Mysore and around Part 3 - Wax Museum

When I came out of the Zoo and was waiting for the cab to arrive, I stumbled on a board saying Mysore Wax Museum 4 kms. The cab driver did not know its whereabouts. Since we were to leave for the railway station from there for our return journey, all excepting me were least interested in taking that up at the last moment...! I persisted and promised to skip it if we were unable to find it within 15 minutes...! We set out to find it....in 5-10 minutes were inside the museum..!

 The 19 gallery museum, called ‘Melody World’, has 110 life-size statues playing diverse Indian and western musical instruments and is next only to the renowned Madame Tussauds museum in London in terms of the number of statues,(as I understand from the receptionist there..)

Interestingly, the sculptor of these wax statues is a Bengaluru-based IT professional — 46-year-old Shreeji Bhaskaran, who owns the museum and was also responsible for giving India its first wax museum located at Ooty in March 2007. He followed it up with another one in Goa in 2008. The staff say that the Melody World is the biggest and the best of its kind in the world. “Based on music and musical instruments, this museum exhibits 110 statues and over 300 top-notch musical instruments, which were sourced from around the world. Some of them are centuries old”. The statues are exhibited in various brand settings including Indian Classical North, Punjabi bhangra, South Indian, Jazz and Rock, Latin American and Arab.

Depending upon the complexity of the procedure, the cost of making the wax statue varies from Rs 3 lakh to 15 lakh. “It takes between 2 to 4 months to make a statue and approximately 50 kilos of wax is used to make each statue.

Don't miss this place when you visit mysore next time.. For now here is a virtual tour..!

There is also an interesting section where a few musical instruments are kept. One can show one's  prowess and play any of these instruments... of course at a charge of Rs 30/-. I forgot to tell you that the entry fee is Rs 30/- as well. My son plays (with) these below...(of course the last one is not an instrument..!)

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SET OF PHOTOS

Here is the indulgence of my son with these musical instruments.. He is not an expert, but not completely ignorant about these instruments like me..! See, if you like what he plays..! 

I liked it.. because I have no other go ..(lol.!) 

Click for VIDEOS

Photos with Music

<< PREV              << FIRST>>                 NEXT >>