Planetarium at BBSR - visit after recent reopening

The planetarium at BBSR was under renovation for almost 1.5 yrs. They were upgrading the display equipment by procuring some hi-tech 'imported' stuff. The opening dates kept shifting every month, till one day the security guard gave up & said he has no idea when it will open... Finally, it seems all installation was done, but they could not open, as no politician or bureaucrat was available to re-inaugurate the place!!!

Anyway, it seems the place is operational for the last few weeks & has been attracting reasonable amount of crowd, though they did not see it fit to release a single press release anywhere. Apparently ticket prices have been raised a bit & public was complaining about it (as reported in a newspaper) - though I hardly recall what the previous price was! Perhaps that is a good strategy - close the unit for a year & hike the prices, so people would have forgotten the earlier price.

We paid a visit on Sunday (10-Jun) to see the English show at 4PM. The line was not loo long & there was a separate line for ladies, so my wife could get them quicker. Price was 25 rs for adults & 15 rs for children (3-15 yrs). Not sure if below 3 is free or not allowed (I recall Birla Planetarium in Hyd mentioned that below 5 yrs is not allowed entry).

Anyway, the first shock was the seating layout. The reclining seats have been replaced with simple chairs - you can try to stretch backwards, but it is very uncomfortable. Owing to this, the number of seats have increased a lot, almost twice the earlier count. So unless you are in the last row, you have to suffer neck pain at the end of the show. The A/C is very good, though I think it was more effective earlier, maybe because of the lesser crowd earlier. The display equipment is of a much better quality & the audio/video is much crisper now. However the speakers are TOO LOUD. My kid had to keep his ears closed all the time to survive the volume.

The second shock was the quality of audience. People kept walking in well beyond 4PM & worse yet, the staff continued to show them to their seats. The show started at 4:05PM & lights were off, yet at least 4-5 families walked in & were still accommodated. Some perhaps did not realise the show was in English! A teenager nearby kept asking his mom loudly to translate every statement in Oriya! After hearing all the chatter going around, I realised why they had turned up the volume so high!!!

Anyway, the show was just OK. There were at least 3 trailers that took up about 10 mins & the final show 'Secrets of the Sun' was around 15 mins or so. Might be too deep for young ones - perhaps they should have some basic shows on solar system that junior audience can relate to better.

Finally, the outside area having a science park was at best 'pathetic'. It looks like they let the place rot for more than a year & things are in very bad shape. The weeds are too tall & garbage is lying everywhere - certainly not worth taking kids to that area.

The saving grace is a dusty book shop where you can still get some books from CBT or NBT at ridiculously low prices - so low that perhaps other books stores do not stock them at all!

Overall, an OK place to get the planetarium experience, but if you have seen other planetariums, may decide to skip this...

Well, the planetarium image projection is now spectacular. But, still central part of projected images don't focus on the wall properly, making it slightly blurred.

And as far as the show presentation is concerned, it's not even sufficient and clear cut knowledgeable to kids, forget adults. Very brief show.

I saw a Hindi show today. The major spectacular part was Advertisement of the Theater behind the show upbringing.

And, I agree; instead of admiring silently, people keep on chatting continuously.