GUJARAT’S GANDHI INSPIRED AYN RAND’S HOWARD ROARK

Over the weekend, Essar Steel had organized an exhibition in Mumbai, which displayed models of iconic buildings, renderings, drawings by Richard Meier.

Youngest architect to receive the Prtizker prize, Meier’s spectacular talent is seen in some of the world’s finest structures-Jubilee church Rome, Getty centre Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona, to name a few.

Speaking about the exhibition, Richard Meier said, “The remarkable beauty and rapid growth that is to be found in all parts of India is intoxicating for architects who have the opportunity to work there. I hope to soon be among them.”

The exhibition was held at the Sir J J College of Architecture which is celebrating its centenary year. The college annually gives The Nari Gandhi trophy ,which is named after its most brilliant student. A master craftsman, who never believed in sketches, drawings or samples and yet worked at brass tacks to create a medley of free flowing space along with organic materials like stone,rocks,wood,leather,earth and terracotta.

Born in Surat, Nariman Dossabhai Gandhi, who studied architecture in this very same college for 5 years, in the early 1950’s ,thought way ahead of his times. A favourite and most talented apprentice of the famous architect Frank Llyod Wright, Nari holds special place till date at the Taliesman, where a huge rock named after him, stands at its entrance.

He also studied pottery from the Kent State University, which made him innovative in the art of masonry. He would stack earthen pots as arches, make brick and stone stairs.Suryakant Patel’s brick bungalow in Surat and The Kino’s cottage at Versova, are some fine examples of his existing work.

Asha Parekh’s stone bungalow at Juhu was made by him, it is said once a thief could not figure his way out of it.Asha also joked about the doors being only two feet wide asking him,’you expect me to squeeze through this?’ To which he replied,’Sure.Since you are an actress, this will ensure you stay in shape.

‘Nari a famous nature-lover architect, used to disappoint many rich clients by building small toilets when they wanted huge magnificent bathrooms. He was labeled an eccentric because no one understood why he persisted with small bathrooms. Some of his physically well-endowed clients had to actually enter and exit their washrooms sideways. But he was well aware that the larger and fancier the bathroom, the more time and water wasted in it! ‘Wrote eco-nutritionist Kavita Mukhi, of Mumbai ,on why she appreciated him.

Carpenters, who worked under him,recall how he worked his magic on a leather couch without a single stitch and just wrapped it in its frame.

Architects blog online of how this genius would give wood the old, mossy effect by getting carpenters to rub it with curd and lime juice for a month! He never wasted any material. Everything was recycled to be put to re use. There was method in his madness.

He hated his work being tampered with and believed doors created barriers. When his friend and patron, Sadiruddin Daya once added a glass door to ‘keep the birds out’ at his home constructed by Nari, Nari angrily asked him,’Do you change the colours of your paintings too?’ post which he did not visit Daya for two years!

Amrutlal Thakker, his close friend stated, “I have heard him being called an eccentric genius, talent gone wild, even crazy- but he was not crazy, it’s the world around him that was! Here was humanity personified, art and expression exemplified, in a normal, humble, down to earth Parsi gentleman, who wore simple old clothes and possessed a wealth of mind and intellect, that would humble the most enterprising and exacting philosopher”.

Tall, heavy built with a gentle white moustache matching his white khadi kurta and pyjama, a liking for leather kolhapuri chappals, he always carried a cloth bag (jhola) with him. For him simplicity did not mean plain, it meant harmony. His brother Jimmy once said at a book launch in Nari’s honour, how Nari lived by the principle that, ‘A rose does not speak the virtue of beauty, does not show, but surely spreads its fragrance.’

Many articles suggest that it was maverick Nari and his guru Wright, whom Ayn Rand visited while writing The Fountainhead and based the character Howard Roark on, who states, ‘A building has integrity, just as a man and just as seldom. It must be true to its own idea, have its own form and serve its own purpose. ‘

For Nari Gandhi, it was just a way of life, as Howard says, ‘I don’t build in order to have clients; I have clients in order to build.