PUNJABI BAROQUE AND OTHER MEMORIES OF ARCHITECTURE

Book Review

PUNJABI BAROQUE AND OTHER MEMORIES OF ARCHITECTURE

Eesha Bajaj

Gautam Bhatia, Punjabi Baroque and other memories of architecture,

1993,New Delhi, 265 pages.

This book is based on the personal viewpoint of the author. According to him, the book sounds autobiographical, however it is not meant to communicate his fortune or misfortune, but to reflect upon a common condition that affects most middle class Indian professionals.

It is a beautifully blunt book. Initially the reader would assume it to be 200 pages of cynical views of the typical Indian who obviously does not appreciate any of what the country is or has, thrown in with a bunch of complaints about the broken roads and open drains.

In the book the author talks about a set of very peculiar kind of styles, which have developed in India. He very bluntly talks about these peculiar styles in a very bitter manner, an approach I find hard to agree with. One of the reasons of the disagreement being the overdose of bitterness with which he describes architecture in his own country. It talks about how architecture as a profession in India has turned into an ugly cycle of copy paste and make money.

Mr. Bhatia talks about how the distinction between building and architecture is taking shape in India today. How India views this distinction, and how its architects apply it in their practice and how people's (client) choices have been shaped by this current generation of architects who are trained to design cathedrals but whose job is to build cowsheds.

 Its about how the Indian mentality of copying the west, starts with education and how this education has carried forward into practice and application in architecture. How we are blindfolded and copy European architecture.

It is because that's HOW we're taught, in fact that's WHAT we are taught. The Indian architect has fooled its clients into believing that what he is doing by adding a Doric column in the residence, is transforming a BUILDING into ARCHITECTURE! Well that's the only way we put are knowledge to use. 

Architecture has a very strong relation with the economy. Because we have obscenely rich businessmen in our country, the buildings that we see today are a result of not an architect’s designing capabilities but a result of what is in the heads of these moneymakers, which is obviously what the architects have brainwashed them about before, the entire saga of how to turn your house into a brilliant piece of architecture!

So, since all of these moneymakers, policy makers and people who run our country can have a piece of architecture in the comfort of their own homes, why invest time and money into beautifying the public areas?

What Mr. Bhatia has written would hurt the eyes of many, but this book is a slap in the face of those money hungry policy makers and politicians who are literally eating away the country, destroying the lives of millions and also taking down with all this an entire profession.

Mr. Bhatia reminds us of what a dangerous era we Indians are entering into.

A vivid description of the all buildings, which have been built by mindless copying, is all very well, but then one expects an equally vivid description on how to fix these or at least reason explaining, in the author’s opinion, distasteful practices which ‘can evoke as much delight as it does disgust’.

Hence in the last chapter, New ways, the author talks about the reasons for his vividly bitter descriptions regarding Indian architecture. He reasons with the architect by explaining as to why a blatant copy just doesn’t fit into or work in a place where the entire city has been conventionally built in a vernacular style. He talks of regional appropriateness, which will strike a chord with most of the readers.

Since this book urges the reader to think, the whole reading experience turns into constant dialogue between the author and the reader.

 Being in agreement with the author, I see no harm in being inspired from anything that we see. However, what the author very rightly explains is that we Indians have taken the word ‘Inspiration’ for granted, so much so, that we have started categorizing blatantly copying historic European buildings as inspiration.

In my opinion, the reason why we aren’t quite successful in being truly ‘inspired’ is because of the gap between the architect and the mason. It has increased to a point where the lack of communication is affecting the final outcome. To reiterate my point I would like to take the example of Ar.Dharmesh, Dharmesh is an architect practicing in Auroville. A major part of his design process includes discussion with the master mason.

So, the architect creates the design, which is his expertise, and he discusses it with the masons in order to look for the best material, which can be used to execute that design.

An architect should have hands on experience with masonry and construction and keep the channels of communication open with those building on site.

Architectural practice in India has become dictatorial.

Although this book starts off on a harsh note, it is filled with honest and ruthlessly truthful opinions regarding architecture in India today, which, shockingly, by the end of the book, the reader would agree with.

This book is for not only those pursuing architecture, but is for all those who are either in the process of building a house or dreaming of having a home of their own one day. Including a little architectural sense in one’s dream house wouldn’t hurt.