saturday hangover

we were at dushyant's office on saturday and we totally relaxed that day. reaching in the afternoon, we started discussing music and dushyant kept on strumming the guitar explaining the fundaas of how it is played. and then we got into the discussion of each kind of instrument and then into instruments and then into musicians and then into classical and western music...

what i kept pondering was that what is it about indian classical music that i appreciate. while the western classical music seemed very scientific, the indian classical touched the heart. what i also wondered is that what is it in music that becomes the 'liking' factor. if it is subjective, then its not about making music scientific...

dushyant had a story to tell behind every piece he had collected, justifying why it was different. but what perplexed me is whether the story behind creation of the music should be so important that it affect ones liking...

so there began the journey of the inquiry about what is it in the indian classical music that i like...the music, the instrument, the technicality...what...
and i m still wondering...

but i think i just like music in general and i cant justify why i like certain kind of music. sometimes i try to, but i think that is not required. one just likes music...its natural...

we discussed dushyant's thesis, but soon sonal and ranjit arrived and the whole thing was diluted. we had a lot of fun later...our plans of seeing the movie were shattered because dushyant's comp could not detect sonal's hard drive...sonal actually had got a bag full of hard drives...as if she was carrying a computer...imagine the amount of data - i think she had some 4 hard drives with an average capacity of 150 GBs ... and i wondered about my 1 GB memory chip...

so it was a nice day,...we listened songs, passed time...and just relaxed...after a very long time...

Charles Correa Gold Medal

This is so refreshing. Winning after a lot of hard work is so encouraging. And especially winning a prize that one always wanted to. So it’s an achievement.
When we reached college yesterday at 12:30 pm, we were said that the Charles Correa Jury was already over. This brought in a lot of goosebumps because we were under the impression that the thing is going to go on till 4 pm. The jury called it off quite early.

I was also excited to see Dushyant’s thesis work. It was very nice of him to wait till the names of the winners were announced. Unfortunately his presentation was cancelled. But I called him up in the evening to thank him for encouragement and to meet him up for his presentation.
But before that, the announcement story…
We assembled in the hall. We took seat. And it was as quick as nothing. Kamu Iyer came on the stage. He said, I know you all are waiting for the name…and it is a project called “Cinema for the Blind”. Just for a fraction of a second I was lost in that dream which I always dreamt. But not wanting to miss the rest of his explanation, I came back in reality. While I held Dhaval’s hand quite tightly, the third name announced was his….this was the soney pe suhaaga…

I said to Dhaval, "wow…what a birthday gift dhaval" and he was happy too.

Later on , I was called on stage to shake hands with the master himself. I sneakily handed over the camera to Dhaval telling him to take pictures…and he obliged.

As I approached the stage, I could not believe myself shaking hands with Charles Correa. "Ah….!" my mind said. Now, Correa is a tall figure - you have to anyways look up to him. He had a gliding smile; soft, very soft gesture. Then I shook hands with others – Ravi Hazra, Narendra Dengle, Kamu Iyer and this is when, Sen Kapadia handed over the mike to me asking me to tell the story of the conception of the project…

I felt like I have to give a speech after winning an Oscar Award…and I stupidly said the following:

“Since morning I have being thinking of various things to speak, but now I am actually speechless. So please pardon me if I may go wrong."

"Are you excited?", Wandrekar sir (our trustee) asked.
"Yes! I am...very much" I replied
"That is very good."

I continued, "About two years ago, now three, I had gone to Nehru Science Centre where I saw these blind students walking around the exhibits. This was the point which put me into questioning that what are the blind students doing in a place where there is everything to see. So blind got stuck in my head. That is how the inquiry started…”

Sen Kapadia said, “But this is something that you have already mentioned in your dissertation…the real story must be something else…”




I said, “Actually in my last five years of architectural education, I have never made exciting forms, because I always used to question this form, what is form? And when I got this idea, I thought this was the best way to carry forward my questions”

Sen: But it must have been difficult…how did you convince your faculty?

Me: Yes, it was very difficult. I had to fight a lot, telling them that this is possible. i actually have a paper still, in which one of my jury members said, “Scrap this project”. But I knew that this was possible. so it was not easy. I had to argue a lot and my professors sitting here know that…

Sen then asked the jury panel if they had any questions. I don’t remember who, but someone asked : What is blind?

This is one question that I have never been able to articulate… I tried, “who is blind? I myself don’t know who is blind…I am still in the process of finding out who is blind…but blindness exists. There is this one quote in the last page of my dissertation, which reads that ‘we are blind people who can see, but do not see.’ so I think we all are blind, and we are in this cinema…!”
Sen asked me to take back my seat in the audience. And he continued, “I think the blind is a metaphor, and some time ago we were talking about what is the future of the architecture… I think Mr. Adarkar, you don’t need to do anything, your students are already on the right path.”

Adarkar sir requested Mr. Correa to say a few words…and this was something special…
Correa came and said, “I am not going to talk here about any specific thing, but all these projects raised some issue. In all the three projects there is some sensitivity, with respect to the city. The winning project is talking about his site as the old cinema hall, which is itself is a landmark, and how do you work around it. I think what he is talking about is the insensitivity…you see it was the television which came in to picture and then there were these lots of images. I think this non resolution of the blind must have helped him to take the project the way it is now. May be what he means by blindness is the insensitivity, about the people who can see, but do not look…”

Later, Dhaval and I presented our thesis, and I realized that my pendrive was not showing the presentation file. So I quickly took out my cd…(this is where I appreciated my own preparedness). Though the presentation was old and not updated, I somehow managed to complete it. It was a very ok kind of a presentation I gave. We then left…came out…met Correa. Correa invited me to his office sometime. Ravi Hazra invited me to his college. We met people…it was a nice feeling…very nice feeling…

Building Vocabulary

Academy - 1474, from Latin academia, from Gk. Akademeia "grove of Akademos," a legendary Athenian of the Trojan War tales (his name apparently means "of a silent district"), whose estate, six stadia from Athens, was the enclosure where Plato taught his school.

ad hoc - 1659, from L., lit. "for this (specific purpose)."

aesthetic - 1798, from Ger. ästhetisch or Fr. esthétique, both from Gk. aisthetikos "sensitive," from aisthanesthai "to perceive, to feel," from PIE *awis-dh-yo-, from base *au- "to perceive." Popularized in Eng. by translation of Immanuel Kant, and used originally in the classically correct sense "the science which treats of the conditions of sensuous perception."

Façade - a word which derives from the Latin faccia or face

Window - derives from the Anglo-Saxon and in it survives the idea of the wind-eye, an opening in a primitive house that provides ventilation and light.

Questioning Mind

There are so many things to record…but whenever I sit to write, it feels like a burden to type a long blog.
Well, let me try…
The 361 degrees design conference was great…it was a good intense design session after all. And I got an opportunity to work with rahul gore again. Also, it was a great experience to interact with great world famous architects first hand – including Maki. It was at the conference that I realized the influence of being in the media. People actually love to be in touch with media. That is when they want to maintain a contact with you. I experienced this at the conference.

But it was also nice to see, meet new people and interact. What I constantly wondered is that which side is better – the organizer’s or the speaker’s? Who is more valuable – the sponsor or the guest? Needless to say that one would want to be on the better side – the more valuable one.

At the Maki Exbt setup, I confronted the Japanese meticulousness for the first time…how extremely prepared they were. The level of organization was supreme. And that is when I realized where the organization in Rahul’s office comes from. Rahul and Sonal both encouraged me at the exhibition and it was nice to have Armeet as a constant friend and supporter. It was nice to be in opolis company again.

The event ended with a party at the Royal Palms – and we danced with some of the biggest architects in the world. It was so exciting to see all people – old and new to enthusiastically dance on the floor. Wow!

The next day wasn’t a holiday..we were called at the office late..and left early – and the most important thing that we did at that day was cutting the cake for a successful event.

Conference may be over, but for me, the real event starts now…I have to quickly decide what I want to do- should I stay back in this office or should I join back an architect or start teaching or enroll for a fellowship – I am so confused. And the worst part is people can sense this confusion on my face…some say it is better to be confused, some say be easy…

I an feeling unstable…why..why……………………….why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it bad to ask questions? Small questions…? That’s what people tell me these days…and convince me not to question. How do I stop that (well that’s again a question!)

So I don’t ask questions to others – I ask them to myself – and keep searching for answers – lost in my own thoughts…

and i thought i was the most troubled!

yesterday, i had gone to my uncle's place and met all my family. The occasion was actually the 13th day of after my grand aunt's expiry. However, i got into a discussion with my younger sister...a year younger to me...she was feeling low...

She sincerely told me..."our office is shifting to Mumbai Central from Goregaon...and now tomorrow onwards, i will have to travel all the way from Borivli to Mumbai central..i am fed up...

Fifteen people have already been removed from office on the premise of cost cutting. I was saved because uncle had got me into this job. Now all the load is going to come on me..of all those who have left. I have my exams coming up in two months. My senior is not nice to me...he plays politics. The colleague who used to handle me well left office. I want to leave. I am not able to grow..."

This all came out very subtly...and as I tried to console her saying that all is fine..and it's natural to think like that...and she almost started crying...

oh my little sister...i felt very sorry...but that was just half the story...she continued:

"The problem is not that i am fed up. I can leave this job. but I can not stay at home." I thought that this was a response of just getting used to work. But she said, "i cant stay at home because i cant handle mummy..." (her mother is psychologically unstable) "She keeps on putting all her frustration on us (father, herself and her sibling). i don't know how papa handles her...I tend to get wild sometimes. I am short tempered. I understand she is like that, but how much can i take. There is no mental peace. She asks me too many questions - about herself, and about me...even if I get a call, she asks me too many questions. I have stopped taking calls at home now. I have come up, but what will happen to my younger sister...what values will she take...there is no positive atmosphere at home. I am worried. I am tensed."

There are so many loops above which i haven't mentioned. but I could do nothing but empathise and console her.

Everyone's story is the same:

"It happens only with me"

and I thought it was only me!

mental peace...
space...
mess...

and to end:

itni shakti humey dena daata
man kaa vishwaas kamzor ho naa
ham chale nek rastey pe humse
bhool kar bhi koi bhool ho naa.

Mess

i wonder what happens to those who choose not to be a part of this worldly 'mess'. while my reading of 'maximum city' introduces me to more and more mess all around, it is difficult to understand if there is no option other than getting sucked into it. what does one become if not mess. and even if you are not a part of the mess, you will be always identified as its part - because for people on the other side, its always the other side which is the mess.

i am worried -

i am worried if i too will end up messing myself! that will be terrible.

it makes me feel happier to have done a project which pokes the mess. now, i all the more believe in the theory of mess - the world is a cinema for the blind. it is a temple for an atheist.

can one only live for oneself then? the purpose being that of the sea gull - survival. as prarthana and me were discussing the other day, all discussions can be rooted in two basic purposes in life - pleasure and fear. and when there are people who have broken these ideas in their lives; they exist like polarised elements - the inexperienced as nascent and unstable, and the experienced as settled stable particles. they do not contribute, they donot adapt - they just are - just!

Five Gardens

Now this is nostalgic...
the huge plan of Five Gardens, prepared by 12 of us in 3rd year...some drew, some coloured, some rendered, some stuck pics , some analysed, some wrote....to put it together! wow...that is called team work!

The Fountainhead

Is life anything different from the landscape Ayn Rand has described in Fountainhead.
Today i experienced a Gail Wynand and a Toohey talking about Peter Keatings and Howards. it was hard to absorb, but i guess the best way to adjust is to JUST know them and not interfere!

Murphy's Law

If anything can go wrong,it will.

speech and text

I do not remember reading any of IAB’s articles indulgently. Today when I sat to read one of the articles, I realized what was wrong!

I feel written language too must have a tonal quality. The glibness with which you register a sentence was not present in the passage I read from the magazine. I found the same problem with the concept notes of the magazine, most probably prepared by the same person. The combination of words, which we use have to be easy for the tongue to twist. On the other hand, there are some phrases, which we are comfortable with. Many a times, we try and innovate, but I think then it becomes important to preserve the tonal aspect of the more used to phrase.

To cite some examples:

Phrases From, IAB Dec 2008 pg 45

Architectural road – architectural path
Time being opportune for practices – time being appropriate for practices
Versatile matrix – unnecessary use of adjective.
More mature future – note the “re-re-re’ in the end of all three words!

See what it does to your tongue. It will be difficult for the brain to register them.

I wonder if that is the way language has to be purposely made complicated. One can complicate ideas, by using simple words – like these theorists do…

To give examples:

Space of representation – representational space
Form of knowledge – knowledge of form
Realizing philosophy – philosophizing reality
Imagined space – spatial imagination

These are some beautiful things, which tingle your mind – without twisting the tongue – or rather they twist your brain!