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Why I could not see the Chennai Air Show?

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Chennai is a city that pulses with energy, particularly during events that bring people together. One such occasion was the much-anticipated air show organized at Marina Beach, a spectacle that promised breath taking aerial displays and a chance to marvel at aviation prowess. I had been eagerly looking forward to it for days, especially watching the air displays from far away from my place of work. However, life, as it often does, had other plans. The Morning Match The day began with a local cricket match in Medavakkam. As the sun rose, I found myself caught up in the excitement and tension of the game. We battled hard under the glaring sun, our focus solely on the match. Time slipped away quickly, and before I knew it, the clock was ticking down. The match was still in progress when I made the tough decision to leave early, knowing I had to catch a train from Velachery MRTS station at atleast by 10:30 AM. The Race against Time I hoped that the morning traffic wouldn’t be too t...
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A case of Two Educational campuses: Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur and Indian School Of Business, Hyderabad:

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  Recently I had a chance to visit two beautifully designed educational campuses, courtesy accompanying students of architecture for an educational tour as part of curriculum of our college where I am working. We had visited a number of heritage structures and contemporary buildings at different places. Pearl Academy of Fashion-PAF in Jaipur (by Morphogenesis) and Indian School of Business-ISB in Hyderabad (by Portman Architects) were the part of the list. Architecture, I believe, has the power to enhance/assist in the purpose it is built for (in this case learning) and here are two examples that do that very well. In this blog I am trying to compare these educational campuses which were unique in their way and still had many similarities. Here by comparing, an attempt is made to decode some design facets which may help someone trying to design something in future. Let us look at some of the similarities. Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF) Jaipur Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyde...
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Marina beach and environs, a great potential to be cultural district:

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  Marina beach needs no introduction. It is one of the longest beaches and in it is a space to which large number of people throng. One of the reasons for this is the large expanse of open space it offers to the city dwellers. It also boasts of a number of statues and some memorials to past politicians (kind of out of place though). In addition to this the paved areas and the swimming pool allow the fitness enthusiasts to keep up with their goals. Can this potential of bringing in people tapped to give some more diverse variations to the place. Owing to the above activities and features the Marina beach is a place where different types of users come at different times of the day. Though Marina offers Chennaiites with one of the best open spaces any city can offer, one can argue that it has not reached its potential as public space. All the facilities and uses that Marina offers have been set up in an isolated way. Has some one attempted to see what marina can offer the city if on...
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War and our Cities – are we ready???

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  A war is never an answer to any issues. The recent war happening between Russia and Ukraine is not called for. Whatever the reason or whoever the instigator still I think a war is not a solution by any means. I really hope there are no more wars. This blog though is not on this topic. War started in Ukraine with Russia attacking. News channels across the globe flashed this news. While these news channels kept projecting the visuals etc I remember two words being commonly said in all. One was the word siren and the other bunker. So, whenever the city officials felt that there might be some airborne attack nearing a city the sirens went up. As soon as the sirens went up, the people need to be prepared for the eventualities and need to be moving themselves to safe places. For this they had the bunkers. Many of these bunkers, the channels described, were from the World War II era. In some cities where there were no bunkers or they were not available nearby, I could see the news...
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The story of a photograph

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  This photograph of mine won the first prize in the photography competition held as a part of a virtual national convention of Architects (NATCON) named Transcend. It came as pleasant surprise and the things and coincidences that happened along with that were quite surprising. Thought I will share those coincidences as a short blog. The main reason behind writing this is that though these are small things but these matter a lot and these small little things make life interesting and keeps everyone moving. With the positive vibes these create, we may be able to achieve something beyond our own reach. On World Photography day I thought I will complete this blog which I was aiming to write for so long. The spark: In 2018 I took some kids in my family to the Palace in Thanjavur, a palace where the descendants of the Marathas still live. On the way from my house to Palace I was just building up the interest in them talking about the history of the place to the limited extent wh...
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