I used to think comedy and tragedy were two opposite sides of the same coin. Little did I know they came in a package. Like a “buy-one-get-one-free” offer at a market! This realization came upon me when I joined an architecture college. Fresh out of school, unknown to the outside world, excited for the next 5 years, I stood at the entrance of my new home. How was I supposed to know that the next 5 years would be a mix of heaven and hell?
The year 2017-2018: 1st Year of Architecture
I was an excited 1st-year student (you wouldn’t say that now if you saw me, but anyway). Everything was new to me. Moving to a big city, living without family, making new friends got overwhelming. But that did not stop me from advancing with positivity.
It was the first day of college. All new faces who were soon to be my classmates for the next few years stood next to the auditorium entrance for the orientation. We were told to enter and take our seats. As soon as I sat I tried to engage in conversation with the girl sitting next to me. But it was strange because she kept smiling at me, as though she knew something was about to happen. I ignored that strange feeling and tried to talk to the boy seated on the other side, next to me. He looked as clueless as I did.
A lot of chaos was created, some looking for seats, some looking for acquaintances and some looking for some peace. Suddenly we hear someone screaming, “ Please settle down in your seats, y’all are making this auditorium look like a fish market!”. A few giggles echoed through the auditorium but soon died down when a broad-shouldered hunk entered the auditorium claiming to be one of our faculty members. “ YOU ARE LAUGHING A LOT RIGHT NOW BUT GIVE US THREE DAYS AND YOU GUYS WILL LEAVE THIS COLLEGE CRYING!”, these words roared. Every fresher was now vigilant and slightly scared to death. This human form of a devil then introduced us to other faculty members one by one, each one of them being terrifying by the minute.
I started having second thoughts about my decisions. “Did I choose the right college?” “ Should I have chosen architecture?” “ Should have just joined Delhi University for a basic degree if it meant to not have such terrifying faculty!” “I thought college life was about chilling and teachers not caring whether students made it to class or completed their homework, at least that’s what Bollywood showed us!” All these thoughts were clouding my brain while I was trying to complete a task given by the faculty. “Ugh, let’s just do something and get over with it”, I thought. ( Just by the way, I never realized I’ll be using this thought in the long run now).
Our time was up and now the hunk was picking up random students from the audience to show their completed task. “What is this GARBAGE!”, he says as he throws one of the student’s works into the trash can. Suddenly two girls came into the room with a wooden model in hand. “Sir this is our submission for today!”, they said rather cheerfully. The hunk inspected the model rather carefully and said, “Oh! How long did you take to make this model?” “ 2 days and 1 might!”, said one of the girls. “ Oh!”, he said and threw the model towards the board and broke it! “YOU TOOK TWO DAYS AND STILL PRODUCED THIS KIND OF CHEAP WORK?! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE HERE!” screamed the faculty.
Yep, I was regretting my life choices while all this drama unfolded. Suddenly, a boy in the front seat was called in the front and told to draw something on the board. He immediately collapsed! In the front! It was a chaotic start to a day and I was not prepared for a college life full of terrifying events. So much happened in an hour and we just sat there watching, not knowing anything in the world as to what to do.
The girl seated next to me suddenly got up and walked to the front. Soon I noticed a lot of people randomly getting up from their seats and walking towards the front, as though they were in some trance. Soon around 20 people gathered in front of the auditorium and screamed “ ACADEMITES, DYNAMITES!”. The rest of us seated on their seats just watched in shock as the curtains behind the board unfolded and in there was written: “IT’S A PRANK! WELCOME TO ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE!”
Oh to witness all the nervousness in the air turn from small giggles to full-fledged laughter, was indeed hilarious. This was how the seniors in our college introduced and welcomed the freshers. Every fresher seated there was either in tears or almost on the verge of tears! Later we got to know that the real faculty was actually sitting at the end rows and just enjoying the show!
This was my first experience in an architecture college which I found was hilarious and cherishable.
The year 2018-2019: 2nd Year of Architecture
By the time we reached 2nd year, we knew full well how the college functioned. We knew how to do all kinds of means flexible for us to get work done. Architecture does not allow one to be lazy. So it becomes our responsibility to find any way or opportunity to be lazy, regardless of whether it is to get a job done or to just relax. Even if that means stealing.
We became experts in thievery. Keep a wallet full of money and a group of stationery items on the table for some time and leave it alone. Come back and you will see that the wallet full of money is intact and all in place but the stationary is nowhere to be seen. Stationary became dearer to us than money.
In the first year, we would carry around a big bag with all kinds of tools, instruments, and stationery around. But as years go by, the size of the bag keeps decreasing, and the skills of stealing keep increasing. Once you lose a particular instrument, there’s no need to be pressured because it will return to you in a month or so. Till then make use of someone else’s instruments. It’s a vicious cycle of giving and taking where no one is at fault.
The year 2019-2020: 3rd Year of Architecture
“Uh Oh! University year. We have to gear up and work hard.” Huh, that’s what everyone said. But that didn’t stop us from having fun and playing around within college and outside.
The year in which we had to work the hardest and serious, we ended up making multiple trips. In the name of a conference, the entire class took a week’s leave from college and ended up in Goa (also the place where the conference was taking place). But attending the conference became a secondary matter when we reached Goa and the primary aim was to go out and enjoy ourselves. We hardly attended the conference for some time and ended up touring the entire state for the next whole week.
Now we were back to reality and loaded with submissions. But semester 5 was not as pressurizing as semester 6. So that went smoothly.
Semester 6 was here, we took another trip ( the official study trip) to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Our main design project was based on a site in Jodhpur. We were set on our way to Gujarat, on the train. It was at a late hour in the night when one of our classmates decided to spook everyone with a horror story. Us being us, without a care in the world engaged in all sorts of horror stories, screaming through jump scares. After an hour or so, one angry uncle came up and screamed at us for being loud and noisy and not letting people sleep at midnight. That concluded our horror story night but did not stop us from singing random songs and annoying the passengers around. I am not very proud of this moment but well the entire class’s dignity went down the gutter so I do not mind either!
The beautiful trip ended and we were again dragged back to reality. Everyone got busy with work and submissions and there was a lot of pressure because of University Exams and Juries. And then came 2020. I still remember my last day of college was on 11th March 2020 which happened to be a day of a marking. We never knew that when we parted ways that way, we won’t be able to come back for an indefinite time. Though it was funny how a pandemic saved us from giving our University Juries and we unknowingly created history by being the first batch to not give University level exams and juries in architecture.
