‘Treasure’ at risk as UP’s moustache man’s museum crumbles | Allahabad News

PRAYAGRAJ: A copy of the Gita and Quran, as small as 2.9cm, a lantern made in 1855, a whistle dating back to 1914, several bottles of age-old shampoos, soaps, cigarette packets and many more such items are part of the prized collection of Rajendra Tiwari alias Dukanji, a Guinness Book record holder.

The treasure trove is placed in a small rented room, which can be aptly dubbed as a unique museum.
Unfortunately, the museum is on the verge of perishing and the unique collection of this exceptional museum is crying for help.

“I have collected these items over a period of 50 years from various parts of the country and abroad. People have donated a few items while others were found thrown in the bin,” said Dukanji, who is famous for his ‘moustache dance’.
While hundreds of curious people visit the place to see his collection, the worrying factor for Dukanji is that several of these items are so brittle that they can suffer permanent damage.
Starting from a six feet long sword (presented to him by Ramoji Rao) to a tiny Gita and Quran, the collection has 130 types of caps, a variety of pulses, rice, spices, sand from various sea beaches, water from various rivers and what not. That is the specialty of this museum that every visitor finds something associated with him, he added.

“I have been honoured by several leaders, political parties, private channels, heads of various countries because of my talent of moustache dance but my fame has failed to do anything for my collections which had always been waiting for official attention,” said the famous social activist of the city.
Commenting on the collections of Dukanji and the threat to his museum, former head of the department of medieval and modern history of Allahabad University, Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari said, “Such collections are interesting to watch but had his collections have universal value, related to the heritage of country, antiquity, cultural importance etc, it could have been easily acquired by us, which is not possible in this case.”
“However, it is painful to see that such a collection is under threat of getting perished. I suggest he make a society and conserve the things and after three years, the society will get financial assistance from the government too,” he added.