Haridwar / Mussoorie

Bones of a Building

My uncle has a retail shop which sells steel for construction activities in Haridwar. The story goes that my grand uncle was appointed as the Project supervisor when the Tehri Dam was being constructed nearby Haridwar. Since it would be a project which would go on for long, my grand uncle decided to make a house there. The house which therefore exists there is more than 50 years old. Although my my uncle was deported to Mumbai to learn better jobs to earn a better living, he was too far away from learning different things. He did not study much. Hence, he would not be able to grasp things so easily. After trying multiple odd jobs for varying months in Mumbai, he decided to go back and settle in Haridwar. 

Panoramas

Haridwar is a small town along the banks of Ganga. It is one of the beginning points for the famous hindu pilgrimages of Badrinath, Kedarnath & Gangotri. All three places have their own fascinating histories. Ganga at this stage is still pure enough to have a dip into or to see through the waters. The riverflow was gradual (unlike that in upper parts of the hill), so one could actually engage with the river. It did not make noise and allowed you to gaze at it quietly. Perhaps it would become more fierce in summers.

Hardwar has; one can say - a sacred centre, a business centre and an administrative centre. I will not be able to locate it on a map since my notion of this geography is very experiential. The pace of Haridwar's life is comfortable, and I shall substantiate and write about it in another post. Amongst recreational places are the ghats of Ganga, and the multitude of temples around. In the lane where my uncle stayed, there was a very weak idea of a community or a neighbourhood. These would be redundant and fancy ideas in the context.

However, nearby hill stations like Dehradun, Mussoorie, etc are interesting places to go for excursions.

Colours

It was almost the end of winter and all things were in a state of transition - the temperature, the skies, the attire of people and the colours of the place. Not only the trees had new leaves on them, they changed colours throughout the day as sun filtered through them. The Ganga was green against the bright brown hills. Everything was cold. 

Shadows


And I kept observing layers of shadows on things and wondered how would I draw them? All shadows of the  multidimensional word became flat graphical shapes which could be transferred on to paper. Light played with the objects and the objects firmly smiled back bearing the shadows, giving meaning to light.

Some due explanations

In the last one week of tranquility, I could articulate answers to two questions that I have been stuck with since quite some time:

1. Why I obsessively write?

2. Who is blind?

The first question was posed quite honestly to me by my students in the beginning of this academic year. They would sheepishly ask me "why do you write?". I did not really have an answer then. But as I now think of it, what I have been noting down during lectures since then is concepts that I could never explore earlier. There have been so many things that related to me so closely which still did not occur to me as a student. The difference I feel is that earlier I noted down information, while now I note down ideas. Nevertheless, without the information, the concepts would not have been as richer as they appear to me now. The answer to the first question appeared to me after my reading of Calvino:

"I'm one of those who write because they can't handle speaking; sorry about this folks... ...That morning I was on the trams early and I saw people reading the things I had written, and I watched their faces, trying to understand what line they were up to. Everything you write, there's always something you're sorry you put in, either because you're afraid of being misunderstood, or out of shame. And on the trams that morning, I kept watching people's faces till they got to that bit, and then I wanted to say:"Look, maybe I didn't explain that very well, this is what I meant," but I still sat there without saying anything and blushed."

-Wind in a City, Numbers in the Dark and other stories, Vintage

While that's pretty much the thought that goes on as I put things down, another thing that slowly has appeared to me is that language is a very limited tool of communication. And if one was to articulate everything one thinks and imagines through language, it becomes very difficult to word it - and there lies the challange of putting something across exactly as you think through language. But I am for layered meanings - all which may be right. I like to write in a way where metaphors and puns add to the dimensions of text. And I have yet not found my way of writing. But perhaps the blog is just a way to develop my skill of writing.

To put it simply, sometimes, we find it very difficult to put down or express what we exactly want to say. Writing is about how one negotiates this difficulty. Earlier, I never understood what one meant when he/she said "I like writing / writing is my hobby" - but I think now I clearly know that writing is about negotiating the terrain of communication.

on the other hand,

The question about "who is blind?" was raised to me at all possible forums where I presented my thesis. And while I tried to procrastinate the answer at all the times, there were times when I sincerely replied "I am still to find an answer...I don't know who is blind". To be frank, I also asked this to Prasad Shetty, since he was the one who pushed me to investigate into the blind. But I think, he too was not prepared at that point of time to answer it. Anyhow, I waited for a long time (about 3 years now) to be able to frame an answer to this question in such a way that it defines all dimensions in which my thesis could be interpreted in (as mentioned earlier about layered / dense writing). Here it is:

A blind is a person who does not have a vision of his own. The blind believes in the world about which he/she is informed, without investigation. The blind's reality is a borrowed one. Blindness is the inability to have faith in one's own reality of existence, because one can not see.

I would stop at that. But I would have loved to detail it in the way Guy Debord writes the 'Society of the Spectacle' or Gerog Simmel writes the 'Metropolis and the Mental Life'. In some ways, I find a lot of juice still left to be extracted out of my thesis. I say this because I am not satisfied with what I wrote in my dissertation. Kaushik (Mukhopadhyaya) told me after I presented my thesis at KRVIA that "the Cinema for the Blind can not be an architectural project. It can not be a building." And although it echoed with my thoughts too (because cinema and blind both negate each other all the time), the B Arch thesis had to be form-al. The thesis had to end in a building. But what I never got an opportunity to ask him was, "Then what it could be...?"

Now I feel quite relieved. May be there is a poetic way in which I can answer the question of the blind. And I could explain the terms in the answer too. And the articulation of blind in such a language allows me to have a dual narrative running through my architectural intervention - one of the physical handicap and other of the social handicap. Most people do not agree with the duality of the thesis. But I would take a Venturian stance and say, "I am for either/and; I am for plurality of meaning."

However, there is no point elaborating over this because at no forum, have I had the opportunity to engage in a kind of debate on the language of architecture I adopted. Was the project so convincing for all, or was it too difficult to critique? I wonder.

Building New Grounds

a

I was pretty amazed by this student's work on our latest Architectural Design project (Building New Grounds) which asks them to design a space anywhere but land. I coaxed her to float her dwelling in the air and asked her to explore the properties of a bellow (blowing air). She came up with this fantastically resolved mechanism which, although we could not harness directly, but serves as a great conceptual model for use in the future. (although I have my doubts if this girl herself really made the model), but I only cared for the fact that it put me to thought about how could one push this idea into an executable one!

In the class, a lot of experiments were being performed. Some one got a blower and tried to float thermocole discs (like space ships) in a tube of air. Others were sketching out aerodynamic forms or fiddling with plastic models...it was quite interesting a class to be in.

I have myself sketched so many ideas for this project that I am excited to sit and render them at length. Although I won't be putting them up now, but it has turned out to be an exciting project for all of us. We are hoping to have interesting ideas come up which not only spur complete new imagination, but also get students thinking of the issue of future/ism and going about it the sustainable way.

I would have to sit back and write on all the projects that we have done by far with the current first year batch - because they have a lot of content to elaborate upon. The studio briefs, I feel are multi layered and open up varieties of discussion, at the same time can be traced to interesting histories in the area of art or architecture or socialism. However, at this point of time, students would not know all of it. But I like working with a class as a team of 40 minds. If each student is able to create credible work, the 40 portfolios can be substantially used to generate an argument / case for pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Anyway, that happens definitely in the post graduate course elsewhere, but I am glad that we were naturally able to achieve it here, although we had no intentions of doing so.

Notes from class

Perfection is contagious. Even the struggle for perfection is contagious.

You are your project.

Shortcuts don't add nuance to anything.

Don't go to your teacher for information.

Knowledge will never grow unless you teach.

Right-wrong की चर्चा किसे करनी है?

Make new mistakes. Don't repeat old ones.

An idea (should) live in a building.

-Chaitanya Karnik

Repetition

Moods

Walking with wrong shoes

Last week has been emotionally drenching. This was primarily because I almost had to counsel parents with a host of their own problems with their wards. The first day, Atul and Adarkar Sir werent there at all. The second day, Atul was there for the rescue. However, although we had mentioned only 2 days on the Warning letters that we sent to the students, parents kept pouring in. Most of them came perhaps just to meet. Of those whom we really expected, very few came!

For parents, it's the colour. Red and black. That's the only point of distinction that they can make out.
"Why are there so many red marks?" - and most would even ignore if the difference was by a mark or 2, or if it was made red mistakenly. The question was only for the colour. There was hardly any concern for the future of the ward. All came with two binary assumptions: "He/she is too good to get it" or "Please help, this won't happen again".

भलाई का तोह ज़माना ही नहीं रहा!

No one would want their ward to stay back, even if they didnot perform well. Every one want them to get pushed! all of them! Reason is obvious: Money! Parents realize, but students don't. In the end, everyone gets pushed. The quintessential bharat ki janta: "कर लेगा अपना गुज़ारा".

Anyway, the pressing fact that I have realized is that most of the people here are in the wrong professions. And I feel worse for those who know that they don't want to do architecture and still are left with no other option. A student wanting to study medicine passionately, tried twice, but wasn't eligible (as per her score) for the stream! Another student who would want to do engineering has ended up in architecture. Some absolutely do not have the aptitude for architecture, and we still have to cope up with them. Its terrible. It's unethical/immoral to ask them to just leave. We know, they wouldnt suit this feild. But it's terrible to question their choice. I feel very sad to see them wasting their lives in the wrong profession. What is this education system which does not allow me to keep refining my choices as I mature with age? Who can know clearly what he/she wants to do at the age of 15? It's sick.

The correct age should be 20. We need that space to experiment with lives. In those tight 5 years, so many decisions are taken: the field, the specilization, the career, the future, the practice - all of it. And if it goes wrong, very few are left with any further choice. 25 you marry, 28 you have a family, and 30-40 is your "maximum gain" period. After 40 you are a generation. After 50 you have to retire! For a wrong decision, I wonder what life you live. Would a "family" give an individual an opportunity to re-do schooling once one finds a direction? Our context is a difficult one - may be there are exceptions too. But given the choice, how many would have the same rigour to pursue their interests? I always feel that I wouldn't be able to give my 100% for what I assumed I should have been doing 2 years ago.

Opportunity - my uncle regrets that inspite of having a tremendous aptitude, his place (then Bihar, now Jaharkhand) offered him absolutely no opportunity / outlet for expression of his talent. He has an immense cognitive understanding of things around him and has a full fleged mechanical workshop. However, he feels he would have been a different person altogether if he got a chance may be to study in a city, or to talk to intelligent people around him or if he only had the means to go out. 3 years ago, when I told him my thesis topic - he had the same smile (a cynical, poetic, smirk), that I would expect from anyone - "अंधों का सिनेमा" - "Cinema for the blind". I felt deeply satisfied to talk to him. He was the first person after perhaps only Prasad Shetty to share that sense of the project. I tremendously appreciate his optimism in a situation that I would end up in a "life is a b****" statement. Why should it happen to any one? WHY? He feels helpless for his children. And once the age passes by, the children lose enthusiasm too. Today, my cousins have just accepted it as a fact of their life.

There are things that would be too personal to write here. But I would never like to face them as a teacher. Rather, why should I be counselling parents with all their gamut of personal problems? I am here to teach, and learn. Does this happen elsewhere? Or am I looking at ideal conditions where students bear their own responsibility?

But I know what frame of mind students live in: "College time is to enjoy." When my friends forced me to skip classes, I could only think: "But I enjoy learning..." And not that I have less exciting memories of my college life!

Naah, I had no intentions to win a gold medal or a national award. I loved what I did. I could never submit a badly worked sheet: but hold on - I was willing to be marked in the negative for it, in case I submitted it late. Anyway, why am I even putting all that here? May be because I have never purged it out to anyone! But all this is inconsequential.

I just keep reminding myself, that I have to work and grow. That's it. And why should I compare my student life with my students' life - there's no logic. I am different. And they are different. There are no mirrors in here.

So today the head announces, that let us push them...they will do good in life... there goes the joyride. And as I butcher my own principles, I told myself, "Anuj, the world is a cinema for the blind, why do you want to see?"

Anyway, I would elaborate in another post what constructs my idealism. That will be an interesting one isn't it?

Colourfulcat

drawing by Sonal Sundarrajan

I have always loved Sonal's sense of representation. Last week she was in Delhi and I assume that she must still be in the memories of the place when she made this drawing. In recollecting Delhi, she constructs her ground plane by dividing the canvas through the radial grid - the first thing a planner would think of while describing Delhi, perhaps. And the green heavily suggests the gardens and the green cover that Delhi is capped / covered with. I have always been jealous of the fact that Delhi has the luxury to spread, unlike Mumbai, where we keep on imploding. The smaller buildings sprinkled around are almost become iconic in the drawing - like that in the real space of Delhi. One could identify the High court, and the neo classical orders which characterise the iconic buildings. And all of them are off the ground plane - toppling off - does that represent the state of affairs right now, or is it the artist's language, one could debate. But the allegory that it (unknowingly?) suggests is interesting.

To talk about suggestion, the main object in the building has been playfully detailed. The ground storey is pulled up with its semicircular arches, and thus it almost appears to be a cage. Who is trapped? In what? one wonders. The upper storey draws its edges from the Red Fort, but has been painted pink. What does it mean for the 'red' fort to fade into 'pink'? The pink tessellations on the remaining body reminds of multiple ideas, fragmented - in all scales - right till the paver blocks.

But in the end, the drawing celebrates the mood of the space - festive flags, state of mess, embroiled wires and bright colours bring out a new enthusiasm. And I would only assume the position of the little black dog that standing opposite to this 'colourfulcat', alone in a green patch wondering what I wonder is logical...

Any Takers? - 2

This post is a continuation of my earlier post on pedagogy:

Constructive Imposition Policies:

In our quest to improve students' vocabulary, we had started taking dication tests before beginning our Architectural Design classes. To our surprise, not even a single student scored 100% marks in any of the tests. To ensure maximum attention and response, we randomly came up with this idea that who ever scored well (maximum) could avail those points for upgrading their attendance. Since this was a completely out of the curriculum initiative, we thought that students who lost out on their attendance because they came in late, etc. would be prompted to perform well to avail their lost attendance. 75% attendance is mandatory to be able to appear for any University exam. Thus, I thought of tying up both issues making it more constructive. Although there is no sense of imposition here, it definitely is a constructive technique. On the other hand, impositions like coordinating archival works from students, photographing projects and events, etc. could help generating our own documentation instead of giving re-dos and disallowing students to sit for lectures.

Faculty Exchange Sessions:

To align with various levels of study in the school, constant exchange of ideas is important. The visiting faculty seldom is able to interact with other classes/teachers. This can be initiated by exchanging faculties between different classes for smaller sessions, eskis, discussions, etc.

Vertical Studios:

The idea of a 2-3-week intensive vertical studio is an interesting one. Although it has been experimented already, it was highly unstructured and unplanned. Better planned vertical studios can become breeding grounds for telescopic ideas of what students would eventually like to do. It can become a great platform for interactions with people and developing all round skills.

Joint Jury:

An initiative already experimented, I think it must be taken forward. However, it has to be a week long process, such that all attend all. There is no point in rushing it over one day. Although students may not be interested, it definitely is an important ground for faculties to look at loopholes in design programmes and an overall curriculum-building.

Exchange Programme:

For a student, it is important at the later years of college to distance himself/herself from their institution to be able to critically assess the skills they have learnt. Going out to a different environment is important to gauge the level at which a school is operating. Learning from different contexts is extremely important and making networks outside our circle of friends in crucial in personal development.

Himal / Himalaya

Based on my Visual Culture class, I am trying to do an experiment here with the way maps are represented. We spoke about politics of representation, Euro-centric world map, politics of mapping in our class.

And for a long time I was searching for this upside down map of the world, which I could finally source from here:

I am wondering why Himal Map is called so. On a wild and obvious guess, I present one of the immediate images that google displays on keywords "Himal Map":

Is the reference to the Himalayas (the crest referring to the new figure of the map?). Seems interesting. Errrr, but the real reason is this. Anyway, I think it may be an interesting coincidence for HIMALaya crests to look like the Himal Map of India.

At Kanchanjunga

Palghar

We went to Palghar over the weekend (2nd year students and faculty). However, I guess we were closer to Kelve. Spent some time in peaceful places, cool shadows and timber buildings.

I think i kept harassing the students forcing them to work. Although they visited the same places last year apparently, no one knows where they lost all the documentation work of these places done by them. Anyway, we looked at the buildings more closely. I had to constantly feed in techniques of measuring things. I had strictly instructed the students not to get camera. So there was no drama of photo sessions. Inspite of that, I do not think they observed. Neither did they see. They kept missing some of the key things to take note of.

The gujju gang kept themselves busy with periodical eating rounds. I wondered if there was nothing else that the space prompted them to do. No one discussed anything about space (perhaps because they had already been there last year).

Visiting Mahendra Kale's office, I felt reassured about my decision to stay away from architectural practice for a while. I wondered if he felt conscious of me being around while he explained the structural concepts to students. Anyway, it was really nice of him to have arranged the entire visit for us.

Teen Turmoils

In my quest to help students, sometimes, I overspend my time on them. I don't realize how much time I put into them without any knowledge of what it would manifest into? And it is so difficult to take the role of a counselor. The last stage of the teen age is the most perplexing, most difficult - because you have to decide and take a stand for yourself. I too was so confused at this point of time in my life. I didnot know what was my calling. I wanted to leave architecture, not knowing what I would do...

But I stayed on, precisely because I didnot know what I would do? And another year passed. Over this year, I just spent time in drawings - making just immaculate drawings. Rotrings - I almost fell in love with them. I would spend a lot of time in the library - looking at old, really old books, looking at drawings. Unfortunately, we did not even have faculty who could excite us with our work. Mundane people - clumsy faces... Same old sheets. What else would one do? I kept looking at books, buildings - just tracing them - without knowing why. I didnt even know how to look at books - what to understand out of it! At that time, it was only drawing to the rescue. This is when my performance dropped.

Fourth year cracked because of Prasad Shetty - and I still remember one question he asked while discussing 'histories" in Research Methods class: "Is your grandfather not important?". This invoked a whole new sense of interest in myself. That is where it started...I used to go after classes and ask him one line questions - on generalizations, on opinions. He would say "But these generalizations are not coming from nowhere." And I spent my time only in analyzing these statements he made. Thats all. He would never give answers. He still never gives answers.

But at this point of time in my life, I met some key people: Madhumita Nandi, Ateya and others. A whole new explorations took place. But going back to this confusion, Ateya once told me: "Look at people whom you like - what path did they follow, do you want to be like them?" And it was all about finding the right people and the right paths then. It gave a lot of food for observation and thought. Life seems different now, where I am out of that state of haze. But I can relate to students who feel lost. And it is in such cases having ideal people become important. Having role models become important. Ofcourse, I may have said earlier that in being 'like' someone, we lose ourselves, but we need to be like someone also to know whom we dont want to be like. Being neutral is unproductive. And especially in this world, being unproductive is senseless.

But I dont even know whether whatever I speak to students makes sense to them. Or does it help them. And what if I misguide them by mistake, or what if they misinterpret me? I am too cynical sometimes, and I dont know if those who trust me, too get influenced. That is not something I ever intend to do. I dont know how cynicism or sarcasm affects students. But that has become a part of me. I just feel sorry for too many people experiencing the same old difficulties and insecurities of life. So I just try to listen to them. And there are times when I avoid them - because I dont know if i have a role to play really. Who am I?

Sometimes I feel so many of them are wasting their potentials, but it's their choice. Sometimes I also feel that students take undue advantage of the time I spend with them. I know all that - but I just try dont let it bother me in the 'benefit of doubt' principle - that it's their loss if they do so. But I dont know how this immense problem of not being able to cope up with the field / study of architecture can be more subtle.

I guess eventually people find their way. Just that it must not be too late. Otherwise, being cynical again, I think life is a b****. Life is the step mother of time I guess. Or vice versa. Anyway, whats the point of going into that kind of negativity.

As Dushyant and I would conclude: What is, is is.

(and I don't know how many times I have use don't in the post and I don't want to use more don'ts - what else do you do with language, anyway!)

First Year AD Jury: Expression Spaces

I myself waited with this project and made my fellow faculty wait for a long time before the final jury could be taken. It was because I was not satisfied with the amount of time the students spent in their process of evolving their design. However, the final jury for the 3rd project of the first year students, I felt, had much more content than discussed in the session.

The project was about making and expression space of a professional (profession) by deriving patterns out of their working conditions (behavioural, habitual, through their objects they use or deal in, etc.). We chose 40 professions to begin with - a variety of them - from the vada pav seller, dabbawala to the Chartered Accountant or the Dancer. To limit the scale/scope of the project for the first year, we restricted the area to 50 sq m. I shall be writing a formal "retrospect" brief for this project later.

Each design had so much potential, and each designer had so much enthusiasm. And so I too got enthused. The above sketches were made as I thought along with the students. Of a postman, a space in the wells of the staircase ringing door bells and looking into interiors of houses framed through keyholes and cut-outs in safety doors, of a barber - looking at multiple hairstyles, almost living in hair. For an astronaut, we thought of the ground plane, which is never flat - rather someone who spent time in undefined plane. So the undulating surface enclosed in a space which would be under constant air pressure. However, the student took a complete different trajectory and made something like pneumatic slabs. He lifted this inhabitable expressive space a feet above the ground, thus it being in space (ungrounded) while the user entered or left the space.

For the tailor, we began with the idea of playing between the 3 critical numbers: shoulders-chest-waist. These numbers define the body and in turn, the garment. The idea could have been abstracted into a series of such hangers sized to people. However, the idea was lost. The pattern in the fisherman's profession was seen to be a daily passage between solid ground to the non-ground. This pattern of transition between surfaces that the fisherman inhabits was what we tried to explore. The idea was abstracted through the symbolic net, which becomes a surface to walk as well as envelop. The movement it induces in the body is similar to the movement from land to sea (and vice versa) by cleverly spacing the structural members of the support. I am not sure if the student brought out this aspect clearly. There was perhaps a little conceptual misunderstanding.

A rigorous process followed for the dabbawala - of analysing the codes on the dabbas to evolving it into a spatial configuration. This was truly the most fascinating project in the class. Others were that of the joker, achieved through the act of juggling, and completely colourful while another interesting one was the magician, where I tried to crack the idea of anti-pattern (that a magician works with). Although it was a tricky profession, if there was a little more rigour in the project, it would have worked brilliantly. But theorizing the whole idea of magic for architectural space was something that I enjoyed in my mind. I didnot discuss it with the student since it would make no sense to her. So I kept myself low-key.

I think the students got an idea of anthropometrics and the process of evolution of space. Since the first two projects were too exploratory in terms of form, we consciously kept this one as an exercise for evolving space. Now, we need to introduce them to function, while the students need to learn how to communicate their designs ideas through their work.

photo titles in order (expression spaces of):

bus conductor

priest

magician

bus conductor

dietician

dermatologist

astronaut

Raag based item songs...

Sitting back and pondering over music, it occurred to me that some of the most raunchy songs in Bollywood are based purely on Indian Classical Ragas. Here are some:

Dhak Dhak Karne Laga, Beta

Raag Shivranjani

Sunta Hai Mera Khuda, Pukar

Raag Bhairav

Tu cheez badi hai mast mast, Mohra

Raag Bhimpalaas

Hai Rama yeh Kya Hua, Rangeela

Raag Poorvi

Is Pyaar ko main kya naam doon, Mujhe kuch kehna Hai

Raag Shivranjani

will add more if i get more. I have detailed writings to write on music. dont know how to put it down. Anyways. lets see...

Comic of the day

Of unknown imagic realities

When I went back to inquire about my lost wallet at the counter, they said that they dispose off any item that is left in their space after waiting for a few hours. I reached late. It seemed that they passed my wallet through some device like a paper cutting machine, because I could see that my purse was split into thin slices - My notes, passes, cards, and the leather of the purse too. I wondered what kind of a place that was, where they didn't even bother removing the money inside the purse? They could have used it themselves, if not me. How could they be so selfless in disposal? I collected the bits and pieces of my sliced wallet, cut notes (which almost seemed like chopped cabbage) and carried it back.

----

At once, only one single peacock came and dashed into my forehead. It felt soft. Later, they grew in number. In series one after the other, all entered into my forehead. I did not feel them inside me. Where did they go if they hit me on my forehead? Where did they disappear? Did they melt in me - why don't I see the wings? Why don't I feel the tickle of the feathers - just the long neck and streamlined body hitting me like a wagon. Like a train of birds bursting into me...

----

The creatures were colourful. They looked like beautiful stones with patterns. They were small button-like things falling on to the green leaves. I wondered if I had seen them ever in my life. I reassured myself of all discovery channel programmes on tiny creatures. But these did not confirm to anything that I had seen earlier! How could such creatures (whom we would woosh away) be so beautiful? Those shiny beatle-like little moving creatures on the leaves - I wondered if I must woosh them away or keep gazing at them.

----

A thousand butterflies hit my head. They were colourful, all flying in a line. Forcefully. But they were weightless. I don't remember how they entered me, where they went? But they came.

----

I kept thinking that it was an aeroplane. Perhaps I felt so because it was a tubular. But when it would not show me anything in the sky (nor did it take off), and moved only in an opaque tube/pipe/tunnel, I corroborated to myself that it must be a train. The tube turned and twisted - I am not sure how I recognize the turns and twists - perhaps due to the movements in my bowels. After some time, it gushed into a larger volume, I could finally see some spiraling tracks. I got down from there and moved towards the exit from the station. As I came out, I realized that I was in Japan. But how did I realize that it was Japan? I had never seen Japan! But at that time, I felt, it was Japan.

----

Someone shot a rifle in my abdomen. A fountain of blood came out. But it did not hurt me at all! How was that possible? I did not even see who did it! I pressed my abdomen to stop the flowing blood, but not to control my pain. Because it did not pain at all.

****

I haven't understood my dreams! But they are fascinating. And I would like to learn more about them. Why these set of images for me in my dreams? Have to be decoded.

Any takers?

Ideas worth exploring in pedagogy:

Problem House:

That all students pin up their "problems" with any subject onto a board alloted to them for a week. Perhaps each class has a dedicated board. Every one is free to respond to any one. Its a physical sharing of problems and solution.

FMS (Flexible Marking Scheme):

That Students themselves give dates of when they want to be assessed. As in, they set markers for themselves. How it works? If a project goes on for 10 weeks, students are asked to keep 3 assessment dates for themselves during the process. They work according to their time schedule and not the faculty's.

EAC (English Assistance Cell):

The place where students would go to communicate their thoughts in better english (written and oral and any other) - for all students who are trained / not trained in English.

Annual Day at AOA

The annual Day of Academy at Rachana Sansad was fantastic. I enjoyed all programmes and the end also left me in nostalgia. I missed my class mates. I missed myself being on stage. I missed making mistakes on stage. All that...
There were 3 performances on Sheila ki jawaani. And I loved the fact that no one cared about the lyrics: particularly the part "I'm to sexy for you" - it was almost a lament when these sweet simple girls from first and second year performed it. But it's the music that we are supposed to enjoy anyway! Who cares what the lyrics are!

Similarly, profanity & erotica was everywhere - in plays, songs, and performances. I particularly liked the skit by the hostel-ites. It dwelled on the idea of separation from homes and the craving of the body for another. Where on one hand, it surfaced the tension of being alone, it also somehow brought out its translation into the need to feel another flesh. Does it mean physical security or craving for another physical body, I dont know. But on the other hand, it elaborated how such ideas are negotiated by them - from pseudo-sensuality to actually being subconsciously pushed to making relations with the opposite / (same?) sex, or make them voyeuristic, or developing uncommon habits to curb these thoughts...It is difficult to imagine how are these thoughts survived. How do they manifest?

Also of how we like being like someone. Imitations, replications, representations - all of it. And there is this huge amount of fun in all of it - erotica, mimicking, voyeurism, comments...And amidst, messages are slipped - who likes whom, who dislikes whom, what do they think of certain teachers, what they think of their study, what they think of things around them - that is the power of a space (here I mean space in the realm of public, made by public).

And I was wondering how background sound with huge amount of images irrespectively makes you nostalgic - especially if the images relate to your past. But that's essential I suppose. After all, we do build relations over 5 years, and they are validated thus!?

I liked what my class performed. And i particularly liked the selection of their song - Choli ke peeche kya hai. The song is grooving and all of them danced so well. I hoped to have more of my friends (students) on stage. Many of them are too conscious perhaps. But I am sure they will resolve this unnecessary and unwanted issue of the 'self-complex' in the years to come.

What I constantly asked myself all the time was: "Anuj, do you want to be in this cyclic college atmosphere all your life?" - it was scary. Rather, I haven't clarified this for myself. I then saw Suresh Singh, Jagdish Rajde, Sachin, Pooja and others, and felt a bit reassured. But the question is not answered. What do I see myself as 10 years down the line? And in some ways, it also echoes Correa's question to me: "Do you want to teach all your life?" - Why would he pose it to me? Oormi once said: "Anuj, the profession needs people like you. The state of the environment is such only because people like you choose not to practice." But I say to myself, "Teaching is my practice." This debate with myself is endless. But what is more important to me is that I am doing what I enjoy doing. That's it. What is work if you force yourself to do it! Maybe, when I am contemplative again, I shall elaborate this over a new post.

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reflections:

The only silly part was the presentation of the NASA AVs. both of which i felt were absolutely silly - in the way they were designed, and the way they were presented. but they would never know how to speak for a presentation, unless they go out of their only mythic NASA space, to other talks, and see how to TALK! (I am referring to the way you deliver a speech, the tone of your voice, the confidence with which you speak, the emphasis on certain words in your speech, etc.). They love to make their powerpoint presentations animated - even where it's not required - and it always jams their computers. That's to show off their skill! The Panels had so much text that even a book would fail to contain it! And the drawings were to technical to be creative. There were hardly any graphics showing the context of the design in the surrounding but; hold on - there were details of how beds would be placed in the room and what would be the bedsheet covers like! Especially the police officers mess' spoke all about the swimming pools and gymnaesiums, but never about the aspect of policing - and how its probable translation into an architectural language! I wondered if that's the was cited as the best NASA design, what would the other 100 designs be!


THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH REWORDED:
I remained unimpressed with the work displayed by students who participated in NASA convention this year. Although one could see a lot of work, it was difficult to relate the design to the aspect of policing. The design did not speak about how the architectural language related to the activity of the police force. The representational skills that were used for the presentation, i felt, needed to be explored beyond 3d views and plans sections. It would have been really nice if there was a feel of 'discipline' (as would the police have) in the verbal presentation of the visuals. It would have really been interesting to watch at the panels if all of the text was more graphical, and diagrammatic. I almost felt disinterested in reading plenty of text - filling up every inch of the panel. There needed to be some breather space to appreciate the drawings. This is where I felt that the representation drew from its earlier counterparts. Being involved in NASA since 1st year, when I was briefed using NASA sheets of 5 years prior to 2003, and having read all of them in the past 8 years (so in all a reading of NASA of 13-15 years), the tools of representation should have been able to mature much more, which has failed to take place.

However, what is worth learning is the dedication and the rigour put in the work. But one has to always keep a check that this discipline must not regulate the creative thought and ways of creative thinking. According to me, Indiscipline is essential for creativity. Because, indiscipline has a pattern of production. This should be explored and channelised. Creativity many a times in the realm of NASA has been about cartooning how they slept at odd hours, or how 'new' couples were paired, or inconsequential things like that. But seldom have they explored cartooning as a way of presenting their entire panel! The sheets draw representation ideas from 10 year old NASA sheets - of the self! All are horse-blinded!

Anyway, even if people learn that, it should be enough. At least they get into the act of production. I hope they met new people, discussed ideas and did not lose out opportunity of networking in the chase of displaying their rivalry with others.

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And for the first time, I took no photos of the event. I realized that photos distance you from the engagement. I was thoroughly in the crowd and I am glad I did not get into archiving it!

Aeroplanes

My nephew obsessed with aeroplanes, as I have also mentioned earlier...here are more of his drawings, although on paintbrush!
I like how he's maturing with his sense of space...

Quote Unquote

Charles Correa's references and anecdotes:

"Hinduism accepts things decaying"

"The medium is the message"

"The man who invented the internet didn't get a penny"

"An Indian mother is never nasty to her son-in-law."

"You can't work on urban problems without political backing."

No TV Day

The "No TV" campaign by Hindustan Times doesn't seem as successful as the "No Electricity" campaign (by RED FM?). Although HT floods its newsprints with 'how successful it was' today, I feel all this hype is just constructed. to begin with, locating problem in TV is highly political.

To begin with, they never explained why No TV day instead of say, No Travel Day...What was the benefit to the people by watching No TV? Without even justifying why, they went on to give alternatives for what can be done if you don't watch TV. And they contacted all the cafes, restaurants, art people and heritage walk people around the city to come up with offers, in favour of / support of the event. In turn, they must have given them coverage and publicity. Basically they made you step out of the house. Most people took their cars, or flood the public transport without any reason - burnt petrol (read 'waste energy') just for not knowing why they weren't watching television. These are our educated people, wanting to support a cause, which has no justification!

Today's Hindustan Times ad reads "We had fun" (see pic).

Of course, they (HT) had fun:
1. They got a lot of publicity from the event (after all, they want to establish themselves in Mumbai)
2. They earned lot of advertisements (money).
3. They did a lot of marketing and developed PR.

All of the above done still keeping people wondering why 'No TV'?

If one sees the amount of advertisement that HT has got out of this NO TV campaign (check Sunday HT), it is phenomenal. It got about more than 100 brands to endorse themselves though placing an ad in HT. Free coupons, discounts, sales, etc...And I am sure people were ready with their scissors to cut coupons for pizzas and 10% discount meals - a complete Kishore Biyani Big Bazaar trick. Completely market driven.

(Obvious reasons for watching TV will be enlisted by beginning to blame TV as the Idiot box, which is much a transferred epithet - It's saying that 'people who watch the kitchy TV programmes are idiots'. The they would criticise the saas-bahu soaps; its ready material for them. They would also say that the reality shows are no more real, and go on and on and on - BUT, they would never talk about channels like Discovery, TLM, or Nat Geo. Or for that matter, they could have asked for a movement to create more sensible TV programmes. But the problem was that they did not know why No TV)

So let us reflect what No TV day did:

• Clearly, it escalated the sales/profits of Hindustan times.
• It made more people step out of their homes on a holiday, making them burn fuel and congest roads.
• It prevented people from watching TV - even the people who watch news, or their daily dose of 'pravachan' or discovery or TLM...
• It increased the people's consumption of outside food, making them waste more money by stepping out of their homes.

Okay, i have no complaints for people who painted a picture or two at their homes, or looked at a butterfly fluttering outside their window or just listened to some music on their i pods. But my argument is that they would have done it anyways.

Here is something from the Society of the Spectacle:

"The spectacle grasped in its totality is both the result and the project of the existing mode of production. It is not a supplement to the real world, an additional decoration. It is the heart of the unrealism of the real society. In all its specific forms, as information or propaganda, as advertisement or direct entertainment consumption, the spectacle is the present model of socially dominant life. It is the omnipresent affirmation of the choice already made in production and its corollary consumption. The spectacle's form and content are identically the total justification of the existing system's conditions and goals. The spectacle is also the permanent presence of this justification, since it occupies the main part of the time lived outside of modern production. "

First Draft - An Evening in the City

Scene 1:

I place the letter on His desk and wait for him to call me in. I wait for the next 4 hours. He leaves the office. Dhaval says it's done. You're free. And vacuum occupies my head. I walk to the station thinking why He didnot address me.

Scene 2:

The crowd rushes inside the compartment as the train halts in Dadar. The man in front of me (moving in) suddenly turns back, picks up his wallet and starts hitting the boy behind him. The train moves. The boy is brought to the centre of the compartment after 4 hard blows. Suddenly in an overly packed compartment, a human trap is made to punish the boy. People join in for slaps and punches - some elbowing, some kicking, some pinching, some tearing apart his hair. All have ideas: "Don't kill him", "Give him to the police", "Today is 27th, the last week of his pay back perhaps to his boss", "Throw him out"....They remove all his clothes and throw them out of the running train.

Scene 3:

The person besides me makes himself almost uncomfortable to see the boy naked, crying and pleading. They laugh as he accepts his crime. All decide to throw him out of the moving train. I remove one earphone from my ear - now listening to multiple sounds. Another man consoles the man who was being pick-pocketed and indicates him to stop beating the boy. The man enjoying the breeze on the footboard on the other end of the compartment directs the side on which the platform should appear. They wait until Andheri arrives and throw the boy naked on the platform.

Scene 4:

In an overly packed compartment, more people gush in, laughing, joking, talking, pushing...They talk about the whole racket - the trade. While they have already forgotten about the boy, and filled their minds with their own everyday insecurities, I secure my wallet. Putting back the earphone in my second ear, I listen to myself. I wonder if I had an opinion on the boy, on the act... The song fades, and I stop it. And vacuum occupies my head. I walk to the bus station thinking why He did not address me...

Quotable quotes

Prasad Shetty...

on working:

"You must work with the masters. If they match to your imagination of them, then you always knew you were right, but if they dont, at least you know why they are'nt great."

on seeing:

"The way you see is the way you understand, the way you understand is the way you intervene."

on things:

"A chair is a chair is a chair"

on abstraction:

"We don't know everything about anything"

on presentation:

"Use the KISS rule - Keep it Short and Stupid (err), you can say Short and Simple. Try explaining it to your grandmother first."

on people:

"He/she's interesting!"

on writing:

"Make it crisp."

more shall be added later.

xxx

In catching up with our ideals, we lose ourselves.

Things to carry

This is a superbly handy list that akhil had prepared for himself during the Hampi tour.
The checklist is for all things you must carry while travelling.

(the cigarettes are a part of his personal things and can be omitted!)

Contraptions

Some sketches for the Street USB
(first year orientation workshop 2010)

a chance encounter between an umbrella and a sewing machine:

Mumbai Profiles

poster design: Anuj Daga

Great works (not equal to) great people

We mistakenly construct identities of architects by seeing their works. When we see great buildings, we feel their architects too must be great. But in this process of labeling, we seldom realize that it is the quality of the work that we assign the person, and it's not the evaluation of the person him/herself. What perhaps I am trying to argue is that qualities of work need not necessarily impersonate an individual. This construction of idols in such a manner is extremely deceitful.

But the society works by evaluating people through their works. You are a good (=useful) person if you can produce good (=useful) work. There is no humanities at work here. Environments are deals made in this realm of exchange of useful work (okay, I may be gross generalizing here). Nevertheless, what I can definitely say is that every building has so much of ruthlessness to itself. But it is all immediately covered up as the building is inaugurated. Would the financier of the biggest building allow its workmen to enter the premises once the building is finished? Never! The workmen will be shooed away as the red ribbon is cut.

Correa is not as human as his buildings. His buildings are "constructed" and therefore, his identity is constructed.

Why I am thinking of all this? Because I am realizing the difference between 'great people' and 'great buildings' - and I am wondering if places must have more of great people or great buildings?

Untitled

These thoughts occur to me as I see and listen to this song:

And I wonder if my fascination with Muslim culture is because it being the "other" or with its mysticism or what? If I was to trace my association with Islamic culture, I could string together a lot of things. Perhaps the biggest share would be that I went to a school which had a Muslim Management. I did not understand them as the "other" till the 1993 riots.

But as I relate with their culture today, it seems to me that there is a lot of 'respect' in the culture - what we call 'adab' waali bhaasha - urdu, uff...you almost fall in love with it. Even the burqa / purdah has originally been a respectful custom - and this song so beautifully brings it out.

When I was young, I used to love watching Alif Laila - translated in English as Arabian Nights. Although it was very badly produced and directed, what fascinated me was the myriad magical experiences it gave me as a kid. I would wait for the protagonist of the stories to perform 'jaadu' and wait for revelation of spaces beyond unaccessible regions - it was totally fascinating. Also how can we forget the Prince of Persia that we played as kids, and defeating Jaffar - the villian in the computer game. But this also connects to Aladdin and Persia - another world to live in.

And some days back, I also listened to Rumi - and it was so soothing. Rumi creates a space around you. I think I have trailed enough in this blogpost and almost travelled the journey of Islam's passage to our country. the above song beautifully encapsulates the 'muslim' youngster and his romantic encounter within his 'closed' community. I love the slow movement of the video from him being a stranger to a lover....it is soft and likable. And the song adds to the softness.

Sometimes I wonder if I would be able to live in such surroundings (the "other")? how about falling in love like that? Don't quite know...

Kohinoor Mills

Photo Courtsey: Pranit Rawat

It's interesting how all the mill lands want to be secretive about themselves.

If the mills in the city were opened up, how wonderful it would be to understand another kind architecture that pervaded the city, that anchored life in the city. Large volumes, wide column free spaces, huge machines, loud noise, sharp shadows, big steel members - we see none of it today!

What was the industry? What is it to be in an industry (mill)? What is it like to work in a mill - in a place where the roof is 20 times above you, generously and you are handling a big monster - the machine...
Today, we see these houses of 'monsters' only through cracks in the wall, unaligned gaps in the gates and google maps. Why cant these spaces be opened for study? What if these places just became museums and still fetched huge money? Can machines be adapted for malls? Perhaps they could become sculptures - like the follies in Parc De La Vilette (Bernard Tshcumi)...

Anyway, I asked Pranit to construct an imagination of what he thinks is inside - since it is like some other world which one can not enter. Seeing this picture, it feels that this watchman is the guardian of the Garden of Earthly Delights - the Kohinoor! The Kohinoor remains unraveled and hidden for the inhabitants of the city. Makes for a perfect metaphor to the precious stone that remains unclaimed and alien to our place...

Sex / Gender

I learnt the essential difference between Gender and Sex today:
Sex is something biological. We are born with it.
Gender is a social function. It depends on the way you are brought up.

What it implies is that
Not acknowledging eunuchs as an alternative sex is a grave issue.
On the contrary, a woman may have different expectations with planning versus a man. (Gender issue)

I kept mixing sex and gender in my argument on "why should there be separate seats for separate sexes in buses, or separate compartments in trains". Today it is clear to me that these divisions are social and not biological. Thus, where I may argue that women are equally physically capable as men, the difference is only that the society doesnot see them as so. Thus it is a gender problem, and not of the sex.
However, Gender is a construct of Sex. In simpler words, Gender is a subset of sex. And this creates a lot of problems - the problems of perception, the issues of trans-genders, and so many more. In our times, gender is trying to become the universal set. Thus there are cases of people wanting to change their identities (social construct) by transforming themselves biologically!

That's quite a backdoor entry!

But I think this definition becomes crucial in the understanding of Feminism, the discourse of the Body, etc. We shall be discussing this in our humanities class later this year. It will be exciting....

Development Plan

Do we really need a development 'plan'?
A plan is a very modernist conception. A plan first defines an achievable objective assuming that all the parameters will be under control (which is a fallacious assumption), and goes on to execute to achieve a specific goal.

In case of a development plan, 'development' implies a process which is incomplete/incremental while the 'plan' contradictingly talks about a finite, static plan of action. Thus, the term "Development Plan" is ironic. Such a plan is never planned for a developing city/region, it assumes a particular growth (most of the times, it works with older statistics, on the basis of which the future may be (inaccurately?) speculated). What then, is the actual value of a plan?

The plan considers 'resources' as finite. Is it so? Are resources finite? Resources are biological processes - cyclic in nature. Thus, can we think of cultivating resources for the future rather than always getting entangled in the idea of effective consumption of available resources? We always miss out this point. The idea of sustainability also has always been about limited consumption for prolonging use of available resources and never about cultivating more resources for future. 

Land is finite for development, Neera Adarkar said. But we have already pushed this limit by reclaiming huge amounts of sea - and thereby creating land. Look at Dubai, Mumbai, Japan - I think one can give so many examples. Japan's proposals of development projects on sea are ready! So can we really consider land as finite? Today, land is 'generated' - after all, land is just a surface for developers. It is only the environmentalists or some other activists who think of land as a resource. Otherwise, land can be created!

We love the post modern ad-hoc conditions of the city. We love to celebrate the hawkers, we love to talk of the slums, we love to talk about the 'new' urbanism or the pluralism of the post-modern city.  I think that no city would function without its three basic tiers - the rich industrialists/corporates, the aspiring middle class, and the lower class people. This hierarchy is definitely the key to the success of the city. Each city has to plan for the rich and the middle class and allow the slums to exist. If one wants to eradicate the slums, he/she has to be ready to pay Rs. 5000/- per month to the house maid who washes utensils at his/her house. Only then one would be allowing the right amount of hygiene to exist in slums. In other words, a house maid can only afford a slum in Rs. 500/- that we pay now.

A very interesting and reasonable answer that Neera Adarkar provided was that we (primarily the middle class and the rich) have to acknowledge the fact that the poor get 'free houses' by the government, in case they do so, and not compare it with our status, making it a 'rights' issue. To give an example, we feel too cheated on issues like reservations (we know the kind of protest that went on for long) - which essentially were possible solutions for eradication of illiteracy. Unfortunately, reservation policies were tactically exploited by people who were ineligible. 

To begin with, perhaps we have to define, what kind of people are we looking to occupy our city? If the city is a system, then I hold my three-tier theory's presence for the city's effective functioning. Modernist notions (which we still follow today by defining our goals as achievable) consider all people as equal (and thereby divide resources equally). The relation between the three tiers and consumption of resources by these may be unequal - even completely contrasting. The fallacy of the modernist method may be its failure to allocate wrong amount of resources to wrong kind of people. Right now, resources are distributed based on availability of money. There is no relationship established/studied between the three tiers and consumption pattern . If money does not remain at the centre of planning process, perhaps something could be achieved, However, if money is to pivot the function of development, we are bound to have the same cycles of problems again. At the same time, desires and aspirations can not be handled through modernist planning principles since:
1. They can not be quantified
2. They are not finite (Buddhist philosophy).
(therefore, the whole premise of this vertical studio for me, is fallacious. Since it talks about executing a strong modernist action plan and discusses the city as the post modern condition!)

Anyway,

I could keep on talking, and this could become (or has already become?) a research paper.

For the time being, I propose that we re-name the next "Development Plan" as a "Development Framework". Unlike a plan (which works with fixed entities), a framework allows and adjusts according to changing systems & resources. We have to develop frameworks for future and not plans. Yes, as Neera ma'am said, they could be prototypes - small pods. What I recall is Japan's "Metabolist Movement" which acknowledges change and brings it to the centre of development. We are yet to understand it perhaps...

The Pursuit of Happyness

Pursuit is not the same as 'having'. pursuit is to 'be together with' or 'engage' with something.
Possibly means a 50% yes, 50% no, but it would mean more negative
Probably too means a 50% yes, 50% no, but it would mean more positive
Happy is an adjective, and not a noun. Happiness is a noun.
You can have nouns and you can only be adjectives.
Thus you can only pursue happyness, you can not have it.

-"the pursuit of happyness"

I think one understands some films only at specific age. As I mature with my knowledge, I am able to appreciate things with more care. Today when I saw The Pursuit of Happyness for the 4th time, I understood the nuances in its dialogues, and more importantly its message, which is stated above.

Similarly, when there was only the Doordarshan, I saw Umrao Jaan (old one) for perhaps so many times, and never understood it. Later, when I grew up, it only took the re-make of the film to understand it. I then  understood that the old one was a fairly well constructed and a much better film than the latter. I understood the cynicism of "Jaane bhi do yaaron" only when I became cynical, rather when I faced the world all by myself. When I saw "Zakhm" for the first time, I could not sleep for the next two days.

Anyway, I am happy that these things dawned to me. And I am sure there is so much more in store, which I can only realize on aging.

Some definitions

Borrowed from Vertical studio:

delta: created when river water enters in the sea, eg: Ganga
estuary: created when sea water tries to enter land, eg. Mumbai
mangroves: salt friendly plants.
planning: tool to allocate the finite amount of resources through principles of efficiency and equity.
maps: tools for strategic planning

more

i think i have to write so many things that i have no idea where to begin with. of anish kapoor - and the multiple experiences around it! the vertical studio and the same old questions. the independent research and connecting to new people, the progress with archive and another talk with mr. correa!!

no mood, no mood...

subtitle

"My blog is my archive"