Missing what I hated

UTA (Utah Transit Authority) has changed its service quite a bit – the two TRAX lines we had when I came here for the first time have multiplied to four colors, the Red obviously carries the Utes. The bus routes, except for the addition of some random character like ‘F’ before the bus number, have pretty much remained unchanged. Every once in a while, I love doing this – get on a random long distance bus heading out of town, sit back and relax on the round-trip. Thanks to my U-card which still works, I am able to travel without paying on top.

I miss those times in Mumbai where I traveled from one end of the city to the other to get to work and back home. It’s funny indeed to miss something you absolutely hated. But those long train trips gave me ample time alone, to think about and sort out issues in my own life. They allowed me to engage with myself, think about my actions, gauge if I was going in the right direction and if not, was I at least happy going the wrong one. Self-engagement is not an issue anymore, as I lay back home trying to find work, applying for jobs. What was more interesting about the daily commute was that it allowed me to take a glance at the life people around me on the train, just explore the thin crust of thoughts and actions which defined them as individuals.

I remember this 40-ish man cry on the train in public for he spilled the ‘toor dal’ (lentils) he had bought just before boarding the train. That was food for his family for rest of the week. He probably worked for a whole week to earn money to buy it. It was not his level of social expression but the impact of the simple mistake he indulged into. It might have been the layers of events which hurt him all this time and made him break down so bad. And then I recalled ‘us’ – the people on the other side of the line which breaks the Indian economy into two unequal parts. Us, throwing excess food every day, us complaining about bad internet connections, us complaining about the long Q’s at the gas station, us complaining about every small thing which doesn’t even exist in this man’s life.

And now I sit here on the UTA bus totally alienated from the facts of life I was always ignorant about back home, facts which I rarely had an exposure to. These events help one get out of the nut-shell, out of the image of a pseudo-society one has constructed to feel comfortable about. I am happy that I was consciously exposed to such events.

Mumbai Attacks

With Mumbai blasts in picture, i feel that sometimes Barbarian pleasures overrule Platonian instincts.

United States feels much safer place because the Government is ready to go to any extent for its people. World peace is a different story here. There was a case a couple of days back, where a Pakistani couple traveling on an American Airlines flight was taken in custody as the plane landed in emergency. This happened after the ground security received a hoax call saying that the plane was about to be hijacked. This was clarified later, but meantime, the couple was interrogated by officials, mistreated and insulted. The couple decided to sue the Govt. but was let down saying that they were the only Muslim people on board and they needed to be interrogated for security of the people and the nation in general. This was not ethical, but it gives an idea that the being right is not important for a nation. Security/ feeling of security is a relative measure. This won't make me not take American Airlines. I would feel more secure. The link below leans more towards the innocent consumers, but describes the event.
http://consumerist.com/2011/07/couple-sues-american-airlines-following-hijacking-hoax.html

Till Kasab is not brought upfront, killed in a 'not so peaceful' way like Bin Laden was and some counter action is not taken, no Mumbaikar will get the Barbarian peace.I think it is important. For national integrity, for basic respect towards the authorities from people and humanity in general. It has been going on since ages.

I remember I tried to pet a sparrow with a broken wing when i was a kid. I treated the bird, fed it and when i thought it was healthy enough to fly in the next couple of days, I let it go. The moment I released it, there was a flock of sparrows waiting which got hold of this one sparrow. I thought they are happy, but they hurt the bird, they ended up killing it and left. The sparrow was touched! It had lived with humans, it had done something unacceptable. It deserved to die and it was given death. I couldn't accept this when Mom tried to explain it. I firmly believe now that it is a rule of nature, that if someone does something highly unacceptable according to social systems, he needs to die. He needs to die in the worst way possible to set an example.

I don't say be stupid and Blow up Pakistan. I don't say declare a war. I just feel that the Kasab should be brought upfront, killed in the worst way one can imagine. A way in which he dies all the 160 deaths of 2008 attacks, 21 which occurred last night, the pains the survivors suffered, the loss the families faced and everything accountable. I can enlist 5 unique ideas I have to kill someone like Kasab in public. But the readers might be grossed out - Like they are when they see the pictures of the victims in the blasts. But it is high time. Mumbai deserves those Barbarian pleasures. Mumbai deserves to be part of implementing them. Let the people show how they celebrate the Birthday of a person who has taken couple hundred lives and still demands Hyderabadi Biryani in his prison cell. Give him away!

I suppose this won't happen and I assume there are a lot of people who do think this should happen. There's a game online, the developer probably has similar ideas... here's the link
http://www.games2win.com/en/play-kill_kasab.asp
It is stupid to keep playing such games as it does nothing in real life, but their existence shows the frustration, intent and craving of a Mumbaikar and an Indian in general. Peace (till it screws our life up, violence then on).

Aniket

So What Goes Above Them?

Pallets used as cladding for Stryker House - DesignBuildBluff

Off weeks in Bluff are awesome. Lay back, read, paint, cook, and try finding the missing parts of life. The property is totally transformed from a building ground to what the rest of the town is known for - retreat! With not much to do day long after five tiring restful days in a row, I decided to work for a while. I hence picked the safest and enjoyable job where you need only music as your companion – Sanding the pallets. I was working for a while with Bollywood music when a couple walked in. They were looking at the four half-finished blocks on the property with anxious eyes. I walked up to them, introduced myself and took them around the houses with few details on how they go together. The guy introduced himself as Dwayne (possibly-I am bad at names), a friend of Mitch. Two events reminded me of studio along this walk. The couple saw the pallets hanging up against the aluminum sheets - sanded, polished and ready to go, and ended up asking, “So what goes above them?” Awkwardly I answered, “That is our finish material, nothing goes above it.” I had to take a couple of minutes to make them apparently understand that all the pallets are salvaged and free, they seem unusual but are sturdy enough to use as exterior finish and beautiful enough to be appreciated. The guy nodded, but the lady seemed indifferent. Secondly, we entered the living module. With her first step, the lady commented that she loved the flooring. The laminate flooring apparently, is the only commonly used commercial material we have used in the house. I don’t hate it, but it just gave a clear idea of stereotypic likes and dislikes we have as a society and as consumers. I really appreciate the couple being curious enough to walk in and take a look at the houses. I think it is part of the issues DesignBuildBluff tries to tackle by embracing reuse of materials with houses, which seem weird at the first look but end up blending well in the context. They reflect the reality behind their existence. After all, all what is used to make these houses is all that is around us, all what we have discarded and all what has come back to us with a new interpretation.

DesignbuildBluff

DesignBuildBluff I feel has not only been a program I did to achieve my masters of architecture. It has done a lot more. Rediscovering myself, the way I look at life, the responsibility I  feel towards my commitment, the sense of equality, trust in self and others around, breakage of social taboos and many such things which are partly commonplace and partly radical to life. The house started from nothing but a pile of dirt cleared for it to be placed. And today it stands tall in front of us, demands to be completed. Things which are looked at as piece of shit stare back into your eye reclaiming  their existence as beautiful things which have a right to exist. Sustainability not seen as green solar panels but as a fight against issues which a common man faces to exist in the society. Like a paper boat made from trash notebooks from last year, which sails in the rainwater along the streets and makes kids scream with joy, piles of reclaimed, reused and salvaged materials have come together to make it a house. Gravity, structure, ratios and quantities, proportions and aesthetics are not stories in books but principles of life. The house is not the best design or the coolest looking or perfectly working solution. But it surely is a collage of events, materials, thoughts, conversations, arguments and ambitions. It is not ordinary for the only reason that everything that brought it into existence was extremely ordinary. I think it is one thing the program thrives to make you realize- the beauty of ordinary things, simple living and the fact that it takes a perfect setting for making sense out of nonsense and art out of imperfection.