In the busy streets of Guwahati, something magical happens when you step into Dev Kumar Bora’s private museum. This 59-year-old government employee has spent 25 years collecting rare historical artefacts from the 18th and 19th centuries. His passion project, called “Nostalgia Museum,” opened to the public in 2021. Walking through this treasure house feels like travelling back in time. Every corner tells stories of India’s rich past through beautiful old clocks, gramophones, typewriters, and precious photographs of great leaders like Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi.
The museum sits quietly in the Rupnagar area, looking like any ordinary house from the outside. But inside, visitors discover a world where history breathes through every artefact. The journey from a simple hobby to a full-fledged museum represents the power of individual dedication. Bora’s collection spans three centuries of Indian and British colonial history. Each piece tells a different story about how people lived, worked, and entertained themselves in bygone eras. The museum has become a bridge connecting modern India with its glorious past.
The Journey of a Passionate Collector
Dev Kumar Bora works in the Assam Transport Department, but his heart beats for history and heritage preservation. His collecting journey started during college days when he found an old pocket watch at a local market. That single timepiece sparked something special inside him, igniting a passion that would define the next 25 years of his life. From that moment, his collection grew like a tree spreading its branches across different categories. First came more clocks and watches, then cameras, radios, books, typewriters, matchboxes, coins, and finally, 300-year-old rare artefacts from various parts of India. For 25 years, Bora spent most of his government salary on this hobby, often travelling to remote villages and old markets across Northeast India.
Family members often questioned his priorities, asking why he wasted money and precious space on these seemingly worthless old things. His wife would complain about their cramped living conditions as antique items filled every corner of their modest home. Neighbours thought he was eccentric, collecting what they considered junk from forgotten attics and abandoned houses.
His house became too small for his growing collection, with artefacts stored in bedrooms, kitchen corners, and even bathroom shelves. But Bora believed these items desperately needed saving from destruction and neglect. He knew that without proper preservation, future generations would only see these cultural treasures in books or faded photographs. The real tactile experience of touching history would be lost forever, taking with it the stories and craftsmanship of our ancestors.
From Hobby to Heritage Museum
When his home could no longer accommodate the ever-expanding collection, Bora made a financially risky but culturally significant decision. He approached banks and moneylenders, eventually securing a substantial loan to establish his museum in 2021. Unlike profit-driven commercial museums, he deliberately kept entry completely free for all visitors. People only need to make prior appointments through phone calls to ensure proper guidance and interaction. For Bora, this museum represents much more than just a showroom displaying old objects.
It serves as an interactive education centre where young people can touch, feel, and understand their cultural roots and historical background. The transformation from personal hobby to public service happened gradually over several years. Initially, friends, relatives, and neighbours would visit his home specifically to see his unique collection. Word spread through social media and local newspapers about this extraordinary treasure house hidden in a residential neighbourhood.
Teachers started bringing school students for educational visits during weekend trips. Local historians, researchers, and cultural enthusiasts showed genuine interest in his carefully preserved artefacts. This overwhelming positive response encouraged Bora to think beyond personal satisfaction and consider broader social responsibility. The museum building stands modestly in the Rupnagar area of Guwahati, deliberately designed to look like an ordinary residential house from the street. But once visitors step through the entrance door, they enter a completely different world where time moves backwards.
The first artefact that catches every visitor’s eye is a magnificent, large gramophone with its brass horn, looking ready to play vintage records from the colonial era. Next to it sits a bulky black and white television set that once brought entire families and neighborhoods together for evening entertainment programs. Museum walls display an impressive variety of clocks made from different materials like wood, brass, and iron, many still ticking with the same rhythm that measured time for previous generations.
Treasures That Tell Stories
Today, stepping into Dev Kumar Bora’s Nostalgia Museum feels exactly like watching three centuries of Indian history come alive before your eyes. The carefully curated collection includes scarce 300-year-old coins bearing the images of Mughal emperors and British colonial administrators alongside mechanical clocks, gramophones, transistor radios, and black-and-white television sets from different historical periods. Wooden grandfather clocks and intricate metal timepieces continue ticking with the same precision that once guided the daily routines of colonial officers and wealthy Indian families.
A beautifully preserved corner gramophone invites modern visitors to close their eyes and imagine melodious classical music and patriotic songs filling drawing rooms during the independence movement. The museum proudly houses scarce and valuable photographs of Rabindranath Tagore during his Nobel Prize years and candid pictures of Mahatma Gandhi during various phases of the freedom struggle.
The most historically significant items include authentic 18th and 19th-century table clocks and wall timepieces that demonstrate the superior craftsmanship and artistic sensibilities of master clockmakers from that golden era. Antique typewriters mounted on museum walls and vintage cameras displayed on special shelves remind visitors of times when writing letters was an art form and taking photographs required careful planning and patience.
The fascinating collection of colourful matchboxes from different Indian states and rare postal stamps featuring kings, freedom fighters, and national symbols amazes every visitor regardless of their age or educational background. Each item carries its own unique story and adventurous journey before finding its permanent home in this museum. Some precious pieces Bora personally discovered and purchased from old weekly markets and antique bazaars during his extensive travels across rural India, while others arrived as heartfelt gifts from people genuinely impressed by his unwavering dedication to heritage preservation.
Impact on Society and Future Generations
Dev Kumar Bora’s Nostalgia Museum has gradually become an enormous source of cultural pride for Guwahati city and the entire state of Assam. Hundreds of school and college students regularly visit throughout the academic year for history research projects, educational assignments, and cultural studies, gaining invaluable hands-on experience by touching and closely examining authentic historical artefacts. Domestic and international tourists arrive with their families to experience nostalgic glimpses of India’s colonial and post-independence past.
Elderly visitors often experience deeply emotional moments when they recognise household items and gadgets they personally used during their childhood and youth, sharing precious memories and forgotten stories with younger family members. Professional photographers and history enthusiasts spend entire afternoons capturing the intricate beauty and craftsmanship of these vintage collectables. Academic researchers, published historians, and cultural documentation experts frequently consult Bora about specific historical periods, daily life customs, and the technological evolution of earlier generations.
The museum has naturally evolved into an unofficial cultural centre where intergenerational stories are shared, family memories are preserved, and community bonds are strengthened. Bora feels immense personal satisfaction and happiness knowing that his life’s work successfully connects today’s technology-obsessed young people with their rich cultural heritage and historical identity. He firmly believes that today’s generation lives completely immersed in a fast-paced world dominated by mobile phones, social media, and internet connectivity.
However, truly understanding and appreciating our ancestral roots remains essential for building a strong cultural foundation. According to his philosophy, our present achievements and modern lifestyle stand firmly on the solid foundation carefully laid by past generations, and forgetting this invaluable heritage would inevitably mean losing our moral compass and cultural direction for building a meaningful future. Through his remarkable personal sacrifice and unwavering dedication, Dev Kumar Bora has successfully created a permanent bridge connecting India’s glorious past with its promising present, ensuring that future generations will always understand and sincerely appreciate their vibrant cultural heritage and historical legacy.
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