Jul 6, 2022Architecture, Life, and LiberationThis essay is a personal reflection on the ontology of my life as an architect from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective. As an extension, it is an investigation into the architecture of all human existence— The form and texture of our lives, our feelings, our aspirations, our relationships…Architecture10 min readArchitecture10 min read
Jun 25, 2021The Gender of a Designer’s MindIt is a very Human tendency to ‘essentialize’ things. This principle of ‘essentializing’ and ‘differentiating’ has been unfortunately applied to the question of gender, resulting in stereotyping of Men and Women, defining one as the ‘weaker’ sex, assigning of gender restricted roles, resulting in the dominance of and subjugation of…Design Thinking7 min readDesign Thinking7 min read
Feb 13, 2021Meaning Deficit Management: A Theory to Replace Work-Life Balance?The popular notion of maintaining a ‘work-life balance’ has been challenged often in the recent years. The origin of the idea itself — that it was mooted in the 80’s America, to convince career women that they could balance their families as well as their jobs, has been half-forgotten. Instead…6 min read6 min read
Nov 7, 2020It is Not Death We Should Fear But BirthThe pandemic has brought home the urgent truth of mortality to all humanity. When we hear that the fatality rate of the Covid-19 virus has dropped a few decimals from 10.21 to 10.18, we feel rather reassured. We think we are marginally safer. The probability of our death has been…Philosophy7 min readPhilosophy7 min read
Oct 15, 2020The Mobocracy of Social MediaScenario 1 A leading Indian jewelry brand, well known for championing ‘social’ issues of women comes up with an ad campaign which depicts an inter-faith marriage between two communities. While it generates interest among many viewers, it also causes outrage among others, completely polarizing the social media. Soon, a hate campaign is…Social Media4 min readSocial Media4 min read
Sep 26, 2020Mentors: An Endangered Species?Recently I was asked to guide a group of younger teachers who had just completed their one year Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) offered in-house by our design school, and had taken on the role of mentorship to guide the next cohort. In other words, as a senior…Mentoring10 min readMentoring10 min read
Sep 12, 2020Our Love-Hate Relationship with NarcissismThe American hatred for narcissists seems to be reaching a crescendo. As of now, it is fast climbing to the top of the US box-office chart of unpopularity, and is likely to supersede paedophiles and racists. More and more Americans seem to be discovering all of a sudden that either…Narcissism9 min readNarcissism9 min read
Aug 23, 2020Design Education in India: The Three TensionsPreamble: As an educator practicing and teaching architecture and design, I have seen so much change in design education in the last 30 odd years that it would be hard to sum it all up in one article, or even in five. Speculating about the future is even harder and…Education Reform11 min readEducation Reform11 min read
Jul 22, 2020The Bicycle SchoolNot long ago, in a country not so far away, people learnt to ride bicycles in two ways. The first was to simply get on a bike, try to ride by oneself, fall, and keep trying till one succeeded. This method did not involve a teacher but only a highly…Education6 min readEducation6 min read
Jul 18, 2020Member-onlyThe Structure of SelfThe Modern age has been dominated by the idea of the Individual, and that of ‘Freedom of the Individual’ to pursue happiness, growth, and fulfillment. The entire edifice of Global Capitalism rests on this tantalizing premise. The word Individual has connotations of a single indivisible unit of a group, or…Identity9 min readIdentity9 min read
