden cradles.
Mysore, Feb. 4:
Thousands of farmers who have assembled at the the Dasara Expo in connection with the ongoing farmers convention have an opportunity to witness a rare exhibition of antiques like old radio sets weighing more than a present day TV in working condition, a gramo-phone player, primitive models of rifles used for hunting during British times, stone cannonballs etc.
These are only some of the numerous other items, which are on display at the expo by N. J. Ramakrishna, a former Councilor of Nagamangala in Mandya district, who is a professional collector of antique items. His collection includes old lamps that are hard to come by even in rural areas, a large pot filled with rice called Kanaja in Kannada.
Ramakrishna, who claimed that he is a collector of antiques for decades, added that he helped Dharamsthala Manjunatheswara Trust in augmenting the collection. He has also put up his personal collection of Kannada newspapers since 1949 and a visitor is greeted with the headline of the newspaper of 1950 which indicated a hike in rail fare saying ‘Railu dara dubari’ and another newspaper documenting the resignation of D. Devaraj Urs as Chief Minister with inside pages having photographs of litterateur Ha.Ma. Nayak, which can be instantly recognised.
He also has displayed a few copies of Kannada magazine Prajamatha which was sold for three annas in 1951.
Adding to this, an expo of old coins by a retired teacher, Thimmashetty Gowda, has also been put on display. These coins are those of the Vijayanagar rulers which had been supplemented by the coins issued by East India Company and the British.
Thimmashetty said that he achieves satisfaction by understanding history of the age which had inspired him to involve in collection of rare coins.
These antiques have been put on show at the building of the Archaeology Department at the Dasara Exhibition Grounds.
source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / February 04th, 2012