Politics of look and fiddling creativity!
Sunil Khilani articulates the form of political forces, ideological stands, ideas of governance and resulting events and developments in shaping the management of our country, in his book “Idea of India” (Penguin). He narrates Nehru’s success of making India into a state – centralization of power borrowing from the west, Indira Gandhi’s reactive politics resulting in rise of regional politics(communists of Kerala), caste politics (V P Singhs Mandal commission), capital politics to Hindu Nationalism (BJP) and parallel liberalization (Corporate India) with crisp and wit.
My thoughts start from his reading. What interests me though is to watch the story of political events and seeing the finality or its expression in Architecture. Here I go! It was simply visible and trying to convince me a point of understanding. We have always read that architecture reflects the cultural life of people but how? How a certain built form does simply gives us stories of people living in a certain time? May be it doesn’t or simply architecture is a result of some political developments under-expressed by inactive or non lively creators who didn’t much care about the real spirit of people or creatively reacted to the lives of set of people who constituted the society as for them, they had to build to the commission to earn their living. If I do consider Architecture does sometimes reflect or gives some idea of life at a time, it certainly gives me space to see possibilities of creative expression in a political environment of a land. Like how?
Past to present
a) The Temple towns – Banares, Chidambaram, Subramanya, Udupi, Haridwar, Melukote, Hrishikesh many more – our first paint in the palette. (The Societal hierarchy of ‘Varna’ remained as working social system) Where did the Temples borrow their design? Symbols? So the architecture is symbolic, stories are visible ideas on walls, religion, rites are part of built form, people have a symbolic experience of architecture. Did they?
b) The Royal Towns of the Princely states – Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, Delhi, Agra, Fatepur sikri, Mandu, Pune, Hampi and many more – The flaunting of Richness, palatial spaces, lot of decoration like Jewellery – Where did these artisans borrow the design? From Temples? Jewellery? Persian mosques, paintings, calligraphy?
c) The Royal citadels – Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and many more – Fortified, protected, indigenously thought, pragmatically intelligent? Climatically comfortable?
d) The Colonial Towns – Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Goa, Pondicherry – The Bristish wanted their buildings look like the ones in Britan!...Borrowed from Europe, sometimes walking in some parts of Bombay is just like walking in some parts of Europe? Or walking in Panjim’s Spanish Fountaines feels like a walking in a Spanish village! Does it?
Where did they borrow the design? European churches? And used it for making buildings helping them to administer a country?
e) The Nehru’s India – Scientific Research Institutions - (machines and instruments) were tucked inside a functional box with people of course (universal architecture!) and were provided with electricity to run the machines, Educational Institutions - Institutions followed the same with modern concrete flexible architecture to accommodate people, Industries, Dams (shapes of science – Functional accommodative boxes), Power Plants (shapes governed by science), Ports (shapes governed by service). Government Buildings (courts, legislative assemblies, offices) where did they borrow their design? Modern Architecture, Corbusier, Russia, Colonial brothers?
f) Indira’s India – Scientific Institutions (Same, nothing greatly changed except few interventions by Indian Educated Architects with their stronger theories of Modern Architecture, they are quite artistic), Educational Institutions – ‘University towns’, Industries, Metros – (All these are functionally democratically successful to an extent!)
g) Vajpayee’s India – The infrastructure (Quadrangle) Roads, Power Plants and a mosque destroyed! State of the art Roads – like other roads of the world, coming of the global standards
h) Manmohan Singh’s India – Privatized Industries (Software) – pampered air conditioned glass boxes to keep the insides dust free to keep computers and people running – (A global Idea!) , Malls ( Dust free capitalistic consumption point!), Airports (A C and Dust free again!)….Where did they borrow design from? America?
It is certainly a rough list and could mix chronologically.
Space for creativity,(simply imaginative situations worth discovering). Ironically they are all questions!
1) What should be the architecture if India is becoming a state? (Nehruvian time!) How should be a scientific research centre if India is becoming a state? If scientific objects are going to be examined by few educated culturally sound people what should be the built form? Can’t it be anything other than a boxed solution of spaces?
2) What should be the built form if we see democratic divisions of regional power like in case of Indira’s India?
3) How should be the architecture to express caste politics?
4) What should be the architecture if a big road wipes out a million villages?
5) How should be the design of a chemical factory which will accommodate a thousand workers to run one big machine to produce a million products a day? How should it look?
6) What should be the architecture if a single SEZ wipes out a thousand small well knit social systems? Like in the state of Andrapradesh?
7) What should be a design if a cinema (entertainment industry) hall that has to be designed in a village?
8) What should be the design of a company if a Multinational wants to come to India taking the benefits of Chidambaram’s liberal economic policies for Business by giving jobs to young skilled Indians (whose upbringing has been cities and towns of modern India) who have to use computers only and nothing else? ! What if he wishes clean environment just like his office in the United States?
9) What should the design express if an airport funded by some 10 different companies? Hey its airport, go by standards! (Global design – Go by standards!)
Have we always borrowed as it is the most natural, logical, safe and sensible to borrow, later accept, adapt and believe? Does Architecture really reflect cultural lifestyle or not? Or Are buildings simply an abrupt visual memory of an activity which has aroused out some social needs or commitments of a certain time later functioning as something which it was intended for? Are buildings real symbols of Modern India? Do they have the symbolic value or not?
My thoughts start from his reading. What interests me though is to watch the story of political events and seeing the finality or its expression in Architecture. Here I go! It was simply visible and trying to convince me a point of understanding. We have always read that architecture reflects the cultural life of people but how? How a certain built form does simply gives us stories of people living in a certain time? May be it doesn’t or simply architecture is a result of some political developments under-expressed by inactive or non lively creators who didn’t much care about the real spirit of people or creatively reacted to the lives of set of people who constituted the society as for them, they had to build to the commission to earn their living. If I do consider Architecture does sometimes reflect or gives some idea of life at a time, it certainly gives me space to see possibilities of creative expression in a political environment of a land. Like how?
Past to present
a) The Temple towns – Banares, Chidambaram, Subramanya, Udupi, Haridwar, Melukote, Hrishikesh many more – our first paint in the palette. (The Societal hierarchy of ‘Varna’ remained as working social system) Where did the Temples borrow their design? Symbols? So the architecture is symbolic, stories are visible ideas on walls, religion, rites are part of built form, people have a symbolic experience of architecture. Did they?
b) The Royal Towns of the Princely states – Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore, Delhi, Agra, Fatepur sikri, Mandu, Pune, Hampi and many more – The flaunting of Richness, palatial spaces, lot of decoration like Jewellery – Where did these artisans borrow the design? From Temples? Jewellery? Persian mosques, paintings, calligraphy?
c) The Royal citadels – Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and many more – Fortified, protected, indigenously thought, pragmatically intelligent? Climatically comfortable?
d) The Colonial Towns – Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Goa, Pondicherry – The Bristish wanted their buildings look like the ones in Britan!...Borrowed from Europe, sometimes walking in some parts of Bombay is just like walking in some parts of Europe? Or walking in Panjim’s Spanish Fountaines feels like a walking in a Spanish village! Does it?
Where did they borrow the design? European churches? And used it for making buildings helping them to administer a country?
e) The Nehru’s India – Scientific Research Institutions - (machines and instruments) were tucked inside a functional box with people of course (universal architecture!) and were provided with electricity to run the machines, Educational Institutions - Institutions followed the same with modern concrete flexible architecture to accommodate people, Industries, Dams (shapes of science – Functional accommodative boxes), Power Plants (shapes governed by science), Ports (shapes governed by service). Government Buildings (courts, legislative assemblies, offices) where did they borrow their design? Modern Architecture, Corbusier, Russia, Colonial brothers?
f) Indira’s India – Scientific Institutions (Same, nothing greatly changed except few interventions by Indian Educated Architects with their stronger theories of Modern Architecture, they are quite artistic), Educational Institutions – ‘University towns’, Industries, Metros – (All these are functionally democratically successful to an extent!)
g) Vajpayee’s India – The infrastructure (Quadrangle) Roads, Power Plants and a mosque destroyed! State of the art Roads – like other roads of the world, coming of the global standards
h) Manmohan Singh’s India – Privatized Industries (Software) – pampered air conditioned glass boxes to keep the insides dust free to keep computers and people running – (A global Idea!) , Malls ( Dust free capitalistic consumption point!), Airports (A C and Dust free again!)….Where did they borrow design from? America?
It is certainly a rough list and could mix chronologically.
Space for creativity,(simply imaginative situations worth discovering). Ironically they are all questions!
1) What should be the architecture if India is becoming a state? (Nehruvian time!) How should be a scientific research centre if India is becoming a state? If scientific objects are going to be examined by few educated culturally sound people what should be the built form? Can’t it be anything other than a boxed solution of spaces?
2) What should be the built form if we see democratic divisions of regional power like in case of Indira’s India?
3) How should be the architecture to express caste politics?
4) What should be the architecture if a big road wipes out a million villages?
5) How should be the design of a chemical factory which will accommodate a thousand workers to run one big machine to produce a million products a day? How should it look?
6) What should be the architecture if a single SEZ wipes out a thousand small well knit social systems? Like in the state of Andrapradesh?
7) What should be a design if a cinema (entertainment industry) hall that has to be designed in a village?
8) What should be the design of a company if a Multinational wants to come to India taking the benefits of Chidambaram’s liberal economic policies for Business by giving jobs to young skilled Indians (whose upbringing has been cities and towns of modern India) who have to use computers only and nothing else? ! What if he wishes clean environment just like his office in the United States?
9) What should the design express if an airport funded by some 10 different companies? Hey its airport, go by standards! (Global design – Go by standards!)
Have we always borrowed as it is the most natural, logical, safe and sensible to borrow, later accept, adapt and believe? Does Architecture really reflect cultural lifestyle or not? Or Are buildings simply an abrupt visual memory of an activity which has aroused out some social needs or commitments of a certain time later functioning as something which it was intended for? Are buildings real symbols of Modern India? Do they have the symbolic value or not?
Comments
Perhaps these are the hospitable times. Although cultures and people were always welcome to our country...this time it is for their deep pockets. So you make them feel at home....literally, as the dollar / pound they spare is definitely worth more than a rupee or two. Otherwise, how could one expect a westerner to live and work amidst snake charmers, dabbah wallas etc. etc. and weather hot days?
Seems like shortly most of our traditional vocations and cultural traits will be perhaps be limited to places outside cities and towns.
All I can say is that architecture in India ....is reflecting. Literally!!! Consider all the shiny steel, Alucobond and glass boxes being made to make people feel at par with the world!
While it is largely true (as you have pointed out) that the main line of thought of the times does get reflected in the architecture of the times, it is also true that these things get enmeshed in quite a complicated way...so much so that it becomes difficult to pull the strands of different times apart from each other!
Cities in India in terms of architecture are increasingly moving towards standardization in accordance with 'global standards' with only small pockets which can be said to be remnants of an earlier time within the city. However, things are much more curious and interesting in smaller towns and villages where this difference is still visible.
More than the post, I have really enjoyed the questions you have posed in the end...they are truly worth thinking about and quite seriously at that because the architecture of the times is a marker of the times for sure!