Critique on Fun Republic Mall - Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu,India)

                                  Around the world, every city gets to be famous not for its fabricated fame or decorated name but for the significant places that attracts people making it the centre of attraction. One such elegant and flamboyant city is Coimbatore and so has it been rightly called the “Manchester City of South India.” The city of Coimbatore is known for the couple of malls primarily and for the Isha Yoga Centre, which is an apt place for rejuvenation of human life along with few other places, including Race Course, R. S. Puram, etc. In the city, one of the most important arterial roads connecting to other neighbouring cities is the Avinashi Road. The Fun Republic Mall has been rightly placed on the busiest road of Coimbatore. It could be prominently observed that the Fun Republic Mall is the next important hangout place after Brookfield mall. Having understood this, it is essential to critically analyse the building, i.e. Fun Republic. The mall provides a spacious parking and so is it very much accessible from the bus stop. This particular mall being at the very reachable radius of colleges of the Avinashi Road, ropes in numerous students enabling them to hang out. Hence, the location of the building could well be understood perfect. Yet another fact that could be inferred is that the cinemas are the most significant and important options for which most of the people are there for. It could also be observed that this particular mall is being preferred by people to an extent where they spend almost half a round in the clock. Apart from these merits, the mall also encounters a lot of demerits just like the science of Rashomon Effect showing bipolar characteristics and facts.

                                                          Firstly, the escalators that take people up and those which bring people down are placed in the best possible disorganized way that it needs to be searched for walking around the mall. The mall irrespective of being small does not have a map with which people could find and reach their place. Now, the most intelligent part of the building is the cinemas. After having watched the movie, the exit leads not out of the theatre, but to the Food Court, which could be understood as a psychological play forcing people to take food from the mall before moving out. The richness and pinnacle at which the mall is at could be understood as the entire complex has been air conditioned (centralized) but still does not mind making it conservative or energy efficient as openings for entry and exits are left wide open most of its working hours. Yet another fact about the mall is that it prevents people who aren’t well dressed or put up to the social standards from entering the building irrespective of their ability or efficiency to make a decent purchase apart from the window shopping mainstream practice that is predominant in the mall. Hence, in a nut-shell, it could be summed up that appearances are deceptive and so does the Fun Republic mall fail to impress under these criteria.

Article penned for Architectural Journalism at Karpagam University.

Hindering bitter story of the Big Temple…

                                     It is a paradox that India despite being one among the richest heritage lands, has always encountered a problem in preserving them. The city regarded as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, Tanjore, is predominantly known not for all of its architectural greatness, but for one main class of a time, the Brihadeshwara Temple. The monumental piece of architecture, by Raja Raja Chola-I reached the feat of attaining thousand years of age in 2010. Unarguably, it has been and still is one among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The temple is known for its accuracy in the erection of the Gopuram as it is measured to be precisely perpendicular to the ground level. This is one of the greatest achievements for the whole of India, for she has not got any better comparison or competition to put the big temple of Tanjore on line.

The horrifying fact is that the glorifying creation of a lifetime got impaired to a greater extent during its periodic renovation in the name of maintenance. It was found that a lot many extensive and intricate art works with refined detailing got perished while plastering the walls. Gone is the majesty, modesty and the greatness of a landmark monument with the successive invasion of tyranny, in the name of renovation. Yet another mystery which has been excavated from the books of the untold stories is that a group of architects and archaeologists offered the Government of Tamil Nadu, that the temple would be renovated by them as a tribute. Eventually, they were denied to do so, for the reason was that the glory of the building may be replicated. To add up more, one among the team of above mentioned architects had a main and leading hand in the creation of Burj Khalifa. Now that many other temples have emerged out from remaining subtle and dormant, the probability of Brihadeshwara Temple, an epitome is predicted to decline. “Every empire rises to fall”, says the dusts of our History and so did our great Indian tyranny prove. “Hopes are not in dupes most of the time” and so do I hope for an amendment in the practice of our countrymen for the betterment and preservation of the heritage of our country.

-Arun Shankar.M

Inspired India…

                                              It has not been too old since the demise of our respectful and beloved People’s President, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. Saddened were and still are we on knowing his retirement from this planet. The very first name any Indian or at least the youngsters of India would remember to utter when asked for their inspiration would undoubtedly be Dr. Abdul Kalam. This shows the greatness and popularity of a common man who conquered peaks through shear hard work despite being from a poor background. Having expressed my deep condolences, respect and tribute to the missile man of India, I hereby would like to open up a topic pertaining to the great leader, which requires deep critical thinking.

                                           Dr. Kalam had a deep chemistry with the younger sector of India as his inspirational speeches, quotes, books, etc. are among the standing examples for him having a great concern and love towards children and students. Without a doubt, not a single student could deny getting inspired by him, for, his words and speeches have reached billions of ears.  Now, having painted the wall with his glories, let us think a little deeper, as said earlier, critically, analytically and practically. The study says that an average human brain could remember 50% of the speech delivered however interesting the speech is. The 50%, drastically lowers to 25% within a span of 24 hours and later would shrink to 10% in a week. This is the case with an average human being who pays attention to the speech without any distractions. With this smaller scale of analysis, it could well be understood that going around the country’s schools and colleges, addressing students, giving inspirational speeches are sadly found to be in vain as they would remain as a trace but the real necessity or the purpose remains untouched. Apart from giving lectures all around the nation, how well has he tried for the betterment of the educational system of the nation? For sure he has emerged as a standard icon through his mind-blowing speeches, which is the most basic tool any public speaker would have.

                                         I would like to clarify the basic elementary term used to refer him, “inspiration”. Are we really inspired by him? I would strongly disagree with this with a convincing explanation. Dr. Kalam, apart from being a President, is famously known as a scientist and the missile man of India who became the oldest Indian to fly a fighter aircraft. How many Indians could name any three of his works in the field of science? We just know that he has earned bags of Doctorates in diverse fields, awards and rewards for his unmatchable works. But, how many could name at least three of his scientific works without reference? On the other hand, may it be Shah Rukh Khan, Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Virat Kohli, M.S. Dhoni, Aishwarya Rai or Anushka Sharma; we tend to browse, read supplementary of newspapers, or find a source to know about their personal lives, gossips, etc., irrespective of knowing how good or bad they are on screen. Now, we don’t really inspire from them, for, they just portray a role through their movies, rather we do admire their skills in the field. In the cases where we get inspired from them, we do have a solid, concrete reason for having so. Now, stepping back to square one, how much have we browsed, read or learnt to comment, compliment, inspire, aspire or criticize Dr. Abdul Kalam? How many of us know his hand in “What Can I Give?” a propagation against corruption in India by empowering and nurturing students of India? Having analysed this much, if this frames the definition of “inspiration” either should the word be removed off the dictionary of English or should it be redefined in a better way.

                                             To put it all in a nutshell, how many of the so called inspired people could really spell the expansion of A.P.J? This level of inference on him could well be enough to reinforce my statement with explanation and reasoning.  There is always a difference between inspiration and admiration. Inspiration is when something or someone is studied, understood and is reflected or at least tried to be reflected. Here, Dr. Kalam could be subjected to be called an inspirational icon if he has been studied, understood and at least an attempt to implement his ideas have been made by the students, or even the whole of India. Without which, it would be inappropriate to call Dr. Kalam “inspiration” rather than admiration, till we are educated about him. Seeing or listening doesn’t really mean believing, rather observation is.  

                                          I would like to conclude by saying that we have been and still are continuing to be judgemental and prejudice from what is said, seen or listened to irrespective of the fact that they could be right, wrong or neither way. Further search, research and thirst for knowledge on what we believe in or choose to believe in leads to better educated India as of how it was intended to be by Dr. Kalam. Hence, I kindly urge all the readers to understand that the core of this article is to portray Dr. Kalam as an example of being misinterpreted by his dear youngsters in the way he certainly would not have wanted to; a reasonless inspiration and not as an act of demeaning Dr. Abdul Kalam in any ways. To sign a better note, I have got inspired by the simplicity he followed till his last breath. Now, still, am I good enough to use the word “inspired” since I haven’t tried following the act of being simple in life? Every person, every case, every cosmic law is subjected to have a “Rashomon Effect” dormant in it. It is successful in having attained education when we thrive to know about both sides of a coin rather than drawing conclusions with inferred quantum of knowledge.

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”-Albert Einstein.

Written by,
Arun Shankar.M

Youth Politics in India

It has been quite a lot many times that I have been reading through posts, articles and photos pertaining to the promotion of Youth sector in Politics. It is right to say that the younger generation has actively involved in various movements, protests, social services, etc. But sadly, I feel, the commitment to make a change and the boil in the blood just doesn’t make any real sense as there are many other factors we, youngsters lack in. There is always a difference between being literate and being educated. Youngsters on one hand are highly literate undoubtedly, but I feel they aren’t educated enough to come to power. How many of us know the history of politics? Or at least Indian History, Current Ministers, their duties, Law, Ethics in politics and what not? I feel, it is unethical to promote Youth Politics in India until the Youngsters are educated on politics. May be the current aged politicians aren’t effective. But that doesn’t mean Youngsters are eligible enough to Rule a nation. Roughly 90% of us read a newspaper to know the gossips and updates about cinema stars and their upcoming cinemas while the next thing we do is to check the sports page. How many of us read the entire paper? It is quite evident from this to know how eligible we are to become politicians. We will get into power for sure, someday. But unfortunately that day doesn’t seem to be today.
I am not being judgemental, but just trying to be open-minded and unprejudiced.
This is my inference. Please enlighten me further with your comments, contradictions and appreciations. 

Taj Mahal’s untold stories…..

                                     Taj Mahal is considered as one of the greatest monuments in the world. It is said to be the token of love dedicated to Mum Taz by the Mughal King Shah Jahan. This is one of the commonly known facts throughout India, if not the world. Now peeping further into the architecture of the building, is it really a monument worth the fame it has achieved? I was taught that buildings are built for the existence and living of human beings. History says that the masons and the workers got their hands chopped after the completion of the massive building. It required over 22000 workers to complete the entire structure in 14 years. During the process of construction, thousands of workers perished. I have always had a question after co-relating these facts. Dedicating a monument for the death of a King’s wife by killing thousands of poor people being celebrated as one of the epitome of architectural triumph seems to be unethical. It either shows the tyranny and the arrogance that existed in that era, or it shows the ignorance of our present world. Are we prejudicially being judgemental about the greatness of Taj Mahal? May it be the finest architectural piece of work. But, does it deserve the reward it has gained over these many years? Subjective it is. I hereby conclude by restating my previous statement. Architecture is for people to live and not to celebrate monumental success destroying mankind.

(Note: This article may be understood subjective and hence I request all the readers to understand it so in good spirits.)

Arun Shankar .M,
3rd Year,
B.Arch.,
Karpagam University

Are Concepts in Architecture requisite?

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Having said this, let us now enact the act of “critical thinking” on one of the most fascinating and arguable contexts of architecture.
It is a paradox that every individual architect or student of architecture, has some or the other day, been in the theoretical explanatory classes on adopting concepts in the design projects proposed. Few of the concepts usually preferred are form based while few are function based. It could also be adopted right from the roots of architectural science, be it scales, geometry, anthropometry, symmetry, interlock, repetition, void, contrast, etc. Concepts were and still are taken with reference to the shape or functional properties of elements like leaves, profiles of various objects, etc. To be precise, any materialistic or non-materialistic subject is and was being taken as the concept. Keeping apart all the theoretical data inferred on using concepts in design, it has been high time to think critically if a design fails without the existence of a concept. In a design, may it be the smallest possible shack; it still demands the basic elementary considerations in terms of circulation, ventilation, lighting and the level of comfort. For a design to be effective and functional, it for sure requires all the above mentioned and unmentioned concepts to have a vital role. Hence it could be understood that the selection of a random concept and a rapid development of design attains less efficiency when compared to that of the one which has been through various levels of thought processes and subsequently substantiated parametric analysis. Hence in a design process, adopting a concept drastically narrows down, not only the creativity, but also does it limit the quantum of imagination which could be exerted in, by foreshortening to stick to the arena of the adopted concept. In practicality, it could be observed that a project gets bottle-necked and limited by many factors in and around the site; in which case, no real concept would be in need rather than logical reasoning to the basic requirements.
Now I intend to contradict my previous views by taking the stance of a devil’s advocate. The marvel and glory of Lotus Temple (India) could never ever be neglected, for it is a conceptualized piece of revolutionary glory in the books of architecture. No assertion could be denied when it is referred as an example for the process of adoption of concept in the field of architecture. Irrespective of its construction cost and the quantum of workmanship it absorbed, it continues to be one of the notable and remarkable architectural fame of the nation. Not only is this so with Taj Mahal, but also with many very other distinct, astonishing and sensational structures around the planet. Having understood this, we not being prejudice, could get to know the various phases of conceptualization that has been in architecture. Hence, concepts do play a vital role in the field of architecture when considered and observed from this particular perspective of view. At this gesture, I would like to open it up to the readers, in a diplomatic fashion, in judging the self-contradicting argument. Stepping back to square one, ARE CONCEPTS IN ARCHITECTURE REQUISITE?
(Note: This article may be understood subjective and hence I request all the readers to understand it so in good spirits.)