MY MARRIAGE TO ARCHITECTURE #1

(Admin's note : First article of a series of articles on the same topic)

(Written by Divya Rajesh )

The time had come for my parents to choose a groom for their daughter.  A career choice. It was an inevitable and equally stressful decision making process. Their daughter’s happiness would depend on it. It had to be the right one on so many levels for her marriage to work out. They started out by considering her likes and interests. Even as a child she was good at drawing. She had a way with colors. Though she was good at studies, she was evidently more of an art person.

Mainstream options were ruled out. After meticulous contemplation, it seemed like they could narrow it down to the design field. Her dad was convinced it was architecture. He saw it in her and believed she could be happy with it.

And so architecture it was.

  THE PROPOSAL

And that’s how little old me was introduced to the idea of architecture as a prospective groom. At first I was like, wait, it has to do with buildings right? Ew boring!!

But the more I heard about it, the better it sounded. I hoped we would make a nice pair, and that it would work out between us. Like in all arranged marriages,  all I could do was hope.  Because  there was no way to KNOW for sure. But I was ready to take one step forward and give architecture a chance to show me it was THE ONE.

   THE MARRIAGE

I passed the entrance level test and joined the professional course. And thus our wedding took place. In the beginning I wasn't quite sure. Architecture seemed nice. Everything seemed just fine. Nothing more nothing less. I wasn't quite sure what I was missing out on. I liked it, but I wasn't in love or anything. And that was disappointing.

I realized I should have seen this coming when I agreed to an arranged marriage to architecture. Passion was what we lacked. I wanted to give myself some time to think it over. I dint want to settle for a “just fine” marriage. Maybe I should quit while I was still young. Maybe there is someone out there. A more suitable partner.

Time went on. It had been three long semesters and it was too late to walk out. And that’s when we had our first big fight. Lots of sleep and was sacrificed over work. Efforts were made to make things work, but to no avail. I was convinced that it was my cue to give up. I decided I wasn't meant for this kind of commitment.

Utilizing the only benefit of an arranged marriage, I rushed right back to my parents who had suggested this alliance in the first place. Long hours were spent in speculation of what could be done. My mother,  supportive as always listened to me rant on and on about how it wasn't working out. My father told me about choices and mistakes and what to hold on to and what to let go of.

They convinced me to give it some more time before filing the divorce. I knew some people who had already taken that step and I was scared of how that might turn out.

That’s when I dug up this book my dad bought me in the first year. Form Space and Order. I had always loved books. They smelled heavenly. And this one had all these beautiful illustrations of architectural elements, sketches of buildings by master architects and a lot of renderings. I had flipped through the book many a time but I hadn't seen beyond the lines of the sketches.

For the first time I saw what it really was. Architecture. It wasn't just the book. I saw the essence of architecture. Buildings were no longer built structures for shelter. They had life and they made people happy. I saw what good architecture could give people. It could redefine the life as we know it. I could see how lifestyle could be changed by how I designed the space people live in.

Beyond the bricks and concrete, beyond columns and beams, I saw what architecture had to offer me. A chance to design and create.  And I fell in love

From that point on, there has never been any doubt. I knew I had found the right one. Yes, there have been the occasional fall outs and break ups, but we have always gotten back together.

 As all good marriages go, there was real passion and a sense of comfort and belonging. It got really stressful at times and needed a lot of work, but at the end of the day, I knew with all certainty that I was where I belonged. I saw a future for us. Me and architecture.

Constantly in awe of architecture ,

Divya

Confessions of a sleep procrastinator

(Written by Chitra )

(Pre-scriptum : Justification
I have always been a night owl, long before joining architecture. In my schooldays I slept around  1 which was not a normal thing for a school kid. Then during 12^th I sat up till 2 am mostly, and architecture, finally ended up giving me a legitimate reason to stay up late. Those who sincerely care more about sleep do sleep more than I do  )

________________________________________________

STORY OF A SLEEP PROCRASTINATOR 

its almost 6.30 am, I just had my breakfast and now I am lying on my bed. Most of you don’t see anything abnormal about my story so far but you see there is a part of this story that is not so normal. Its called ‘ pulling an all-nighter ‘. Now why would anyone in their right sense of mind pull an all-nighter and then lie down in their bed and start typing up the content for an article ? I mean, people can pull all-nighters but doing something productive afterwards is not a possible thing is it ? Now I probably got you thinking that I had work last night and that kept me up, and I am trying not to fall asleep so I can go to college or something.  But no ! Let me break your line of thought right there. I have no solid or liquid or even a gaseous state of a reason to pull this all-nighter.

(Note : It is considered an all-nighter if you do not sleep till 5am)

 I simply didn’t sleep.  Ever since study holidays started I spent my time doing NOTHING. NOTHING  AT ALL. My friends have been making art works, sketching, painting, studying, travelling, redeeming themselves. I think my redemption is doing nothing. Unlike my friends I do enjoy doing nothing.

I haven’t done anything productive for the last 7Days. In the last 24hrs I watched 3 films,  Played with my guitar and even played Farmville on Facebook ! (last time I played FV was probably 3 years ago.)
and spent the rest of the time passionately staring at my bedroom wall. (no, its blank.)

They say it takes 23 days routine to set up your biological clock. Me, I never liked routine. Living the life of a student architect, routine escalated from being boring to being impossible to have. At this point I actually started missing routine.

 In the last 2 and a half years, my body has grown to adapt, to change to cope with this crazy lifestyle that I follow here. Now don’t you try and tell me ‘its not that bad!’ let me assure you during the final submission days, over 90% of my classmates have at least once came to studio without brushing their teeth!

NOTE :  sleep procrastination is NOT Insomnia. Our brains wont let us go to bed.

 It is not that we do not like sleep it is just that we find just about everything else more interesting.

CONFESSIONS :

 I HAVE TAKEN A NIGHT OUT READING ABOUT THE HISTORY OF LOBOTOMY.  

You see, at around 3 am I became amazingly curious about lobotomy, for no apparent reason.  I just had to spent the next 4 hours researching on lobotomy. I JUST HAD TO. The end result was a realisation that people not necessarily become vegetables after getting a Lobotomy.

I HAVE TAKEN AT LEAST ONE ALL-NIGHTER  WATCHING ‘ KIDS REACT’  ON YOUTUBE. 

I HAVE TAKEN AN ALL-NIGHTER  WATCHING THE LIFE STORY OF ‘ELLEN’ ON YOU TUBE.

I HAVE TAKEN AT LEAST ONE  ALL-NIGHTER  READING CYANIDE AND HAPPINESS COMICS AND 9GAG MEMES.

I HAVE TAKEN AN ALL-NIGHTER  READING INSPIRATIONAL SCIENCE STORIES.

I HAVE TAKEN AT LEAST ONE ALL-NIGHTER  WATCHING MUSIC VIDEOS ON YOU TUBE.

I HAVE TAKEN ALL-NIGHTERS DIGGING UP INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES.

I HAVE TAKEN ATLEAST  10 ALL-NIGHTERS BY JUST TALKING TO MY FELLOW SLEEP PROCASTINATORS.

I HAVE BEEN TALKED INTO, AND I HAVE TALKED PEOPLE INTO SLEEP PROCASTINATION.

 FACTS ABOUT A SLEEP PROCASTINATOR :

1)We are classic night owls. We can sleep at any time other than the night time. 

2) If you ask us nicely we would stay up the whole night with you. No problem.

3) We find the first rays of sunshine and the chirping sounds of the birds to be the perfect lullabies.

4) We, simply are not Morning people. Even if we sleep at 8.00pm in the evening, waking up before 8.00 am is torturous. 

                 

5)we are the kind of people who think sleeping after drinking a refreshing cup of tea in the morning is the best feeling in the world.

6) You wake  a sleep procrastinator up before 7.00 am regardless of the time they went to sleep, they will be pissed , depressed, short tempered, puke-ish , and murderous.

7)Most sleep procrastinators find it more comfortable to have breakfast after pulling an all-nighter than eating breakfast after waking up. (If we have a proper breakfast, and not a brunch, chances are we didn’t sleep that night. )

8)Sleeping more than 6 hours a day reduces our productivity.

9) we are at our happiest and best moods from 10pm-5am

10) Sleeping 7 hours every day for a week makes us feel guilty.

                               

PS : sleep procrastination in most cases is a result of force of habit. If you are a sleep procrastinator, chances are , you are a Student Architect !

PPS :Quoting the internet 

“The quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your waking life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight.
If you’re getting less than eight hours of sleep each night, chances are you’re sleep deprived. What’s more, you probably have no idea just how much lack of sleep is affecting you.”

               

 A moment of silence for the dark circles, the stoned look and the red eyes and for the morning sickness.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

(Written by Ridha and Chitra )

( a story about how we tried to be classy)

So yeah, lately we tried being classy. In order to accomplish this feat we started by dropping in the word classy 10times everyday. But nothing happened. So we googled how to be classy. Alas! Wikihow states that individuals who are classy refrain from saying the word classy! What a revelation! No wonder nothing happened.

We tried buying clothes without asking for a discount . But our basic instinct as an Indian took over. We valued quantity over quality. What the hell! We can buy 5 tops from our hard earned thousand rupees, than one top from Fabinidia. 

We tried to ignore the prize tags but the 50% discount boards kept screaming for us.

We tried talking in English but when we are passionate, mallu just overwhelms us!

Conclusion :

Crow bath. No crane (kaakka kulichal no kokku)

PROS AND CONS OF BEING AN UNDERDOG

(I dedicate this one to my friends Sofie , Thush and chitra

 who are by my side in the most trying times
 and Sachin, for helping out my friend)

Once upon a time there was an honorable school called Rajagiri in the mythical town of Kalamassery. In the 8^th standerd of that school studied a girl who was a pain to her classmates and teachers alike.

Why? Because she never submitted her assignments on time. There were only 8 girls in her class and all of them were exceptional students, except this girl. It was like she was send to blemish their name. The teachers and students tried to make her mend her ways but she remained unobtrusive.

 So they all prayed to God that he teach her a lesson. God listened to their prayers and dropped a curse on the girl, “Thou shalt atone for thy sins by taking architecture, where thou shalt be an underdog!”

                That’s how I ended up here. Now, every coin has two sides and so does this curse. I shall recount here, my experience as an underdog in my class. An underdog is the one who is always getting low marks making them on the verge of getting a year-back.

1.       No emotional trauma (except in the last minute)

Procrastination is our religion. ‘We can always do our work later when we are older and wiser’ is our mantra. During that time we can laugh as our classmates start worrying days before the submissions, like they have an anxiety disorder. They work like crazy so that they don’t lose out on the competition. They have emotional breakdowns and cry saying they don’t have a concept. They complain that they don’t have enough sheets and bring, like, a dozen sheets on reviews. 

None of that affects you. You are an entity unchained by competition and reviews. This is why you ended up an underdog in the first place.

2.       You are off the radar

The added luggage of a design course is the creative competition. This has meddled between friendships, created rivalry between the students and whatnot. But you are not part of that. Everybody just loves you. Sometimes I am glad that I am this way. 

I see many students go red in the face when they see the mark list, because their rival scored better marks. When she claimed she will score less! How dare she!! 

3.       Nobody expects anything from you

Design is your baby and you see people come like vultures to dissect your baby. I am talking about the good students here. Nobody cares to come to my table in the studio to look at my design. Why should they? Its not even finished yet.

 I feel sympathetic when our class topper is approached by the students asking

“Where is the class topper’s design? Let us see!”

It might not be finished and she would be embarrassed to show a sheet that’s not good enough. But the poor girl is always bugged to show her design, even when she doesn’t want to. Furthermore, the teachers are disappointed in the good students if they don’t keep up their design standards, since your standards are rock bottom, whatever you do they don’t really mind. 

4.       Small things are appreciated

When you are average student they only appreciate the real good stuff. But when you are an underdog, they applaud even the small things that you did right. Even if you don’t have anything to submit except a plan, they say,

“Ohh.. nice drafting!”

“That’s good. Since that’s all I have anyway.”

5.       Underestimated.

I know there is good reason for everybody to think this way. But hey! I don’t get marks because I don’t submit sheets!  Not because I can’t design! What’s even worse is that they make you a standard for comparison.

‘Man! I think I am even worse than Ridha this sem!’

They might not say that aloud, but yeah, you are an example for everybody how not to do this course.

6.       Roja

You might be wondering who that is. When you go on without submitting your sheets you end up in the shortlist of five people who are likely to get a year-back. So your design teachers decide to give you advice and inspire you to get out of Loserville. 

I have had the good fortune of getting into this list almost every sem. They tell you stories of kids who were really bad once and through sheer determination and perseverance overcame their hurdles and eventually, became the design toppers.

 I don’t know why, but I always get Roja’s story. When I hear her success story from my hopeless position, I just hate her more with every word they say.

7.       Dark rumors

Some beautiful people who care a lot about you come to know that you are in the year-out list. They are very considerate, so they imagine what you would do once you get a year-back. They commune with another equally considerate friend.

“What is she gonna do when she gets a year-back? She will probably drop out huh? Since her parents have a lot of money and all?”

         

“Yeah! There is no way she will pass with such low marks. She will drop out.”

Viola! Suddenly there is a rumor spreading that you are going to drop out, when such a thing wasn’t even in your agenda. Friends are coming to you to give you counseling.

“You should fight! After all, you survived all these years! Submit your sheets somehow. Don’t worry, we are all with you. We will help you draw the sheets! "  Now you are dumbstruck and mortified. Time to do some reality check.

         8.       Emotional trauma and existential crisis
                   (in the last minute)

This happens during final design, model and portfolio submissions. All the cool ‘I don’t care’ demeanor has evaporated to last minute panic.

These are very trying times. We do not eat, sleep, drink, take a bath or even brush our teeth! Continuous all nighters stretch our nerves super thin. This is when existential crisis sets in. Questions like,

 Why am I doing this?

Why should I do this?

What if I didn’t pass?

What am I going to do in the future? I will never reach anywhere!

Why did I take this course?! I am not even good at it!

....etc are asked. And only one answer to all of them. I hate my life!

 You want to burn the whole world, kill everybody or yourself, but rather, you draft, crying like a baby. On top of this some other beautiful people decide to be a pain to you. They are in doubt whether there is submission when there is none. So they call the teachers,

Student: “Sir, is there model submission tomorrow?”

Sir: Hmm, that seems like a good idea….”yes you can submit it tomorrow”

Student:”what about the site model, sir?

Sir: “Okay, tomorrow, 9’ o ‘clock submission, site model and block model.” The new order is immediately put up on the Watsapp group, so that tomorrow, everybody gets marks on an imaginary mark list. You are now struggling to put together a model within one day.   

9.       Underdogs unite!

You are not alone in your fight against submissions, other underdogs seek you out.

“You didn’t submit right? Me too! High five sistah! Let’s do it together!”

We do fun stuff like trying to complete the design in the last minute, give moral support to each other, beg the teachers to extend the submission dates, beg them to accept our sheets or models after the due submission dates.

 Thanks to them, I always have company in the most harrowing times. I don’t think the toppers unite and form lasting friendship like we do, do they?

10.   Epic comebacks

Another specialty of studying a design course is that there is always space for epic comebacks and second chances. Roja pulled it off, so can you. If you were an underdog  studying an engineering course you would have work your ass off to get to the top again, which is not always possible in the case of academics. But in architecture you just need a stroke of creativity to turn the situation around in your favor (in my case it came in the form of white ink on black sheet) and some good friends who will help you in your crisis.  

                Even if your internal marks are low, you can always shine in front of the jury. They do not know your past follies, whether you submitted on time or not, whether you are of good character or anything. 

The drama and uproar over who finished first and who has the most number of sheets is over. Looking at the big picture, I don’t think it even benefited anyone.

                In the end I always come to know that being an underdog is better than turning your head into mush by worrying over who got better marks.  

P.S : a minute of silent prayer for the author whose ‘carefree’ attitude will get her a year-back any sem.