Class of 2009

It has been a good year in 3rd yr landscape at KRVIA. The students’ appraisal has been made available to faculty. The landscape faculty and course scored an average 60%, with some pegs marked well over 80% at the higher end and below 45% at the lower end. For an average course conducted by average people, it is no ground shattering revelation.

Neither is it all a bunch of numerical angst. Angst is a strong word, which heralds a new way of seeing/communicating things.

What is does show is that there was “reaction” and that the class wasn’t too awed by the subject to be benumbed by it, or too excited to fawn over it. Although, this class wasn’t exactly fence-sitting, to my relief, it wasn’t easy getting them to communicate.

What they had to say about the year that went by:

“Case studies din’t help anyone”.
Hmm… so the good work that came out was probably out of fear of flunking? Case studies do not have to help all the time. Sometimes they just work at getting rid of cobwebs in the mind. Other times, they just allow one to read a subject wearing a certain lens.Have posted elsewhere on this blog a write called "the curious case of landscape case studies".

“Ganesh has attitude! for what?”
This has been the hallmark of my review over the years at KRVIA. High time I expound on this.

Attitude for What?- For self preservation when faced with mediocrity in an academic environment whose foundation rests on barrier-free exploration of the term “design” in its broadest sense and bettering one’s own standards. Also, I fail to see why those currently studying at KRVIA - should have a holier- than-thou attitude because they are KRVIA-ites. Unfortunately for them, if the college has some standing and clout in pedagogy (which it undoubtedly does), it has been achieved by the work of previous batches and alumni. Every year I encounter a batch gloating on laurels which are not rightfully theirs. It is circumstantial that they are in a good college. Not the other way around.And that ticks me off.

“Din’t learn anything except how to say F@#k! at five different pitch levels.”
Well… I am elated that somebody was paying attention to the peripheral and the marginal. Perhaps it is time for them to discover Monty Python who sang (spoke?)

Perhaps one of the most interesting words in the

English language today

is the word f-ck.

Out of all of the English words that begin with the letter "F",

f-ck is the only word

that is referred to as the "F" word.

Its the one magical word,

just by its sound

can describe pain, pleasure, hate and love.
(Monty Python- The usage of the word F-ck)

Perhaps after that one can introspect on whether the comment “Ganesh shouldn’t use abusive language- atleast in class” is generic, or a symptom of the lack of skills in interpreting a language

There are many more bitter-sweet things to reminisce, but I choose to highlight what made this batch a great learning experience for me:

This batch is a new high-water mark in email communication. Never before had a landscape

studio problem been dissected/explained/ corroborated over email. In a way it served as a record, since neither faculty nor class could renege on what was documented. Never before in the landscape studio atleast, have notes been circulated/pre-circulated via email, or slides and casestudies reviewed prior to a marking, just so that a better standard of work could be pinned up on the day. It is an idea whose time has come.

A good CR always makes a difference especially in communication. Kairav did take the brunt of my outbursts over email and still showed up in class with a smile and his “simple life point -of-views”. Sometimes it wasn’t as easy as 2+2 =4, but we can overlook that in hindsight. He has a future in Set and Scene Design, if ever he considers it. YashRaj films could do witha reniassance of sorts, and he could be the reniassance man.

Nishita’s queries and her work sent for comments over email: It was fun to work in parallel. The anticipation of work which would show progress, was tantalizing as a prospect. Her theme was stuff that could be a paper if not a dissertation under Theory of Design. It would have worked well for her if the previous two years had been invested in learning more about architects. Her personal disappointment and ours too, regarding her final work was evident. But it is not the end of the world. It never is.

Shivani’s sketches :Frugal lines. Great communication. Perhaps a better studio co-ordinator would have made her delve into the depths of her own work. Thank you for the engaging and arresting sketches.

My office fell in love with Anshu’s work (the Mowgli landscape). We use it as a reference of sorts while making drawings. Her enthusiasm and sincerity towards exploring and improving her own standards will take her places.

Few people keep me on my toes with their insights and opinions, which I find interesting. There is (hopefully) always one in every batch. Masoom should have stayed through the class and asked more questions, rather than disappearing after attendance. Perhaps she had her priorities sorted out.

Pathik, Viral, Priya, Vinita sat through most of the classes. It was fun exasperating them with my questions about their work. I hope that they found a silver lining somewhere in all that, in which case, I am thankful to the Almighty.

The rest of the class is too numerous to name without the attendance sheet at hand, but it does not mean that interaction with them was any less engaging.

I wish each one of them the very best in all their future endeavours.