Posted: January 12, 2017, 10:04am
The time between Christmas and New Year’s is more phantasmagorical than fun as it just flies by. So amidst our celebrations, two of my friends (who fled from the east coast’s negative temperatures to breathe in sunny Cali) and I, gave in to conventional fun and planned a visit to the Natural History Museum.
Good for me, the admission for me was free of cost, thanks to my USC ID. Until we entered the halls of one of the finest museums around, we had no idea that exhibits inside are going to be exceptionally insightful and persuasive. From the magnificent African Mammal Hall to North American Mammals, we got to see how rich and diverse earth’s wildlife is. The dioramas in these halls were unbelievably life-like and detailed. From there we went to the ancient Latin American Art exhibit, the Discovery Centre and then in an extreme corner embellished with Gems and Minerals. Fortunate we were to have had a look at some of the world’s rarest coloured diamonds. That was utter brilliance encased in a complicated arrangement of Carbon atoms. Since I took responsibility to give my friends the LA experience, I was lucky to have an entire exhibit dedicated to it. ‘Becoming L.A.’ gave me a beautiful and deep insight into how this city rose. I was inspired by the history and chronology of how Hollywood came to being, making LA the most sought after entertainment city in the world. The remnants from the wars, the bitter-sweet past that people’s belongings portrayed, several eras, the great Depression and the table where my favourite Mickey Mouse was created, all excellently organised to depict the city in all its grandeur.
And then we went to my favourite section. All about the Dinosaurs! The Dinosaur hall had fossils of a number of those. The mounts were humongous and yes, for real! I was extremely fascinated by all the displays in this hall. Especially the T. Rex growth series and how a group of palaeontologists brought forth us such wonders in evolution. You can’t just miss this exhibit.
Having spent a considerable time downstairs, we ventured into other exhibits that had to do with birds, insects, bugs, Nature gardens, shells and a lot more. Examining these works by such amazing artists and noticing how gigantic our planet is, how vast the creation is, I somehow felt so small, so insignificant. But upon thinking a bit more, that feeling sort of waned. That’s because humans, pushing their limitations, have explored a lot and are continuously striving to discover more secrets of this universe to see where we eventually are headed.
Published on July 25th, 2017
Last updated on August 10th, 2017