The Second Half of my Birthday

The Department of Architecture of College of Trivandrum

My day started with birthday wishes from Nepal. I never realized that my birthday might not match in Nepali Calendar and Gregorian one. But this time, it made me celebrate a 48-hour birthday in Trivandrum!

For the sarees we bought yesterday, the ladies gathered to have measurements taken for the beautiful blouses. After this we went for a quick but lovely breakfast. They had methi paratha today for breakfast (I was missing parathas since I came to India) and they had Idiyappam for the first time in breakfast buffet, which I loved. Then we all gathered in the hotel seminar room where Hekkie, our last group member finally joined us from Afghanistan after uncountable hurdles. There were known faces in the seminar, with Mr. S M Vijayanand, Mr. GouriDasan Nair, Dr. G Raveendran and Dr. K P Kannan giving informative talks about ongoing situation of Kerala on various aspects.

Vijayanand told us about the environmental consciousness in Kerala and how people here are sensitive to natural and ecological boundaries during local level development projects as well. As a planner and an architect, what we seek to have are national standards for green building construction and the building codes and standards have already been set for sustainable building materials like coir and bamboos. Kerala is already known for its pro-people development and policies, and now its heading towards a pro-people governance system. Nair told us about the influence of media and how the print media specifically, has managed to grow in Kerala even in this time of smartphones, social medias and e-newspapers. One thing about Kerala is that because of well provided health services, the elderly population is higher than other states of India. This might have led to the still ongoing demand for print media in the state. On the same note, Raveendran told us about the growing employment problem that the younger generation of Kerala is facing. Also, the share of people involved in agriculture industry has been declining significantly throughout the years. Kerala has a thriving tourism industry, but despite that, Kannan told us, women have note been able to be integrate into the tourism development sector. However, women have been able to grow in the hospitality sector, specially in Kerala, where Ayurveda and medical tourism are getting more popularized. The seminar was very informative and insightful about the ongoing development processes in Kerala. After this, we headed to the Department of Architecture of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, where our very own Professor Anthony had completed his undergrad program.

The courtyard at Department of Architecture, CET

The students in CET presented to us two of the projects on rural community redevelopment that they had worked on as entries for a nationwide architectural competition. The youngsters were full of passion and spark; it’s amazing how from time to time younger ones are the one to inspire the worn-out hearts of old ones. And, talking about old, today was the special day I was turning one year older. When me and Tuna returned after assisting Professor Fuller with some shopping, our sweet Professor Anthony and friends had organized a small birthday celebration for me, with a blueberry cake! And hence, my first birthday away from home, turned out to be an elongated and unforgettable one! Forever thankful! _//\\_