Journeying across India to discover its arts and crafts might be a while away, but Mumbai International airport’s heritage gallery is now yours to walk through via a virtual tour
A vast seascape titled Tribute to Indian Maritime History on level 3 of the domestic departure wing is based on a small carving from the 9th century on a Buddhist stupa in Borobudur, Indonesia, depicting life on the seas
India has always been an expansive country to discover and explore geographically and culturally, showcasing tremendous diversity in art, craft and design. Over the past few years, after its grand renovation, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has housed the country’s largest public art programme, the Jaya He museum. With more than 5,000 artworks and artefacts created by over a 1,000 artists, artisans, architects and structural engineers, every traveller at Terminal 2 has the chance to be immersed in art as they depart from or arrive into the city. However, unlike a visit to a gallery or conventional museum, most of us have never had the time to truly take it all in. Until now.
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The writer navigates the gallery via the museum app on her phone
While the thought of planning a holiday is still not the most feasible idea, you can visit the airport’s art centre through a virtual guided tour on the recently launched Jaya He app. Created as an audio-visual tour with a mix of images, videos and audio files, the app gives you a walkthrough of the art on display in the east and west wings of the area after security check. The niftiest feature is to allow you to key in a number that can be found in front of every art panel to promptly see and hear more about it; and for viewers at home, there’s an entire list of artworks which you can choose from to start in any order.
Various by late Australian photographer Robyn Beeche and Indian contemporary artist Anjolie Ela Menon at the domestic departure corridor
As you begin to listen to each of the guides-all Goldilocks-sized going up to only a couple of minutes-you’ll start to not only realise the scale of effort, but also become privy to the most intricate folklore from remote India. Perhaps the most symbolic piece for us was the Ashta Dikpalakas (or the guardians of eight directions in Indian mythology) depicted by artist Rani Rekha in an interactive format to protect and calm any passenger who is afraid of flying.
The downside? Initially, it is a little complicated to navigate your way around. Also, it still has a few bugs that should get sorted with an update, but for now, a quick restart seems to do the trick. We recommend downloading the entire content, so you can listen to it anytime, treating it as your personal podcast on India’s rich heritage. Bon voyage!
What : Jaya He
Where: Apple App Store, Google Play Store
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