She shows seashells

Jaipur, in the heart of the Rajasthan desert, is hardly a place one would associate with seashells. But that’s where Alice (Aloo) Garg (née Kaka) has created a rare repository for thousands of these treasures of the ocean. The Alice Garg National Seashell Museum (a Rustomjee Memorial Foundation enterprise), inaugurated on December 2, will educate and entertain students and others on conchology, the science of molluscs, reported The Hindu of December 7, 2006.

Clockwise from left: Garg (centre) at the inauguration; with a dignitary; exhi-bits at the Seashell Museum

Most of the over 3,000 items on display have been collected by Garg herself over the past 45 years. "It started with my father (the late Rustomjee C. Kaka) gifting me a shell at the age of five. Thereafter I have been collecting shells… from every place I came across them, including shops,” Garg informed. It helps that her family shares her passion. Husband Krishna Garg, a physicist, and their two daughters are avid collectors. The shells, from the proverbial seven seas and every ocean, include all seven classes of molluscs found in the world. "Some of the species now on display are extinct and many more are on the verge of disappearing. We want our children and the elders to know about the fragility of the ocean’s creatures and the need to conserve them,” notes Garg.

The former teacher turned social activist is known for her pioneering work among the Saansi community, branded as a criminal tribe during the British rule. Winner of the Jamnalal Bajaj, Neerja Bhanot and Saraogi Awards, Garg used the money received from these honors for funding the seashell museum.