Renaissance Idiot's ramblings

There used to be a time when I lived more on my balcony than inside my room. Now I sit down in the same spot on my study table, facing the window, trying to look out through the negative spaces between the drying clothes. As days go by, I miss how the outside of my window used to look. When I was 12, my family unanimously decided to annexe the balcony into our rooms. On paper it was a great idea; the balconies were tiny and any added space in our small rooms would be awesome. I recall the process of this annexure, with numerous masons working in the house, demolishing a few existing walls and then constructing new walls and windows. I remember thinking how astronomically huge the rooms felt to me at that age, although the extension was barely 2.5 feet in width. I would frequently play cricket in that tiny extension, with no clue of what I had lost. Another 13 years later, now I feel we didn't gain much, the rooms are darker, the quality of space in the house feels low and we have b...

This essay was drafted as a response to the question "What was your initial idea about design?" during the introductory sessions in NID Ahmedabad . Dated July 2025. Design as an architecture student was to design buildings at the end of the day. A well-designed building was climatically efficient while being geometrically and visually pleasing. We were taught design as something scientific, where material constraints and space use needed to be understood. Every drawing was meant to address all human activity and needs, while balancing client requirements and aspirations. Design became a formula to achieving the fundamentals to a good building. Although we were taught how design borrows from art, it was never a comparison between the two; architecture was different and superior. As I worked in Charles Correa Foundation (An organisation dedicated to keeping the ideas of the imminent post-independence Indian architect relevant) I was opened to the social role of architecture an...

Time vacuum sucked me in and dropped me on the 19th of January with waking up to give the next exam. It felt like reliving the day I gave my NID exams but now I was seasoned and approached the situation ritually. The day started out strangely similar, with constant déjà vu on my mind as I left the house. I remember this time asking my friends to wish me all the best, as even they had become accustomed to me taking exams now. As I started out with my dad, he had all the confidence in the world that we would reach the center on time. We started out much earlier than the previous exam and I stayed calm and confident in the trip. As we reached closer to the exam center I could see the number of cars increasing, to our surprise a huge crowd of parents and their eager children were already there to give their exams. This included the CEED students as well as undergraduate applicants. Dad, being a seasoned veteran at these ordeals, made the decision to park well ahead of the exam center and w...

Tipu Sultan's forces during the Siege of Srirangapatna. Introduction : Exploring Bangalore It was a cool sunny morning in Bangalore and I had a day to spend as a tourist exploring the city. Putting aside my fears of being a non-kannadiga, I ventured out with the Metro as my magical no-conversational vahan to take me to a prearranged list of places to visit. It was a fairly fun day trying out thick, crispy dosas, savoury coffee and marvelling the weather as I walked my way from one place to the other. I walked through the roads with colourful Karnataka transport buses speeding to market places with fresh and vibrant flowers along with plastic stationary being sold in roadside impromptu markets. A sight I got to see was Bangalore fort, which began construction in 1537 as a mud fort. The builder was the ruler Kempe Gowda I, a vassal of the Vijaynagar Empire and the founder of Bangalore. Kempe Gowda is honoured in many ways in the city with locations and buildings named after him. The...

It was the 5th of January 2025, the temperature was down a couple points; I had to get up early in the morning and get ready for the big day. The previous day was marked with hurried revisions, drawing/shading basics and mugging up theory questions. All my friends wished me all the best beforehand and had made me feel confident for the day to come. As mom and dad had woken up before me, I woke up to find some commotion already in the house. Mom was busy cooking breakfast and lunch tiffins for me meanwhile dad was half asleep as he sat down on the living room sofa. Without wasting a minute, I brushed my teeth, took a warm shower and checked my bag that I had packed the night before. Dad was constantly reminding us the time we need to leave from our house to make it to the exam center in time. Mom was keeping track of how much time she had till then.  As the time neared for me and dad to leave, everyone finished their tasks and helped see me off. I took blessings of success from my p...