I don't know how many times I will keep making and breaking this promise to myself to at least try and make an effort to contribute more often to my blog. What I do know is that I'm lazy. And that's one of the reasons why I don't:

a) bother picking up a pen to scribble down random thoughts in my diary.. or
b) get my bottom off of my bed (which I spend most of my time in these days during the hours that I'm not stuck to an office desk with my eyes glued to the screen) to take my laptop, switch it on and start typing.. or even
c) do nothing other than log on to my blog and start typing from my phone!

Ever since I've started working life has been so monotonous, the same old things everyday.. there are good times and then.. there's AutoCAD. What could I possibly even write about? The most blogging  I've done in the past nine (..or has it been ten?) months would've been the conversations I have. With myself. In my head.
I keep dreaming of the day when technology would be so far advanced that while I think my thoughts, they get typed automatically and stored in some tiny point-sized chip embedded in my brain, and I can revisit them as I please. Trust me, the world is missing out on so much right now.. how many such meaningful conversations have been lost. Sigh.

This isn't really anything. But its a start. And this time my mom was responsible for reminding me to write again. Love you mom. And also an unexpected reader. :) Well, I thought readers of this blog were virtually nonexistent because I'd managed to bury it pretty deep. Thanks for digging it up. Means a lot.

New year.. New beginnings..

I hope to begin this year not with a bunch of resolutions which I can never keep up to (hence the reason why I never bothered to make any new years resolutions whatsoever until now)..but with a heart full of hope, positivity and good thoughts to mark the end of one wonderful year and to freshly start another with renewed energy and enthusiasm.
Last year marked the end of not just 2013 but also my academic life. As of now I have decided to not take up studies for a long long time (the last semester in architecture contributed a LOT to that decision-making process) and now its time to move on to bigger and (hopefully) better things.
I wish to end this year with fond memories of all the wonderful bygone times and raise my glass for even better adventures ahead, God willing.

So cheers to 2014 and adieu 2013!

Slipping

Ever experienced that feeling when you're falling asleep and you slip back into reality and you feel like you jumped off a cliff to land on another one, but the earth moved beneath you, making you fall? A little like when you climb down the stairs and you imagine there to be a step, but there wasn't one so you reach the landing, which is a level higher than you expect it to be.
Slipping between reality and dreams..I feel it's in a way sort of like life. Got to be careful when you slip though, cos you never know what you may fall onto when you reach the bottom..
Also like love, a leap of faith can either be a breath of fresh air, or the end of you.

Done at last!

I've reached yet another milestone in life. One I've always longed to reach, one I've always dreamt of achieving. The only thing I didn't put much thought into, though, was what would it be like once it was all over? What would I feel? Excitement? Happiness? Sadness?
I don't know. I didn't know then and I don't really know now. It seems as if I've reached some sort of crossroads. And I don't know which turn to take next.
I do feel one emotion though: Relief. I've successfully completed my 5 years of architecture, and I guess the ending was pretty good too. And really, the relief is indeed overwhelming.
Something makes me feel a little unsettled though. I don't quite know what it is yet, and I don't really want to bother about it.
I want to believe I have time as of now. I want to believe I can do all I've wanted to do all this time. I want to believe I've broken free from whatever was keeping me chained (to my laptop I should say)..
And with that positive (sort of) thought, I try to get some sleep tonight.
Adieu, architecture student life! Adieu, USD!

Reading my old posts, I can't wait to start writing again. It's been so long! And I feel like something inside me is struggling to get out.. (no, not in a gory way). Just waiting to get over and done with my Final Thesis and then to return to being a dedicated writer at my blog (something I have never been able to keep up to, ever).
Keeping fingers crossed for the jury to go fine..

Have you ever thought of how, sometimes you see something so often that you cease to see it anymore? You look at it over and over and over again, for so many weeks or months or years that you forget what it actually looks like.. It may be years later that you suddenly realize something like 'Oh wow, this bedspread is such a pretty shade of green'.
It could be anything that you stop noticing... maybe a picture, maybe the sticky note on your desktop, maybe the wall clock in your bedroom.. and maybe, just maybe... even people.

On architecture...

"Architecture is a journey. It has a beginning.. but it never ends." - Aditya Chandrasekhar, USD batch 2008


The beginning of every college life is similar, the joy of meeting new people, being in a new place, knowing what being independent really is like. Especially in my case - being someone brought up in Saudi Arabia - a very strict country with even stricter rules for women - there were many reasons to celebrate the beginning of my college life.

Studying architecture was not at all what I'd imagined it would be like. Actually, I hadn't really imagined much as to what was to come. But when it did, I loved it.

USD was soon my home. The space-framed studio with no barriers between classes and the mezzanine from which you can gleefully observe the entire college and its activities, the computer labs, the library… all became points of meeting new people, learning new things, exploring the world of architecture every day. Everyone knew everyone else here. The lack of walls or separations or boundaries also helped everyone with socializing and getting to know each other better. Seniors, juniors, super-seniors, all ate under one roof in the workshop area below where Chandru anna would serve hot coffees and delicious open masala dosas every noon.

We shared our thoughts, opinions and our lunches here. We talked about architecture; we gossiped, had fiery debates, laughed and suggested books and movies to each other here.

The space-framed studio would serve us as our classrooms, exhibition hall, display area, jury room and during NASA or on final jury eves as even our homes, for we have spent nights working here together, we have stayed up all night and not even realized that the sun had risen, together.

The first 2 years were the most informal or 'relaxed' study semesters. We enjoyed the most in these semesters, making models, doing slideshow presentations, sculpture classes, and sketching live objects and even people. We went on trips every year, we saw new things, we learnt even more.

One thing about architecture is that it’s not like any other course where you learn from text books or lab experiments with a fixed syllabus and you score the highest in class if you adhere to them. No, in architecture there is no end to how much you can learn and from whatever sources you can learn. It’s been five years since I have been in this field, and yet sometimes I wonder, how much have I really learnt? Learning architecture is an endless process, where you learn more from the talks in the corridors, canteens, libraries etc. with your seniors or juniors or teachers or just about anybody else, more than you would in a theory or lecture room.

I have always wished that our college would have had more open spaces where we could go sit to take a break from the work or deadline stress and just relax our minds and help regain our creativity level to a normal, when we have reached the saturation point.  Or that the small canteen downstairs wouldn't have closed down and it would've been like the good old days in first year.

And yet, I still find my college close to perfect in terms of how it does not restrict you, because architecture requires creativity, and it does not come from being pressurized or restricted. One needs to be able to work with an open mind.

In an architecture school, you may not learn a lot about technicality, or even come close to really understanding what architecture is all about. You learn through a series of failed or successful experiments which you perform, ultimately producing something amazing, something you created, something which reflects you in so many ways… and you proudly realize: your journey in Architecture has begun.