Matty My Girl.

Matty came into our lives uneventfully – no date to remember, no event to celebrate, nothing. She came simply. She was in truth quite ugly – an unkempt coat, dirty eyes, bad breath maybe (never really checked on that!) and an unbelievably matted tail – hence her name. And owing to her looks, she neither had many friends nor a fan following. She did not even have an owner. Whoever looked after her did so out of sympathy. A few meals here and there and a rare pat here and there.

For us what started as a casual, non committal, sympathetic feeding turned out in time to be a routine Wednesday chicken lunch and Friday/Saturday egg meal for Matty.

She started to recognize us as well as her name. I still remember vividly, the way she would come galloping to us when we called out her name. Her matted tail turning clockwise and anticlockwise in rhythm as though she was dancing in joy at the thought of food. She would jump all over us leaving her paw marks on our clothes. It was such a sight to watch. For a long time we thought that Matty was male until one day, Peter discovered she was a She. Don’t ask me how he found out considering Matty was quite furry and she had no tell-tale signs of being female.

One day some Good Samaritan trimmed her matted tail which made her look a little less scary. We continued to call her Matty anyway. After Sam, Peter was my partner in feeding Matty. Some people thought she was weird, how could she wag her tail in joy and bark angrily at the same time. Some others thought she was mad and dangerous.

Matty’s later days were quite troubled I think. She fell seriously ill. At one point she was so ill that she could not lift herself up to find food or even eat what was fed to her. We called in CUPA to take her and treat her. When she returned after 4 days in the hospital, she seemed better. There was hope. At least she started to move around and eat. But quite obviously she had lost her balance – physically as well as mentally I think. It was sad to see her, her head tilted to a side unwillingly, trying to walk straight but bumping off into things that came straight at her. It was sometimes scary, even for us, the way she looked while we fed her – her head tilted looking at you with those sad eyes.

She became slow and almost lost her hearing. Even then, when you called out her name loudly about 5 times standing 5 feet away, she would look up at you, with a gleam of recognition in her faint eyes. She’d try to run to you with her failing body which had no control on where she was going. You’d have to support her so she could hold up and not topple off while she sniffed and bit into her chicken pieces. Those were my last encounters with her.

While we contemplated on calling CUPA again, asking them to keep her for good or may be to put her to sleep even, to relieve her of her sufferings, she went away. She left our lives as silently and simply as she had come.

 

Jackson Pollock

Myths from the Future

Myths, for as long as we have known it, have always been a thing from the past. So ‘Myths from the Future’ is a rather intriguing but interesting concept. What does it really mean?

Myths from the future are basically thoughts and ideas that you conceive in the present day that could become a reality in the future. They are wishful ideas of responsible and forward-thinking citizens of the world for a better future. Why a ‘myth’ then? These ideas may or may not become a reality in the future. They may or may not be relevant at those times. One can’t say.

But the idea is you can envision a future, say 25 years ahead of now, the way you’d ideally like it to be. And keeping that vision in mind, you sort of back track by 25 years so you start doing what it takes to get there from now. These myths could be about anything – say environment, technology, medicine, science, politics or may be even about how a society should function.

I think this idea is an excellent concept towards the betterment of our world. Currently there are so many problems and life threatening issues that we are plagued by. Although several efforts are being made towards a better tomorrow, they still are largely disparate efforts. The only major consolidated effort so far has been to tackle global warming and climate change as one world, one earth. This concept, in my opinion, will give a direction to the efforts in the sense that you know the tangible result you want to achieve by the end of a certain time period. So your effort will be more focused, organized and hopefully fruitful.

I may be wrong about this or I may actually be right. But ‘Myths from the Future’ is a concept definitely worth a try.

New Beginings.

A new begining. A fresh Start. A green Leaf. A moment in time that I realise being 24 is being very young in the scheme of life ahead. A rare excitement of starting afresh with life, with attitudes, with learning, with everything with the humility of an absolute fool with the enlightment that comes with the realisation of being a fool.

Architecture is not a profession, it is a reponsibility and an obligation towards the society we live in. So in this quest to fulfil my responsibility and obligation I set out with a blank mind in search of directions, teachers, philosophies and influences that will become my way of life.

Tadao Ando - The Great Japanese Master. My quest begins here. Looking up for refrences for a house design, it was the first time I looked at Tadao Ando seriously. And at that instant I realised how important it is to have masters who influence your thought, philosophies and ideas that make what you become for the rest of your life.

As students, I think we should be encouraged to find our 'gurus' early in our lives through extensive reading and research. Be open to all, open to the influences of the 'fad', open to the timeless creations of history, open to the futuristic projections of tomorrow. With time you will realise who and where you really seek to be. Great architecture comes with time and experience. As students the emphasis should be laid on finding that direction.

I am simply overwhelmed at finding master Tadao Ando. My learning begins here.