Prez Advises IITians
Remi de Souza
PREZ ADVISES IITIANS
Remigius de Souza
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
MODERN TECHNOLOGY THAT FAILED
EDUCATING THE EDUCATED: LEARNING FROM THE PEOPLE
Remigius de Souza
ARCHETYPES
COMMUNITY CULTURE ENVIRONMENT ENERGY ECOLOGY RURAL URBAN HABITAT PLANNIG
69, 243 S. B. Marg, Mumbai 400028 India.
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Prof. Ar. .Jaisim
I do not know about institutes and IITs and Colleges of Architecture ande Practices ofr Architecture in this country or elsewhere.
I have proved again and agaqin that we can deliver a habitable home not just shelter for very low costs (not cheap)
but sad to say delivery and implementation agencies especially of the govt. sector can neither appre3ciate4 or do justice.
The paper process is just tooooomuch.
even today one can do wonders. But bureaucracy and paper especially of the computer kind have caught in a web!
I thought I will practice what I preach but today I am deaf and dumb.
Jaisim
Sabu Francis
I take that Ar. Remi has good intentions, and some parts of the article does point to some basic problems that we need to address. The article however falls far short of being a well argued one. I am an IITian and am quite proud of being one. Mostly, that pride comes because of being an Indian and not because I graduated from an "elitist" institute. I wonder why an IIT should be considered an elitist one. When I was studying there (IIT Kharagpur), we were a bunch of guys who were as excited and as down-to-earth as one could find anywhere else. Now that I have done some amount of teaching, I find that it takes all kinds of students to make an institute. There are the rich; there are the poor. There are the un-initiated along with the focused and motivated.
In IIT there was one difference however: We all came through a motivation "valve"; which was the IIT JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). Anyone passing through that valve is usually got his motivation level checked out quite early in life. That gave us a lot of pride, which even today when I look back is justified.
Quite a few of us were from very poor (economically) backgrounds. A close friend of mine at IIT was so poor that he couldn't afford to buy notebooks. So he resorted to writing his notes in pencil and erasing his earlier years notes and reusing the books again. Many IITians during our times used to take down notes on the backs of computer punch-cards (from old mainframe card-readers. Many youngsters dont even know how they work).
There were many who couldn't afford to buy a bicycle to go around the campus. And of course, there were a few rich and arrogant lot. But that mix can be seen everywhere. Under no stretch of imagination were we a pampered lot. Maybe some of the infrastructure, etc. was better than what is found in other institutes. But that's just about it. We had our own share of badly trained faculty, intermixed with the sensitive ones.
What made us tick I think is our peer group, because the JEE bound us together and gave us that confidence to state that we can do something worthwhile in our lives. We simply had to argue out our points in our hostel dining rooms, canteens, corridors, classrooms and seminar halls. If any IITian had to reach a conclusion such as Ar. Remi, he/she would have to first lay out ALL sides of the argument, before concluding. No self-respecting IITian would like to come into a discussion with pre-fixed biases.
An IITian is best exemplified by this quote: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." F. Scott Fitzgerald
Regarding Ar. Remi's article, I request the reader to carefully see whether it allows one to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time before arriving at a conclusion.
It is pointless for me to stress upon the various the various millionaires/billionaires that IITs have produced all over the world because often money many not mean value. I probably dont even need to point to Arvind Kejriwal (Magsaysay award winner, who initiated the Right of Information Act in India. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Kejriwal ), and many, many other IITians who were seen in the press, contributing to making India a better place. For e.g. Susan Chacko, an IITian, is one of the founder of SAWNET. http://www.sawnet.org which looks into domestic abuse and other women's issues.
What I do want to point out is that apart from the IITians you may hear about in the press, there is quite a lot of them who have now graduated and have decided consciously to be in India to do something here. They don't go announcing their work from the roof tops or do any kind of rabble-rousing just to get some attention. You may find them giggling away like teenagers at some rock-show and yet they are called upon to contribute to some very serious stuff happening here.
Ar. Pavan Gupta studied the infrastructure problems in Delhi for eight years (at the very least) using his own money, and now some of his solutions are being put into place. Ar. Hussein Varawalla has much to say about hospital design in India. Ar. Harimohan Pillai is very well respected for his effort in architectural education. S.D.Limaye, erstwhile chief engineer of Konkan Railway is a down-to-earth IITian (Civil, Bombay) who was crucial in making Konkan Railway possible. The list is actually quite large and one could possibly really settle the debate on how many IITians are present in INDIA contributing seminally to things happening here.
And regarding, research not being done in IITs.... I am hoping Ar. Remi meant it anecdotally. Or he is completely clueless on what kind of researches that go on in the IITs and by IITians.
All said and done, the point of this article is not to start a shouting match. Yes, we do need to work on a lot of issues here. That won't happen by rabble-rousing or by posturing. And I personally doubt whether it is much to do with whether the contribution happens because one is in India or not.
Yesterday, I came back from a meeting with my batchmate; Dr. Pratap Khanwilkar (Electrical, IIT Kharagpur); inventor of a revolutionary kind of artificial heart (Technically, VAD or Ventricular Assist Device http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635192352,00.html ) which recently saved the lives of two old men. Does it matter whether those two patients were Indians or not? All lives are precious. Once the medical trials are over, the device that Pratap has invented would save quite a lot of lives. Pratap is setting up manufacturing in India and is also starting a foundation for tiger conservation in Maharashtra. He is extremely proud to be an Indian and wants to contribute to developments here. When the whole world is becoming a village, does it really matter where we stay?
And, by the way, the issue is not really to do with even IIT. I know of very talented and responsible people who are contributing today; who are not IITians. Let us not attach labels to people and then look at them using their labels. Let us measure people by the milestones they cross and not by unreasonable expectations regarding where they ought to end their journey.
Regards
Sabu Francis
remi_d...@yahoo.com
ANYONE IN PARTICULAR.
1
I try here to fill-in some of the blanks in the discussion, which may
be unconventional.
2
EVEN ARCHITECTURE COURSE is elitist, not only the IITs and IIMs,
whether the rich or the poor or the SCs/STs/OBCs join it, with or
without reservations. The elite are a feature of all civilised
societies throughout time and places. Coomaraswamy mentioned that
royal courts elevated 'Shudra', an untouchable, who became 'Sthapati',
Master Builder, in India in the past. The word in recent times has
gained some derogatory shade, for obvious reasons. It is not that
architects are rich.
3
In the (modern) global village of the corporate society, the
architects, even those who receive honours, titles and international
awards, always remain on its periphery, like Shudras live in Indian
villages. Thankfully they don't have heirs (or Schools) as do Shudras
have to their traditional family arts and crafts, since the corporate
society has no word "posterity" in its dictionary other than "profit".
It is like hybrid seeds have no third generation that germinats;
farmers have to buy new seeds from the market.
4
Prof. Jaisim has said many things in a few words, which the academics
- students - faculty - management - know well (See Para 11).
5
Ar. Sabu has enlightened me on many things of which I was indeed
ignorant. Thanks. From what I gather is the RTI Act is one more tool
in the government's hands to make money. It is a well-intentioned tool
like ULCR Act. We are law-loving people. While we talk-talk-talk about
'transparency' and 'governance', 'accountability' and 'social
responsibility', while in action we need to be told by a law "behave
yourself' and we chuckle 'Catch-me-if-you-can'. After all the people
in the government and we belong to the same stock! RTI Act is an
abstract concept made by the authority against itself that blocks the
information. RTI Act is a tool that empowers the government to make
money (See Para 8).
6
My point is limited to Housing, Building Technology, and the Autonomy
of the so-called ordinary citizens. (In the classless US society they
are called "Underclass".) They are intelligent and skilled enough to
look after themselves provided law/ the authority and the experts do
not sit on their neck. I wish to cite a couple of examples here.
7
SHANKAR NIVRUTTI KANADE, my classmate, and friend for fifty years, is
based in Bangalore and practices architecture and planning with his
brother Navanath. He has been teaching since 1960s, first at the
Ahmedabad School of Architecture (now CEPT), later in various colleges
in Karnataka. He, with others, founded department of architecture in
Hassan in Karnataka. He also set up a course/ curriculum for another
college.
8
Kanade, on his own initiative, developed an indigenous construction
technology, known as "Chhapadi" in Karnataka. It is highly labour
intensive and uses local resources - people and materials. He worked
on this system without any institutional support or finance. He
designed and built several houses including his own, and mass housing
for public sector. Despite his friends' advice he never took a patent
for this product. Now others are using it. I heard that someone got an
award for her/his design that used the technology. But the important
factor is the unskilled/ skilled workers have learnt something new and
benefited. His "pro-poor" product empowers the poor to earn livelihood
(See Para 5).
9
I have seen and experienced some of these houses. When I visited
Lohitashwa's house, my spontaneous response was "I am reminded of
India's rock cut architecture". I had also visited the house when
Lohitashwa had hosted art workshop there, where other arts also
flourished. Several artistes - potters, painters, and sculptors - were
passionately working: I feel this may be a best, and the most
appropriate tribute Kanade ever received for his work.
10
I also visited his high-density township - Vayu Sena Nagar, not built
with the same technology mentioned above. At its 'core' is the
'primordial image' of Indian towns, but it's not a prototype. It has
gates, shaded lanes, and multi level open spaces, which give relief
visually and physically from high-density development. Kanades use and
mould the Fifth Dimension of light of the tropical India, as building
material. When returned there were friends gathered. Sanjay Mohe
asked, 'What did Remi see?' Absentmindedly I replied, 'Remi saw tiny
honeybees busy'. There were honeybees smaller than flies. They are
harmless, and like common sparrows they make their homes in the
snitches. Unlike beehives, they build small vessels to store honey,
supported with wax tie bars. I was reminded of Aldo van Eyck who said,
"... City is a big house".
11
When Kanade came to Mumbai to study architecture, from his village in
Solapur district on the border of Maharashtra - Bijapur states, for
some time he, with two other friends, lived in a slum in Santacruz.
They called their home, "Chandramauli", meaning a hut where moonlight
penetrates through its roof (so also rainwater). Sounds romantic while
reading!
12
In some other country, Kanade would have received invitation form
every college and association of architects. But who takes notice
here? He is neither a foreigner nor foreign returned. Perhaps there is
no budget provided for such luxury. What about his students and
apprentices, who might have joined teaching?
13
Kanade never mentioned in decades that there is some research in
'Building Technology' going on in some college. While teaching the
juniors in Ahmedabad, he gave exercises that took them to carpentry
workshop. Crores of Rupees are invested in establishment,
infrastructure and running the colleges, besides the youth energy and
their creativity that is spent on the campuses. [I raised this issue
in my article, "Letters and Number plus Things to Make", published in
the JIIA, January2000 (edited version), and in ARCHeFUNDA, September
2000, (full text) edited by Prof. Harimohan Pillai. It is now
available online link: http://www.archetypesindia.blogspot.com/2007/01/letters-and-numbers-plus-things-to-make.html
]
What is the result? I heard that some highbrow management students
asked the Nobel laureate Mumhammad Yunus to give them a model of
"social banking" like his "Gramin Bank". So that they could 'copy-
paste' - 'cut-paste' in their dissertations and theses, to add to
their credibility. They want ready answers! That's education, youth
creativity and energy!
14
While closing this discussion, I take liberty to mention one of my
experiences. When I went to the First Year (at Academy of
Architecture, Mumbai. 1991) to teach basic design and design subjects,
I introduced 'clay' to work with at the studio. Prof. Subodh
Dhairyavan vehemently opposed it -the dirty material. When gave my
dirtiest laughter, at last he accepted. He was a coordinator. I
believe and advocate 'Clay' and 'Bamboo' not only as building
materials, but also as "Basic to Basic Design" as they facilitate to
work at a tiniest size and scale in the studio. Professional and the
urban elite laypersons, even those who are connected to NGOs working
in rural areas, laugh at me. They think (of course, after the West)
that these are non-conventional building materials. In India, however,
the majority people live in mud and bamboo houses.
15
Now, with the blessings of the New Generation Teachers, "Computer
Animation" may emerge as a "Basic to Basic Design". And perhaps as the
old-timer Lewis Mumford predicted, "...lead finally to loss of
sensitivity".
Regards
Remigius de Souza
(19 February 2007)