We architects tend to lead a life where finding leisure seems a bit hazy as spending your time with laptop and mouse often exceeds the mark of 24 hours. Even though it sounds a bit harsh, the diverting and fun moments make it enjoyable. Flashbacks from my architecture school are gushing in that made my 5 years so cherishing.
I remember stepping out of the studio after my final Landscape jury in 3rd year, tired and starving. My friend and I were talking while we waited for our other friend to get over with hers. She asked me how I managed to memorize the scientific names of the plants for the exam. What happened next was a day my friend still laughs at. I told her that the names sounded just like the spells from Harry Potter, and then I thought of putting up a small show for her by waving an invisible wand in the air and said Ficus Religiosa. And exactly at that moment, my external juror came out of the studio, watched the scene, and laughed out loud. Embarrassed I was, but everyone else had a great laugh.
Most interesting are days of the yearly trips that students go with the faculty. Along with exploring a whole new place, every one of us surely has had great stories to recall that are saved in our best-time diaries. Re-living the most hilarious yet scary day of a trip we took to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan for our 2nd-year design trip. It was our first camping night in the beautiful Sam Dunes, we were all worn-out due to the long train journey we just had.
We, students, and the faculty were in one tent chatting, and one thing has to be said here that our faculty is quite mischievous. It was dark already and our HOD started to talk about ghost stories. For about half an hour, we were all engrossed into the ghost experiences and tales we have all had, after which the HOD asked a guy to bring his camera from his tent so that we could capture the night. The guy stepped out of the tent and suddenly screamed at the highest pitch one can achieve, there he saw a woman dressed in a red skirt with a white face peeking out of long open hair, and a flashing red lipstick. He came running back to the tent, frightened, out of breath and frantically told us all about it.
Here, rewinding a little to half an hour before this scene, when one of the faculties planned a prank on one of the students who could easily be spooked, a girl from our batch was chosen for the role of a pretty lady-ghost. So coming back to second after he had just told us about what he saw, we all rushed outside and pretended to be scared to play along with the prank but broke into laughter in no time. Just when we all were laughing at that poor guy, the electricity of the campus went off, and he thought it was a part of the plan. Well, I could still feel the goosebumps, because it was never a part of the prank.
Talking about the Architecture school experiences, we all could go on for hours, and that reminds me of one thing which is so vital that it cannot be missed to mention. We will all agree that ‘submission’ is a word that is derived from a combination of two other words, sleepless yesterday and exhausting today.
Turning onto a chapter from my 2nd year of architecture, it was the submission day of the Building Construction Studio, and everyone was required to submit 3 months’ worth of sheets. We all appeared that day with the sheets and, as I mentioned above, sleepless yesterday carrying in our hands. We were in the middle of our serious submission, an angry professor, quiet class, few tensed faces, and some just waiting for the lunch break. The clock hit 12:50 and brought a little relaxation except for my friend, who got a little too relaxed. While others munched on their food, my friend instead decided to close his eyes for a while.
With a hot day and a room full of people, he chose the marble that felt cooler and comfortable than a chair. What he thought as closing his eyes for 10 minutes soon turned into beauty sleep. Head and spine supported by the wall and legs stretched out, he started to slip down more onto the floor under his drafting table. Shortly after the break ended, we called out his name to wake him up, but he refused to leave his sleep just yet. We all turned and were startled to see our professor standing right behind us, filming the whole scenario with his camera. He shushed us as he went to him, and said cock-a-doodle-doo like a hen that woke him up real good. We all could not stop laughing for quite a while.
I think we can all relate to these stories because we, at one point, have been a part of such funny instances. Hilarious encounters do not limit to these, and the list is quite long. Juries, submission days, trips, even a boring lecture have got humorous tales associated with them. Let’s take a moment off to find again those joyful moments, and cherish the years we have spent in this profession.
