People and Places

Just Travelling in the city can fill you up so many questions of where, whats and whys. These days I am doing rounds of te city to fin out information about scholarships and loans. Buildings that seemed everyday and were overlooked in the precinct of old Mumbai have become suddenly important now. Statues around the city and in the buildings that seemed useless seem important because you realize that they built the city and are still pumping in money.


But apart from that, these historical buildings suck you into a completely different space. The quality of light, the smells of offices and the scale of spaces you encounter fill you will a sense of pride and certain lavishness. You breathe deeper and walk with an air of control. Such feeling makes one ponder of the lives which lived in these buildings.

Apart from all these, I have encountered several people, a similar kind of people I must say in these places. Firstly, making a list of scholarship trusts and then visiting them one by one has made me realize that most of them are Parsis - Godrej, Tata, Netarwala, Davars...all are actually Parsis. Then, the buildings in which they are housed also have a distinct Parsi feel - orderly, quiet, not necessarily neat places. However, the most noticeable of all Parsis is their distinct way of greeting and welcoming:

1. The space itself quietens you down. If not, the Parsi ladies or gents will sneakily look at you hinting you to sit down. If you look impatient, they will order you to sit down. Making you sit down is almost ritualistic. 
2. After you compulsorily sit down, you will be asked to wait. 
3. When the waiting time is over, you shall be asked to put your plea. 
4. Then you will be given an answer, almost as if you posed it to an answering machine. You wont know whether to feel scared or elated. 


Most Parsis / people in Parsi setups whom I have come across for official purposes in their offices behave in a very typical manner - under a strong code of conduct stipulated for them presumably by their forefathers. They transcend you into a different world - mystical and magical. But their quintessence is something that is also adorable. As they talk to you with so much promptness, you feel they almost know your future and are just exactly expecting you to say what you would say anyway. Their expressions are exaggerated and they use every muscle on their face to express amusement. All this makes interaction with them really interesting. 


Suddenly a thought came: whether it would have been different if I didnt have to encounter Parsis for all such affairs. But this led to another big question - how are most philanthropic institutions parsis? Where did parsis get so much money from? Who left them so much money? Why hasnt it exhausted yet?


With this I am reminded of Ranjit (kandalgaonkar's) project on philanthropic institutions and trust buildings in Mumbai. I shall ask him how is it so...?

Baghban VI

There comes a time often when we think critically of our relationships. It's a time when we ponder over what more can we draw out of the relationship that we nurture. We mostly fall into a relation because we need it - socially, psychologically or physically...but there comes a time when this 'use value' of the bond is over. 


However, on the other hand, relationships can grow with time. Maturing relationships are satisfying and keep things going, since there is something to gain from it all the time. If nothing, one can look forward to sharing vulnerabilities in a maturing relationship. Our relationships with parents seldom grow with time - or atleast it happens so in my case? Or I am not really sure. For example, I think a boy doesnot need a father after a certain age - say about 25 years, or may be it varies from person to person. But at that age, one looks for a new dimension in that relationship. This new dimension allows to explore life from a new standpoint. A relationship has to be able to offer a lens that allows such perspective. Otherwise it can become hindering. Two issues are involved here - one is the condition of a maturing mind and the othr is the hegemonic parental purview.


Children are often looking up to find people to discuss their newer problems, and newer dimensions of life with someone, during their changing or liminal ages. Parents seldom become mediators in such ages. That's why we take on to friends - whom we believe to be in the same boat as ourselves and who seem to be equally concerned and affected by the circumstances that influence us. Contrastingly, parents are always wanting to 'show us the way' implicitly commanding a hold over the 'moral' ways of dealing with a situation rather than exploring it. Exploration of a situation is important to be able to learn from it. Exploration is the very nature of an evolving mind - just like we explore objects as toddlers. The exploration of the intangible becomes more fascinating in our young years like the tangible during infancy. We want to deduce our own results or formulas of dealing with the kinds of situations we fall in. We also experiment ourselves with putting ourselves in new kinds of situations.


But the instituion of parenting is about getting the end results of all the situations 'right'. Although we need to understand that our elders too may have gone through such situations. What one needs to extract is the mental landscape of our elders during fresh situations of their times. In the realm of the intangible, often the basic nature and structure of interrelationships between people remain unchanges. The manifestations they result from and result into may be different. Parents could do a great deal if they share their life with heir children. This helps the children to feel about their parents as their friends. It also gives the children confidence to share internal conflicts with them.


This again brings me to my age old theory on expression. It may be difficult to express for a lot of people - into words. Many people write, very few draw. Most people express through the tangible world. It may be very difficult for some people to articulate their experiences. There exists no institutions on releasing formula for expressing oneself. Expression in our society gets suppressed to an extent that it may manifest into material life. The material life around us thus gets coded with such values and expression. Therefore it becomes very difficult to detach from the material life. This kind of relationship with the material is complete contrast of the consumerist. It is a relationship similar to that we develop with a certificate or a medal. But in our real lives, would materials be able to hold us down to our relationships?


I do not know. But larger ideas with maintaining relationships are related to ideas of freedom and independence. I do not feel mature enough to deal with it. Hence it will be only wise to stop here.

Earlier threads of 'baghban' can be searched at "Search This Blog" Section (Type Baghban)

Appliances and Music

I found out today that the musical pitch the exhaust fan in my bathroom produces due to its vibration is 'E'.

For a long time I wondered how I could perfectly attune myself to any song in my bathroom. Why would I feel so comfortable singing any song in the drone of my bathroom? Today, it occurred to me that I must try and tally it with the notes on the Tanpura app that I downloaded on my mobile some time ago. And to my surprise, the resonance was the same!!

Although I am not a bathroom singer, bathroom almost becomes my singing room - not only for the bathroom tenor, but also due to the drone of the exhaust fan - Every space has a frequency! Similarly, the tubelight at Opolis architects where I used to work used to make a distinct hum. I would occassionally reach office early, and switch on the tubelights without the fans to have that resonance in the space. In the absence of any one, I would be humming along songs comfortably. I am sure it too must be on a similar pitch. 

Chaitanya had helped me find out my pitch recently when we met for a singing session. He suggested me to sing at E, which is generally the pitch for male voices. It was E! 

How interesting it is to find out such trivialities around our everyday lives. Some great coincidences! I will try to record the hum of my exhaust fan and put it here. Some great intersections of men and machines.

Till then, happy singing!

Unfinished Poems

The following examples trace how it became more and more difficult for me to write poems as I indulged more and more into architecture. 

After finishing first year of Architecture, 2004

Rajasthan Study tour, 2006-7; On the sand dunes, Jaisalmer.

But there are many examples and I shall be embarrassed if I put them all here.
I shifted to prose over the last 8 years, gradually.
Poetry now translated into architecture.

Objectification & Nuance

notes from Chaitanya Karnik's class.
Interior Design, 2011-12

Software Photography

Often, the real world that we see around does not seem something that one would want to capture in a frame. The real world is a default mixture of colours, textures and materials. On the other hand, photography is the careful measurement of colours, textures and materials in a frame that creates & gives visual pleasure. We encounter a lot of visual content today as we live our everyday lives. Therefore, one may not always be able to find an appropriate frame to capture through a camera. Everyday lives thus secure a relegated position in our social set-ups. The aesthetic of the everyday lives is rejected since it is difficult to measure the right amount of it for a perfect visual frame.

In this context, the introduction of the handy digital cameras and further the mobile phone cameras have enabled a huge mass to experiment with visuals. In order that photography becomes accessible, what a photographer normally 'adjusts' has been converted into a kind of implicit 'code'. Thus we have phones with numerous embedded camera softwares which are able to change the captured photographs (which would otherwise hold no aesthetic value) into something that appeals everyone's eyes.

Recently, I decided to engage in these photo software applications that I downloaded on my phone over the Android Market. Having studied the effect of the photographs I took, I invariably found myself clicking everywhere around. Even the most mundane scene around me would be changed into a stunningly interesting palette. Sepia, black and white, varied frames, etc, reduce the number of decisions you need to make (regarding frame, colour, light, etc.) and yet give out interesting results.

However, looking back at the whole process, I believe the escape from colour by choosing to click pictures in a black and white mode allowed me to study 'form' in greater detail than the colour. As architects, we are always more interested in form than the colour. With colour photographs, one has to be sure if it's being taken in the right kind of light. Places become photogenic because of their natural light conditions. In some places (as I once discussed with my colleagues), the light conditions throughout are so beautiful that any frame you capture gives a pleasing result. The camera otherwise, is not able to capture always, what you see with your naked eye. That can be really disturbing. Thus, the absence of colour in a black & white photograph creates shades of greys that always supplement the content of the frame. Moreover, this mode defines the diagram of things, rather than distracting you in its visual content. Further, the softwares help emphasize this diagram by strategically enhancing the tones that heighten the sense of perceiving a picture. That is the reason why you have camera 'modes'

Clouds

a fairy tale:

There exists very little social significance of clouds in our history. We talk of stars, we talk of planets - even the moon and others. But do we have extensive texts on the clouds?

Clouds give a much needed texture to the otherwise blue sky. Have you ever imagined the size of the sky - how big is it? It is the clouds that vanish and become the sky. Perhaps the intermediary phase between the sky and the earth (as per the big bang). They come together and go apart. They give us a focus to look at the otherwise infinite sky. We stare at clouds - deformed lumps of gas - and imagine multiple shapes through our gestalts. Sometimes fields of cotton, sometimes angels flying across, sometimes mountains or sometimes letters in the air. Clouds make us realize that we flow in time. That we move.

In summers, winters and rains, it does its job interestingly well. In its density, it consumes the scorching summer sun. Through its voids, it shows how light beams reach the earth. Through its threshold, it softens the light. In the rains, it contains water. Unlike the suns, moons or the planets, it holds no ego. It is ready to dissolve and melt. It is generous to take every one in. It leaves no room to explore. The planes dash through it. The birds fly within it.

And sometimes, they bring out unknown colours of the sky. Orange, yellow, purple - and the grey-black-white of the cloudy nights. All so titillating. It gives meaning to the 'wait' on specific festival days, by hiding the moon.

Marianna Hillmer, my German friend, after reading this post further added that I must see William Turner's paintings - and how beautifully it fits this post. Here are some paintings borrowed from various sites:

Historically, clouds have always been associated with confusion, unsurity and unclarity. They depict the storm, rough times, and unstable environment. It is only through the clouds that the sky can be moulded, twisted, skewed...Interestingly, it fits in the modern day terminologies of information technology - after the chaos theory. We today extensively use 'cloud computing' for communication purposes. It refers to a diverse set of end users that the computing caters to.

In modern plays, clouds are used to hide you, make you invisible or secretly bring up a character on stage. Thus they are associated with mystery and magic. Conceptually, they refer to something that 'appears from thin air'. They appear and disappear. Thus they allow time for magic to happen on stage.

And one could keep counting. Now am I romanticizing a bit too much?

PDF Trial

I am trying to look at options to transferring this blog to wordpress. I am bored of the formats of Blogger. I tried and found out ways to do that too, and I might do it some day. But, today I thought I must try out if I could do things that I want to do in wordpress, in blogger itself. One of them was attaching a pdf document. I did find some makeshift solution. Although I am not really happy with this ugly baby window, it serves the purpose.Try out making a sketch book by printing these papers. These grids will never let your falter in your 3d drawings!

Fore more, go to www.printablepaper.net
Grid Papers

Gift

What a perfect book to get at a time when I leave the architecture school.
Thank you Narwekar Sir.

The guilt of vacation

earlier title "On Defensiveness"


Now a days, students are extremely defensive. When you give them suggestions, they immediately have an answer that 'but i dont want to do this'. In the past few weeks I have experienced this multiple times from multiple students. Many come over the vacation to ask how they must best make the use of it. Generally I suggest them to go out an explore different programs outside the architecture school, meet people outside their domain and see if they can find any interest in things more than architecture. When I tell people that one could try photography, music or learn even sketching at home, they do not see any value in it. They discard the idea right at the outset. They portray as if they know what they want to do. But if that was the case, they would never come to seek guidance from you. Then, the questions that arise are whether they really want to engage themselves in something or whether they just want to portray that they are concerned about the free time they have and that they must make some productive use of it. 


Try giving them an option of going for an exhibition or a free film screening and they will be all ready with excuses of escaping the idea. I guess, psychologically they are looking for people with whom they can spend time chatting or gossiping. Hence they approach a number of people to talk about heir pseudo dilemma. The talk is strained and stretched through the discussion of why an how they would not prefer a suggestion you open up for them. At the end they would say: okay I will think about it; and then they would leave.


When you look back at the situation, you feel you helped someone clarify. But most of these people donot bother about the content of the long talk you have with them. Actually, they have just had a good chatting time with you. But one wonders if your suggestions have confused them or helped them towards making a decision... 


Lastly, when confused, I have always blindly followed people whom I respect and seek guidance from. I do not question my guide when I am confused myself. I agree and execute the suggestion given to me. It may so happen that you do not end up liking what you did. But the engagement definitely leaves you with an experience and some amount of skill which reflects subconsciously in any work you take up in the future.


If as students, we understand our position as students, it would be so much more beneficial. Whats the point of arguing over an aspect that we ourselves are unsure of? Or else we must make ourselves clear of our agenda to kill time during the vacation. It is legitimate to do so for vacations an must not induce any factor of guilt.