20 December,2015 07:03 AM IST | | Mitali Parekh
The War Museum at Ghorpadi has a paint-ball arena where you can get in on some action. Go visit
The forest area in the garden also has scarecrows wearing fatigues to represent our army brethren. Take care not to shoot them
On 16 December, the Army's Southern Command inaugurated a war museum at their National War Memorial in Ghorpadi, Pune. The museum walks you through some pre-Colonisation military history and military heroes of the region, namely the chronicles of the Marathas in Maharashtra, Tipu Sultan in the lower Deccan region and the Maharanas of Rajasthan.
The forest area in the garden also has scarecrows wearing fatigues to represent our army brethren. Take care not to shoot them
The complex covers fours buildings - two walk-throughs, one interactive experience and a main building. The main building houses artefacts, ammunition, uniforms and pictures of wars fought by the Southern Command; as well as explanations about their aid work during natural calamities. A large hall commemorates martyrs. Notably, given a chance to re-record history, there is no mention of any women either in the historical section, nor in the post-independence section.
In each room you have to identify a terrorist and mark them with your paintball rifle. Your marksmanship is assessed at the end of the day
The draw of the museum will be the paintball section built to help the visitor experience fighting a terrorist at close range. You can experience this individually, or in a group. You get kitted up in a helmet, neck protectors and chest and back guard, which are unnecessary currently because the "terrorists" are marked dartboards on the wall. You are given two minutes to complete the circuit and buddy-up with a real fauji, the most exciting part of this exercise, and weave through a "forest area" of a garden with tall plants hiding six terrorists.
There are also scarecrows wearing fatigues to represent our army brethren, whom you have to be careful not to shoot.
You walk up to three rooms in a row, going through each door to suss out two terrorists in each room and mark them with your paintball rifle. All of this is caught on video camera and evaluated when you come out, deciding your marksmanship and speed.
The admission to the museum is free.
