When I received a call to join NASA jury for an event, I almost fell off my chair (thinking my prayers have been answered, Sociologists worth has finally been realized!) only to be told that it would be at Gwalior (my head still spinning at when did NASA shift to Gwalior?) and finally informed that NASA stands for National Association of Students of Architecture, which helped my head and feet back on the ground.
I received some information about NASA from my SPA student (School of Planning and Architecture) who is the Secretary of the Association, a very busy boy whom I met at the station. NASA has 260 member colleges, conducts six Zonal and one National convention every year and has been in existence as a Students body since 1957 (older than American NASA!) and as a registered organisation since 1993. With the number of private Architecture colleges going up, it is a cash rich body providing a platform for students of architecture to learn, interact, compete and have fun at these conventions.
Travel :
The train for Gwalior left New Delhi Railway Station around 6am and I found my coach suddenly full of armed men in military and civil clothes, only to discover that they were guarding Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, arguably most powerful and one of the most important person in present India.
The attention that he received, all TTs came to say their 'Namaste/Pranams' (one even sported a huge Tilak on his forehead) he got the lady to serve him food and was asked if he would have more tea after breakfast (menu which included tea with biscuits, chhachh, bread/butter, milk/cornflakes, idli/vada and banana!)
Most of the foreigners got off at Agra and I fought a strong urge to go up to him and ask his views on Taj Mahal. Bhagwat hardly smiled at anyone (and I realized that I had been staring at him all this while!). The person sitting beside me had retired from SBI as a Manager and defended government's policies as we discussed Bhagwat and BJP's economic agenda. In three and half hours, we had reached Gwalior.
Gwalior:
A city which still talks about its Maharaja/ Maharani with reverence. Hotel was just five minutes away from the station and student volunteers were there throughout to guide us.
Zonal NASA was being hosted at ITM College, beautiful campus situated on the outskirts amidst hills and greenery. There were around 1800+ students who had registered and around 60+ speakers/ mentors/ judges who were there (with a poor single Sociologist!) every student had paid Rs. 3000/- and every college pays a fee to NASA. As I heard and discussed about Architecture course fees (minimum around 1 lakh plus for every semester and going up to Five lakh plus at some colleges) and the rich backgrounds that most of these students were coming from who could afford such hefty fees.
Jury Duty:
We had a job to do and with my fellow jurors , two very senior practicing architects from Gurgaon and Pune, we started looking at the entries which were sent by different colleges from North India (35 in total). We had to look for three aspects based on the brief that was given: Engagement with the Youth, Engagement with Authorities and Environment and lastly, Design Intervention. They were also supposed to submit a video film detailing the process of Engagement.
Most of the students interpreted Youth as children and went about 'educating' children in their nearby slums and did various workshops with them. In the name of authority, we expected them to speak with District Magistrates or Panchayats to understand the policy paralysis aspect. Most interesting was the Design intervention part where they had to suggest ways for improvement!
Most of these students ended up suggesting "Sydney Opera House type Structures" as community centers or even "Open air theatres" in the middle of slums as solution for everything (poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, etc etc). We realized the disconnect that these students faced from real situation on the ground. They were young Under Graduate students and the "Other" for them were the people from the slums. A life they could not imagine and came up with their own 'solutions' to the problems.
The highest points were awarded to a college which had worked in a potter's village and did some constructive work with the community based on the needs of the natives' and not on their 'ideas' on how they could improve the life of the community.
The idea to get them to 'engage' with the community had worked. Students were willing to learn. Later when we interacted with these students post our judging session, we jurors ended up giving passionate speeches for over one and half hours and even later, students came to us to share their experiences. The spirit to do something constructive needs some more guidance, as we discussed how syllabus can be made more responsive for some sensitization since sensibilities were already there.
For dinner we went to Taj Usha Kiran Palace constructed 137 years back by Scindias in honor of Prince Charles who stayed here only for a day (things Royals did to keep themselves in the good books of the Colonial Masters!), and now was being run by Taj group as a Heritage property. A beautiful palace and some good Nepali-Maharashtrian food based on the lineage of Maharaja/Maharani.
The Royal Thali took almost an hour for them to prepare as everything was made fresh. The shrikhand-puran poli dessert was absolutely delicious as were the kebabs.
The dinner ended up being a lively session where stories of Charles Correa, Raj Rewal, Rehman and other senior and pioneering Indian architects, personal anecdotes were shared over food as we discussed the architecture of the palace.
NASA gave me a chance to meet some brilliant people, interact with some of the most creative minds and make new friends.
Thank you NASA!
