Not another brick in the wall

Not another brick in the wall



Few things in life match up to the energy and infectious enthusiasm of youth.Dressed down, with dishevelled hair, armed with a ‘devil may care’ attitude, life in college is all about imagining how destiny can be designed. As Eleanor Roosevelt rightly said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Last week, Surat’s senior citizen and highly respected architect Ar.Tarun Dave, suggested to this columnist that,”You have shown us Surat’s glorious past,now its time to show the city its forthcoming potential .”

What better way to discuss future trending than to talk about the generation next, hence, today’s column is about the recent annual festivel organised in totality by ASAC- Architecture Students Activity Council, the student body at the Faculty of Architecture, SCET.

‘Whats new, one would ask, don’t all colleges do that?’ Here is why this one was different:

Earlier in this year, these very students made special efforts for a presentation on Surat’s ancient ship building technique- they had sourced an old boat from Surat’s Machiwad area, and set it up near the college amphitheatre with masts and sails. In exotic yet frugal fashion, they had lit up the entire pathway with bulbs that beamed from within paper plates partially stapled to represent oyester shells.

Coming back to the festival, aptly named EVOLVE, its concept depicted and revolved around evolution of the living form of thought.Nourished by little other than Kalubhai’s chai and affordable canteen bites, students took time out from tedious submissions to construct a fish pond and an eco-friendly amphitheatre. Bhumit Shah and his team painted some wonderful graphics on walls, numerous artistic hands set up sculptures and installations. A team led by Dhruv Rupawala and Abhinav Kelawala took inspiration from Rajarshi Smart’s art and put up an exquisite version of an autorickshaw ,converting it into a trolling three wheeled monster with a multi expressional kathakali dancer’s face. Various proffessional workshops on paper pulp, bamboo, canvas painting, film making and theatre were held taught by renowned artists that arrived from all over India .Students grooved to college rockstar Ian Christian’s rock band‘Morphine’.

ASAC chairman Dhruv Gusain pointed out,”Our student body of three hundred like minded people who love to experiment gave birth to EVOLVE.” Working as a team with pure gumption, these tweenie boppers multitasked as artists, witty writers, marketing gurus who succeeded at raising funds and sponsorship support by a leading hardware brand and hotel ,to bring out a first rate journal edited brilliantly.They then approached 4 eminent architects from metro cities and impressed them enough to visit Tapi town. Ar.Krishnarao Jaisim from Bangalore thanked ASAC for,” An eventful evening at a very fascinating venue with a fascinating lot of students.” Ar.Sonal Sancheti from Mumbai acknowledged,” There is culture to the college, that I can see through a smallest thing like an invite.I think you all are in a great place.”

An educational institute is as good as its students prove to be.Having historically bagged 4 prestigious National Awards this year including The Nari Gandhi Trophy and The Rueben Trophy citations; these are exemplary architects of the future. All they ask from us are ears that will listen, tongues that will appreciate and hearts that will understand. They know where they are headed, and no brick in the wall is going to stop them from what they are poised to achieve in the Surat of tomorrow.