New Delhi, Jan. 27 -- I first encountered the Bayeux Tapestry at the Musee de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Normandy, France, in a room so dimly lit that even the bulbs seemed to be whispering. The embroidery looped around the gallery walls almost in a single sentence. The Bayeux Tapestry is not something that reveals itself in a glance. Photography is forbidden because the brilliance of a flash could potentially damage the ancient fibres of the embroidery. While it has been called a tapestry, it is not one in the technical sense. Rather this fabric, nearly 70 metres long and half-a-metre high, is linen embroidered with wool. It tells the story of events leading up to the infamous Saturday in October 1066 which marked the Norman conquest of ...