COVID-19, An Expression

I was thinking to write something about COVID-19 for a quite sometime, though a detailed article is in the offing. It took me sometime to accept the new reality we are facing. We, as a human race are going through a very difficult time after dreaded events of the history like Spanish flu, World wars etc. No stone is being kept unturned by the Governments throughout the world to tackle the situation. India is also doing the same, rather, much better than the most of the countries. Countries like US, UK, Italy, Spain, have been brought down on their keens by this virus in spite of the fact that they have best healthcare system, a country can have.

In this Scenario Economy is heading towards rock bottom, Schools/colleges/universities are closed, Malls shut down, no hustle bustle in the market places, there are no parties, people are suffering unimaginably (especially labour class/migrant workers), and so on.

But there is a positive side of the crisis of this nature. For the first time, there are few things happening after ages. There is a complete synergy among all the countries and their people, environment has become cleaner, wildlife is breathing a sigh of relief, we are appreciating the value of life even better, we are getting time to be with family, peruse our hobbies, people are helping each other, Haves have come out to support and feed have nots, businesses are finding new ways to reach out to their customers, Online learning has become the need of the hour, there is a total co-operative federalism in Governments. Governments are getting an opportunity to burnish their administrative ability. We are exploring ways to end our dependence on other countries.

Also, I feel that GOD has given us this opportunity to review everything that matters most in our lives. We have time to sit back, think, reflect, prioritize. We must take a vow that in future, we will not act irresponsibly towards fellow citizens, our nation, environment and we will take every possible step to reduce any damage caused to ecosystems by our actions.

Finally, this is a wakeup call to all of us that Mother Nature is all mighty and strong. She will not hesitate to teach us a lesson in a stern way. There are many take aways, like, we should focus on strengthening healthcare systems, strengthen WHO, practice hygiene, be grateful to whatever we have.

At the last but not least, STAY HOME STAY SAFE. We will beat this together.

The Making of Architect - Second Day in College

It was my second day in college. On very first day we had already realized the realities of the hostel life. Now we were expecting something good to happen in classes. For sometime, we could not locate our lecture theater and it was a pleasant discovery that there was none to be found out. As, our department was newly opened and there was no space available in existing buildings, so we were allotted old buildings which were constructed way back when engineering college started around 20 years back. And for the time being, we were asked to sit in library lawn and wait for some Prof. to come. Finally, one Prof. came and interacted with us. He told us that place for our lecture theaters and design studios was being finalized. So on that day there was casual interaction and a brief introduction about the course. Our Prof. was more than confident that we had opted for a right course.
After one hour or so we thought that we will see a new face in our class but there was none. We came to know that this Prof was the only faculty in the department of Architecture. It came as a great shock to all of us and we were looking at each others face. But even greater shocks were yet to come.
After lunch we were told to reach at newly allotted classrooms. After a great search operation we were able to locate them and it was shock of the year. All the classrooms were right in the middle of jungle with lot of wild creepers, shrubs, and bushes around. They hardly looked like classrooms. Now they were neglected, in ruins and never looked like a suitable place for human existence. By now, I was almost in tears as I was remembering my Chandigarh days and was thinking that I should not have taken admission at all.

The Making of an Architect - First Day in College

It was my first day in college. I had lot of expectations as every young person will have on his/her first college day. We had to complete lot of formalities related to college & hostel accommodation. So on very first day we were kind of running around the campus to get things done. Our batch was first in the Department of Architecture and our admissions were late by almost two months. Classes of other branches were already going on.

After spending few hours in the college, I started get little uncomfortable with the vibes around especially those coming from our batch mates of other branches. A no. of times, I noticed that many students were dressed up quite differently than the others and they were walking in a straight line with their heads down and saying good morning sir , good afternoon sir , to everyone passing nearby, as if, they don’t want to miss on even a single person. Soon I started to understand that all these students behaving so differently were freshers (Jangus, to be technically corrects – as they are called). Situation became rather difficult for me when I realized that my status was also not better than them and I will have to behave the same way in coming days and may be for many months.

Now you can very well understand my condition. So, all the nice expectations of the college life were dashed to the ground on very first day. It became much clearer when I started getting stares from all around by the evening for my seemingly normal dress and hairstyle. And as expected, a message was passed on - to behave like freshers (like fresher means dressed in white shirt hanging out, simple trouser but no jeans, with bathroom sleepers on, Zero haircut, clean shave with no moustache, walking with head down - eyes at third button, no chit-chat with girls even of your own class at least in front of seniors) otherwise, be ready to face consequences.

Meanwhile, we all classmates started to interact and intermingle though the circumstances were not favourable. All of us were worried about the same thing – what is going to happen in coming days? By evening I had realized that first few days or even months are not going to be the like I had thought. Finally, we were allotted rooms, and we were happy that we were allotted rooms in an isolated block and that too on top floor besides resident warden’s room. I heaved a sigh of relief after thinking that seniors would hardly dare to come here fearing warden presence. But it was not to be like that.

Around 7:30 p.m. in the evening there was a knock on the door. We were three people in the room Jakie, Samy and myself. Someone opened the door. There were two seniors. All three of us jumped and shouted almost simultaneously,” Good Evening, Sir” with our heads down.

There was no response. A dangerous silence was sweeping across the room. One of them asked to call all Architecture freshers. Jakie ran like as if he was running for an Olympic medal. Within no time all Jangus of Architecture were paraded in front of them. Then, the session started with slapping, kicking, and with sermons of the kind I had never heard of. I was wearing a nice night suit. One of the seniors shouted at me to take that dress off and be like a Jangu.

Finally we were given a long list of instructions and assignments to be completed by next morning. We were also asked about NIT literature. Yes you are right…..absolutely right in reading……LITERATURE. Generally all professional colleges have literature of their own which every fresher has to learn by heart and so do have NITs. Literature included NIT song, NIT anthem, and NIT Dohas etc. I am sorry, I can’t write them here for some obvious reasons but a true NITian should know all the literature by heart, for, you could be asked any time even on dinner table when it is least expected. Yes, I was asked once on dinner table and it was so embarrassing that I could hardly eat after that. So after some time seniors left our room and we headed towards dinning hall. But after having and digesting so much, dinner was just a formality and I could not remember what did I eat. After dinner we all were busy in writing assignments and copying the literature. We could go to bed sometime in the early morning hours.

…………………………......…so that was first day in college……………………..…............................