Once upon a time, when I was young(er), the tiny world around me was religiously devoted towards the preparation for the rest of their lives. Plans, charts, objectives, desires and goals. They sought ‘stable’ and relatively popular educational options, following the trail of many ‘successful’ people. I, on the other hand, stood my ground, refusing to ride the bandwagon. I had my qualms about jumping into a world full of engineers and doctors, not that these professions are not alluring, but they did not intrigue ME at the time.
As a child I never had one favourite subject. Each year heard me declare my love for one or more subjects. Science, language, mathematics, history, fine arts, performing arts, have all held me in rapture at one point or the other. For far too long, I had planted one foot on the ground, while the other on a boat, strongly threatening to float away.
And then, I decided to dive. Letting the waves and current lap me up in their flow, I felt like Gulliver venturing towards the unknown. Unknown not to the world, but to me. A discovery worth the bungee jump into the sea. I was the first in my family to tread into non traditional form of educational system. Far away from textbooks and class notes, I played with paper, colour, ink and shapes. People I grew up around seemed a little overwhelmed with all that I did and planned to do. I heard whispers everywhere I went. (Well, not everywhere… I have taken the writer’s privilege to exaggerate a little!) They couldn't imagine cutting pieces of paper, drawing for hours on end, labouring for days to create box like looking models, could bestow upon me any ‘real’ education and especially one with a ‘strong’ future. Some advocated that I select something ‘more promising’ post my graduation and thus turn the tables around.
Probably, I have stretched the truth by a whisker. I wasn’t, if truth be told, hounded by anyone to change my profession. But I was often asked as to what my work entailed. What is it that I would do after graduation? Was there a job waiting to embrace me when I step out of my college? (On looking back, this just seems like a blip on a big canvas full of colour!)
The narrative sounds very outlandish. As if I was preparing for a lifetime of time-travel in the T.A.R.D.I.S. But all it was, was a plunge into the world of creativity and design.
Architecture… my first love.
Architecture launched me into a life beyond textbooks and tests. Learning came in abundance through experiences and observations rather than just classes and seminars. (Not that the latter did not help!). All through my five years of graduation, never have I ever doubted my decision to pursue Architecture.
“What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty.”
It holds the keys to a miscellany of expressions. Poetry, books, art, theatre, music, dance… the list is infinite. It embodies all the emotions we often do not acknowledge within us. A cocoon full of cultural stories and history. Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, the Duomo in Florence, Notre Dame in France, Alhambra in Granada, all these and many more hold old secrets. An open book to all those interested in discovering why the world is shaped to what it is now and how.
Education, for once, has left me with a wish to see all that that the world has to offer. New cultures, people, ideas, thoughts, art and architecture keep calling out to me. An eternal desire to travel and explore.Oh! it seems I’ve entered the T.A.R.D.I.S. after all.
Cheers to my love for buildings and all that it brings to my life. A journey I embarked on a decade ago, with a small dive into a less ventured territory. And the journey has been exhilarating till now. And I still await a day when it stops to charms me.
“We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?”
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