Uncle Robin’s Children Museum is now a popular tourist destination located in Assam’s Golaghat town. Dr. Robin Banerjee who founded this museum in his residence has a notable collection of artifacts, preserved and exhibited for everyone to learn and understand.
Dr. Robin Banerjee was born in Bengal’s Murshidabad district, he completed his medical studies and join the British Army in the year 1937. He came to Assam to work as a doctor in the area and made the state his home as he settled in Golaghat. Dr. Robin Banerjee was also an adventurist, he was so attracted by the flora and fauna of the region, that he made his home a museum.
The Uncle Robin’s Children Museum come up later as a tribute to the natural naturalist where now one can see several mementos, artifacts, dolls and other personal collections of Dr. Banerjee. The museum showcases many paintings and photographs related to wildlife by Dr. Banerjee during his stay in Assam.
The museum has more 93 artifacts preserved in the museum among which the notable ones are a horse made of Turquoise and a headhunting basket of Naga Warrior. The museum also houses several important documentary files of events between 1953 to 1998.
Vivekananda Kendra has recently renovated the museum, speaking to News Sense, Ms. Meera Kulkarni, who is the in-charge of Vivekananda Kendra in Assam says, “Dr Robin Banerjee, was a very loving, an affectionate person and people used to offer him gifts which he used to accept and slowly made a collection in his house which later turned out into a huge collection and eventually his own residence became a Museum itself”.
Dr Banerjee, who was great humanist too, who used to preserve the things with utter love and care as every piece of gift he received from people has valuable lessons of ethics, morality and knowledge for him. The Museum also has documents on a wide variety of subjects from Solar System to Wildlife to Pollution.
After his retirement, he full-fledgedly started working on wildlife and environment staying near the famous Kaziranga National Park. He also made a documentary film on wildlife, which was screened on Berlin TV dates back in 1961, which received global appreciation, thus acquiring him international recognition as Wildlife Film-maker. Apart from receiving several international awards, Dr. Banerjee was awarded India’s fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri Award in the year 1971.
Meera Kulkarni says, he was very compassionate towards every being, he once said, “Think twice before you kill an animal, think twice before you catch a butterfly, think before you cut a tree, because it may be the last member of the species that is left in the world”.
He wanted to share his knowledge and ideas among the children and younger generation who are the future of the nation, though he died in the year 2003 his collections and his treasure are still alive among the people and it will continue to inspire people in the years to come.
