Writing Portfolio - Keshav Suryanarayanan

writing portfolio K E S H A V

S U R Y A N A R A Y A N A N

K E S H AV SURYANARAYANAN

+49-15906018587 +91-9551219957 keshavsuryanarayanan@gmail.com 16.10.1992 Indian

EDUCATION Jul ’17 - Jun ’18

Post Graduate Diploma in Liberal Studies Young India Fellowship Ashoka Universi ty, Sonepat, Haryana

Aug ’10 - May ’15 Bachelor in Archi tecture

School of Archi tecture and Planning Anna Universi ty, Chennai, Tami l Nadu

2010

Kendriya Vidyalaya, Coimbatore, Tami l Nadu

High School

EXPERIENCE Sep ’18 - May ’19

EINE WELT e.V. LEIPZIG | Fair Trade Organisation | Full-time Volunteer •Worked in three Fair Trade Shops (Weltladen Connevitz) in Leipzig run by the organization.

•Participated in seminars conducted by the organization on Oil, Fair Trade, Global Studies •Participated in the IAVE World Volunteering Conference held in Augsburg, Germany •Completed A2 level course in German

Oct ’15 - May ’17

AGAM SEI | Urban Newspaper | Journalist •Covered urban issues related to planning and architecture in Chennai •Part of core team of three •Created a platform for collaboration with local architects •Organized the launch of a Citizens Platform along with PUCL after Chennai Floods of Dec 2015 •Shortlisted for an incubation program for socially relevant startups under UnLtd Tami l Nadu

INTERNSHIPS Dec ’13 - Apr ’14

COSTFORD | Architecture Firm | Intern •Supervised construction of gazebo as part of student workshop in Anna University, Chennai •Coordinated workshops on construction techniques in architecture colleges •Prepared schematic drawings for 2 residential projects

Jun ’13 - Dec ’13

PEOPLES ARCHITECTURE COMMONWEAL | Architecture Firm | Intern •Designed and prepared drawings for 3 residential projects

PROJECTS Sep ’17 - May ’18

THE WORDSWORTH PROJECT | Social Education Sector Project | Graphic Designer •Designed a toolki t for a volunteer-based model to develop English literacy in underprivi leged communi ties •Illustrated and compiled the toolkit •Developed strategy for expansion to other cities

DASTAAN-E-DINESH | Fi lm | Edi tor

Dec ’17

•Involved in conceptualizing, storyboarding and shooting the film, travelling to villages in Haryana •Edited the documentary film

THE HASHTAG COLLECTIVE | Art Installation | Volunteer

Dec ’16

•Involved in designing and executing the construction of installation at the Kochi Muziris

Jul ’13 - Sep ‘13

PEOPLES UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES | Human Rights Organisation | Volunteer •Volunteered on Fact Finding Mission on Illegal Sand Mining in river Palar •Worked on the draft report of findings and recommendations

LANGUAGE SKILLS English

Tamil

Hindi

German

Kannada

Excellent

Native

Fluent

Good

Good

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Indesign

Rhinoceros

SOFTWARE SKILLS

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Autodesk Autocad

Autodesk Revit

Microsoft Office

AGAM SEI: Urban Newspaper

Drops of water and grains of sand

01

Have we learnt anything?

07

NOTA Chance

11

Sap chronicle: college magazine

Humans and Data, Horses and Bots

15

Questions unasked: dissertation

What are the broader implications of monumental architecture?

23

What are the reasons and driving forces of religious architecture?

27

Is the “City” as we know it, even sustainable as an idea?

33

academic writing: ashoka university

Standardisation of Space in School Design

39

Tickets and Totems: Cinema and Mythmaking in Tamil Nadu Politics

51

Architecture without Architects: Can automation make the architect obsolete

57

THE ETC: opinion blog

Sex: India’s Unaffordable Taboo

63

AGAM SEI Urban NEWspaper

01

Drops of water and grains of sand

The river Palar is one of the major river basins in Tamil Nadu, accoun�ng for the water needs 10% of the total area of the state. The river originates in Karnataka(17.1%), flows through Andhra Pradesh(23.3%) and then through Tamil Nadu(60%) before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The 21 kilometre stretch of the river flowing in Andhra Pradesh has 12 dams built on it today. That, along with unchecked and relentless sand mining in the 222 kilometres flowing through Tamil Nadu has turned the river into a dry bed where flowing water has not been seen in years.

There existed an elaborate system of 7 check dams, 616 spring channels and 700 tanks on this river system irriga�ng an area of 61000 hectares. All these spring channels are defunct today. Wells have become the major source of irriga�on, even right along the river and the average depths of these wells and bore-wells have also increased rapidly.

The deeper the bores, the worse the quality of water obtained due to high concentra�ons minerals.

Pazhayaseevaram is a village on the northern bank of the river, near Thirumukoodal, the point where it meets its two tributaries, Cheyyar and Vegawa�. This older inhabitants of this village have seen the river change within their life�mes from a life-giving gushing water source to a dry sand bed. Thirty years ago, 60% of their wells were less than 30 feet deep, and no wells were greater than 100 feet deep. The average depths of wells dug before 1960 was 30 feet, 36 feet for wells dug between 1961 and 1970, 41 feet for wells dug between 1971 and 1985, and has averaged 70 feet for all wells dug subsequently. Besides, now any farmer digging new wells has to dig deeper in the beginning itself, when compared to 30 years ago.

The crop pa�erns have changed and produc�vity of the farms around Pazhayaseevaram has declined. The local drinking water supply is meagre and contaminated, while the Government pumps water out from a couple of kilometres away at a bo�ling plant at Palur to bo�le and sell as "Rail Neer". Local agricultural employment is non-existent, livestock rearing has declined and local ecology destroyed.

Incidentally, Pazhayaseevaram is the nucleus around which the major illegal sand mining ac�vity on the Palar and its tributaries is concentrated. Permits for sand mining on the Palar have only been issued for 44 hectares in Pazhaveri and 4.85 hectares in Pinayur. The area being mined in the Palar alone is close to 160 hectares and another 150 hectares on the Cheyyar.

Tractors throughout the river bed

Manual labourers shovelling as many lorry loads as possible

02

The river bed adjoining the village is a hotbed for mining ac�vity with thousands of men and women with shovels, working at a frenzied pace to fill as many lorry loads as possible between sunrise and sunset. The sand is loaded into hundreds of tractor-trailers scurrying to and fro on the river beds transpor�ng the river sand to the government stock yard at Pazhaveri. In all the riverbed sites, the labourers are digging and loading sand at depths of 25-30 feet (7.6-9.2 metres) below the river bed, while only 3 feet of sand is allowed to be quarried. The river bed is filled with craters, almost at the clay bed.

Sand removed till clay bed

Islands around TWAD wells

The river bed is now deeper than any age-old spring channel, effec�vely making all systems obsolete. It is therefore ironic that the TWAD Board (Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage) wells that supply Chennai with water are the only islands le� of the original river bed.

From the government stockyard at Pazhaveri, all the sand is transported to a secondary yard at Sankarapuram on the Palar, effec�vely being sold to one single buyer at the government prescribed rate of Rs 315/unit. In the Kavanthandalam yard on the Cheyyar, the sand is piled up in mountains as high as hundred feet and sold from there at the market price of Rs 2500/unit.

Sand mountains in private sand yard at Kavanthandalam

03

In Tamil Nadu, the quarrying of sand from river beds had been brought under the control of the Public Works Department following a court order. The department is supposed to submit proposals for areas to be quarried. The department of Geology and Mines is supposed to study the proposal, the area and the feasibility of the proposal and recommend it to the District Collector. None of these have been followed for Pazhayaseevaram and there are no officials overseeing any of the mining ac�vity on any of the riverbed sites.

In the Palar quarries, stretching for about 5km, an es�mated 108 lakh units of sand (1 unit = 100 cubic feet) have been mined in the course of the last 4.5 years, with the mining concentrated now in the eastern third of this stretch and threatening to move further eastwards.

In the Cheyyar, there is a much longer but narrower course of some 15km ending at the confluence with the Palar at Thirumukkoodal in the east, stripped to the clay of the river bed almost 30 to 40 feet below its banks and involving about 127 lakh units of sand.

04

Taken together, the market value of the es�mated 235 lakh units of sand quarried from these two sec�ons of the rivers concerned alone, es�mated at the Sankarapuram river-bank stockyard rate of Rs. 2500 per unit is Rs. 5875 crores, And this is only the proverbial �p of the iceberg.

In contrast, the Execu�ve Engineer, WRD(Water Resources Department), Lower Palar Basin Division, Kanchipuram, in a reply dated 4-09-2013 to a ques�on submi�ed under the RTI Act by a resident of Pazhayaseevaram village, gave the total quan�ty of river sand mined in the en�re Division over the 5 year period from August 2008 to July 2013 as 24.21 lakh units with the total revenue to Government for the same being Rs. 72.63 crores at the Government rate of Rs. 315 per unit inclusive of loading charges and taxes.

05

Notwithstanding the huge sums of money obviously implicated in this robbery of an invaluable natural and common resource, it is the a�ack on our collec�ve future that is impossible to es�mate in monetary terms. It is an a�ack that imperils the water security of a large and densely populated region, including the city of Chennai – whose uncontrollable growth and insa�able appe�te for natural resources is ironically, the major source of the problem especially in a region with a rich and centuries old history of successful water management and agricultural prac�ces. It is an a�ack on the very basis of our sustenance with the dis�nctly imminent risk of runaway disrup�ve ecological and socio-cultural outcomes.

While the government's role in regula�ng and protec�ng these resources is important, at the end of the day we all have to own responsibility for the destruc�on of common resources and therefore bear a responsibility to protect and rejuvenate them and also start ques�oning the current consump�on-centred, aggrandising and destruc�ve development paradigm.

06

02

Have we learnt anything?

On Chennai’s continuing neglect of disaster preparedness

The devasta�ng floods of December 2015 brought the whole city together in a way nothing else had. The relief work following the floods saw people from all walks of life come together in an a�empt to help those who had their houses washed away or inundated, trying to bring food and supplies to the affected areas and even open up their homes to people who had lost theirs. While the relief work was a testament to human effort, our collec�ve memory is very short and we seem to give no more thought to disaster preparedness than before the floods. The role and effec�veness of the State response is doub�ul. This inep�tude is not a one-�me issue, but the result of years of ignoring disaster management principles.

The floods that hit Chennai are es�mated to cost India’s economy 20,034 crore according to the Aon Benfield report, not to men�on the immeasurable loss to life and property. In the interim budget for the year 2016-2017 presented by the Tamil Nadu Government on 16th February, there has been a total fund release of 3039.24 crore by the State Government for flood relief and restora�on. This includes compensa�on given to farmers and families affected by the floods and infrastructure reconstruc�on work started. Immediate relief is only a small part of the whole picture. The budget makes no men�on of any addi�onal spending on emergency preparedness.

“The priori�es of the Government have changed and everybody has moved on as well.

Nobody knows how the funds given from the Centre were spent, or the amount of taxpayer money spent in dealing with the disaster”, says Gopinath Parthasarathy, an Emergency Management planning expert, trained by FEMA, who was part of the relief effort.

The Disaster Management Act enacted in 2005 and under it the Na�onal Disaster Management Agency was set up along with state and district disaster management agencies. The role of the NDMA includes laying down of policies on disaster management, guidelines to be followed while formula�ng ac�on plans and approval of these ac�on plans and coordina�on for their implementa�on. And, as per the Act, the armed forces are supposed to be called upon to intervene only when a situa�on is beyond the capability of the civil administra�on.

Miscellaneous - 433.07

Infrastructure repair - 595.82

Huts and houses damaged - 282.91

Houses inundated - 1276.28

Farmers - 451.16 Distribution of total expenditure of 3039.24 crores on calamity relief (source: Tamil Nadu Interim Budget 2016-2017)

08

“The exis�ng mechanism is poli�cal and ac�ons are done as per the whims and fancies of ministers, councillors etc. It leads to a lot of ad-hoc decisions in the panic of the emergency” Gopinath said about the current scenario of planning.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in reports released in 2013 and 2014, had spoken about the dismal state of emergency preparedness measures in the city. The report stated in its findings that the State Disaster Management plan was not approved from the SDMA, le ading to the absence of any benchmark for planning and evalua�on.

It also stated that vulnerability profiles were not prepared, the SDMA and DDMAs had not met even once since their cons�tu�on and the Emergency Opera�on Centres (EOC), nerve centres of early warning system were non-func�onal and not in a state of opera�onal readiness.

“The Government must come forward and organize a meeting with special experts and field experienced staff. Then they must come up with a complete strategic plan and try to follow them. A separate independent agency must be formed that can coordinate with NDRF and other agencies. Cross Communication between different agencies is lacking – Highways, Health, Power – all these departments must be aligned and points of contact assigned” he added.

PREVENTION

CA

M

PA

IT

BUIL

TION

RECONSTRUCTIO N

TY

IGA

CI

DING

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

N

ES

S

RE RELI S E

ED

PO F & NS E

PR

E PA R

Disaster management cycle

There is a pressing need for a detailed, transparent and accessible emergency preparedness plan to be made and executed in the city. We cannot con�nue a posthumous approach to dealing with disasters, wai�ng for people to die before responding.

09

It is a sad reality that even a�er a calamity of such magnitude, preparedness measures and capacity building has not been carried out at all. We need to recognise the risk of a disaster before it happens at least remembering the impact of the disaster we just endured and decide to prepare our ci�es.

10

03

NOTA- Chance Breaking the myths surrounding this option

Recently news has been doing the rounds on social media asking people to vote for the NOTA(None of the Above) op�on, saying that if NOTA accounts for 35 percent of the total votes polled, the present contes�ng par�es cannot par�cipate in the upcoming general elec�on. People rushed to start sharing this informa�on with hope energy from the thought that their vote could actually count in changing the faces in the current poli�cal scenario. If only it were that simple.

Sadly, this informa�on is untrue and the system of NOTA remains unclear to people even today. It is necessary for all of us to know exactly what NOTA means and the context in which the op�on was provided in our ballot.

In our country, it o�en happens that a voter does not support any of the candidates in the elec�on, but they have no choice other than to select a candidate from the given ones, usually picking the person they’ve heard about in the news.

The Elec�on Commission of India told the Supreme Court in 2009 that it wished to offer the voter a ‘None of the Above’ op�on on ballots as it would give the voters the freedom of not selec�ng any undeserving candidate, which the government had generally opposed. The People’s Union for CIvil Liber�es, a human rights organisa�on, filed a public interest li�ga�on statement in support of this.

The very purpose of introducing this op�on is to empower the voter to reject all candidates if they do not like any of the candidates listed. Finally on 27th September 2013, the right to register a ‘None of the Above’ vote in elec�ons was applied by the Supreme Court of India, which then ordered the Elec�on Commission that all vo�ng machines should be provided with a NOTA bu�on so as to give voters the op�on to choose NOTA.

NOTA symbol option on the Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) Designed by NID, Ahmedabad

According to the judges of the Supreme Court of India, the introduc�on of the NOTA op�on to voters would lead to systemic change in polls to force poli�cal par�es to project clean candidates. Candidates with criminal or immoral backgrunds would have no op�on but to abstain from contes�ng elec�ons.

But the NOTA is not a new feature of our vo�ng process. We have had the op�on for a long �me, except that un�l two years ago, to reject candidates a voter had to enter his electoral serial number in form 17A and cast a nega�ve vote, under sec�on 49-O of the conduct of Elec�on Rules, 1961.

12

Table showing percentage of NOTA votes in the different states of India

This was done to prevent fraud or misuse of votes. This provision was, however, deemed uncons�tu�onal by the SC as it did not protect the iden�ty of the voter.

Since the 2013 ruling, the Elec�on Commission has provided an extra bu�on in the electronic vo�ng machines(EVMs) instead of signing in registers.

There are two main reasons behind the provision of the NOTA op�on.

First, there is a need to ensure 100 percent vo�ng by giving a valid alterna�ve to voters dissa�sfied with all available candidates who would otherwise refrain from vo�ng at all, giving rise to a number of instances of voter fraud. Second, the need to maintain the secrecy of the ballot; the addi�on of the NOTA bu�on maintains the anonymity of the voter where the earlier provision under Rule 49-O did not.

Many countries have introduced NOTA or similar provisions in their ballot systems.

France, Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Ukraine, Chile, Bangladesh, State of Nevada(USA), Finlanf, Sweden, Colombia and Spain.

In India, though NOTA is a provision to register voters’ disapproval of all available op�ons, the ELec�on Commission has clarified that votes cast as NOTA are counted, but are considered ‘invalid votes’. Therefore, votes made to NOTA will not change the outcome of the elec�on and the next highest total votes will be declared the winner.

As former Chief Elec�on Commissioner SY Quraishi pointed out: “Even if there are 99 NOTA votes out of a total of 100 , and candidate X gets just one vote, Xis the winner, having obtained the only valid vote. The rest will be treated as invalid or no votes.”

But the percentage of NOTA votes in India has constantly been very low, between 0 and 3 percent signalling that an a�tude dismissing all candidates and par�es is not really prevalent in our country and voter turnouts con�nue to be very high in Indian elec�ons.

Though NOTA does not affect the final result, it is a tool to help measure the frustra�on wiht current poli�cians. NOTA is powerful when the number of NOTA votes is greater than the difference between the votes for the winning and losing par�es. That says a lot as a measure of distrust.

13

Many of us today do not even know the candidates running in our own cons�tuencies even if we’re vo�ng, o�en vo�ng for the party we’re most familiar with or choosing to vote NOTA as an easier op�on. NOTA is not an alterna�ve to engaging with the poli�cal process, not a lazy escape from our responsibility as voters.

There are websites today with informa�on on the candidates running in all the cons�tuencies in all districts, compiling large amounts of informa�on about their party, criminal record, assets etc. There are also portals where you can access the elec�on manifestos of the major par�es running.

It is our responsibility as voters to be informed and make choices that shape how the decision making process happens. We must do our part, otherwise we have no right to just complain and cri�cize what comes next.

14

sap chronicle college magazine

01

Humans and Data, Horses and Bots

My phone beeped one day, suddenly telling me to leave home now in order to reach the theatre in �me, in five minutes. It told me about the traffic and the best route to take. I had forgo�en I had anything planned and had set no reminder on my smartphone, but it somehow knew what, when and where I’d made a plan.

It scared me quite a bit and I started thinking. A few days earlier, when I had booked the �cket, the confirma�on mail I received had the �mings for the show and the name of the theatre. Google had gone through my mail, found the theatre and gave me a route, all this without me telling it to. My smartphone had become extra smart.

Looking up what Google was doing I found that all kinds of �ckets and reserva�ons including air bookings had been integrated into this system to aid people in a simpler, faster way.

As Google keeps collec�ng your data to provide you with be�er results, it also uses the data of other people to provide you with be�er solu�ons for everyday life. The Google maps traffic analysis is a simple example of that. Google tracks loca�ons of other android devices, the speeds at which they are moving on roads to provide you with a perfect analysis of the traffic condi�ons for your daily commute presented in a neat colour coded graphic and you know which roads to avoid and which signals to bypass.

Google Traffic map of New York City region

There is more to this than just convenience. Google learns from your search history and acts accordingly. Now, the results on the Google search page are sorted according to each person’s search history. Everyday search pa�erns, history of websites and where we stop searching are all useful data studied to provide me with more “relevant” responses for searches tomorrow. This method of search learning makes life easier for all of us. Your internet is finally a personalised tool to provide you with informa�on you didn’t even know you need.

We too find it amazing, and worship Google more than we already do.

16

The best part about all this is that it is completely free of cost. There is far less useful so�ware cos�ng large amounts of money whereas we get all of this for absolutely no money.

But how does all of this come to you for free? How does Google make money from all this?

A surprisingly wise person on the internet (Metafilter user blue_beetle) once said, “If you’re not paying for it, you are the product”.

What does that mean here? How are you the product? What is produced?

Data.

We’re producing gigabytes of data every day. Not just the content we’re inten�onally uploading, but data about personal preferences, choices, likes and dislikes, fields of interest, places we go, things we buy and people we interact with, which seem to us to be trivial and useless informa�on.

This informa�on that we produce willingly for free is used by Google to target us more specifically with ads and tailor its own responses to enhance our experience.

Google also sells this informa�on to other third par�es who are willing to pay to buy personal user informa�on which is of high value to them to target highly specific user groups.

For example, there is a website that accesses your Google loca�on data history and uses it to map out exact paths of where you’ve been and also shows you when you went there when you hover your mouse over the points on the maps.

Google location history mapped

When adver�sing began, it was general in its audience. With the advent of television ads, ad placement started targe�ng par�cular audiences based on the content it was made part of. In the digital age, adver�sing has become a highly specific and personalised agenda. Personalisa�on is an extremely important factor and this is possible only because of the availability of personal data.

Personalisa�on can be useful for us. To be able to find the things we’re looking for, sooner and more relevant is extremely convenient. It is also convenient for the sellers who adver�se because they can now target extremely specific user groups, much more specific than possible ever before.

17

But personalisa�on is a two-edged sword. It also makes informa�on we rarely or never before searched for, inaccessible to us. Google now controls and regulates what we see.

In the digital world, users for your content and the informa�on that they generate are the most valued resources. To put this in perspec�ve, Whatsapp was bought by Facebook at a whopping cost of $19 billion, just for its 450 million users, which is now up to 700 million from its 450 million in the four years since its start. This considering the fact that almost all of these are non-paying users.

Users and the informa�on they produce are of extreme value, so much so that the infrastructure to handle more informa�on than even available today has already been built. This is why Facebook and other agencies are trying to bring internet access to underdeveloped countries to expand their current user base.

Andrew Pole was hired by Target to use the same kinds of insights into consumers’ habits to expand Target’s sales. His assignment was to analyse all the cue-rou�ne-reward loops among shoppers and help the company figure out how to exploit them. Target assigns every customer a Guest ID number, �ed to their credit card, name, or email address that becomes a container to store a history of everything they buy and any demographic informa�on Target has collected from them or bought from other sources. Pole’s most important assignment was to iden�fy those unique moments in consumers’ lives when their shopping habits become par�cularly flexible and the right adver�sement or coupon would cause them to begin spending in new ways.

And among life events, none are more important than the arrival of a baby. At that moment, new parents’ habits are more flexible than at almost any other �me in their adult lives. If companies can iden�fy pregnant shoppers, they can earn millions.

Pole applied his program to every regular female shopper in Target’s na�onal database and soon had a list of tens of thousands of women who were most likely pregnant.

About a year a�er Pole created his pregnancy-predic�on model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter who was s�ll in high school, and he was angry, because they were coupons for baby clothes and cribs. The manager apologized for the mistake, and called again a week later to apologize. When he called, the man, somewhat abashed, apologized to the manager as he’d just spoken to his daughter and found out she was actually pregnant. Target knew she was pregnant much before she told anyone.

Science fic�on has extremely interes�ng references to this sort of scenario. George Orwell’s ‘1984’ talks about a dystopian world where everyone is constantly under surveillance and there are posters everywhere with the picture of the leader of the state and the words,” Big Brother is watching.”

18

Isaac Asimov, one of the most visionary and prolific science fic�on writers in the world, in a series of short stories, talks about a future with an extremely powerful ar�ficial intelligence called Mul�vac which is essen�ally a supercomputer with access to all data and knowledge which can answer all ques�ons and runs all the economic and administra�ve systems of the world.

The real world is not far behind.

The infrastructure Google has built consists of highly advanced systems that are capable of assimila�ng and analyzing all the data it collects at very high speeds to the level of ar�ficial intelligence. We have always thought of ar�ficial intelligence to be a system that thinks on its own when actually it is enough if the system is fast enough to look up enough data and understand ques�on pa�erns to give specific and relevant answers immediately.

And Google now does that. The first result to most ques�ons today in a Google search is the most relevant answer Google can recognise based on the source where other users looking for the same informa�on stopped looking a�er finding a sa�sfactory answer.

There is a test for ar�ficial intelligence called the Turing Test. “The Turing test is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indis�nguishable from, that of a human.”

The thing is that Google told me that when I searched for Turing Test. It just gave me this answer before giving me a link to any ar�cle about the Turing test.

In a seemingly unrelated topic, there has a been a huge drop in the popula�on of horses since the horses working for humans were completely replaced by machines with higher efficiency cos�ng a lot lesser to maintain, in almost everything they did: farming, warfare, racing and mainly transporta�on. They were replaced by technology that grows at speeds unmatchable by evolu�on. And there are already self-driving cars which have replaced human drivers, and are unmatched in safety and drive quality since they lack any of the limita�ons of human drivers.

There is a video on Youtube called ‘Humans Need Not Apply’ that talks about the slow but steady shi� where humans will inevitably be replaced by technology.

First, the low skilled workers were replaced by physically mechanised bots.

White collar workers can and will be replaced by so�ware bots that can do the work faster and more accurately. There are automa�on engineers whose en�re job is to program bots that can replace these workers. And these bots are not limited by what the engineers can program because most of these programmers are programming bots that teach themselves through “Machine Learning” algorithms what even their programmer cannot.

There are bots hat know how to write. There are bots like Quill that can write almost anything, analyse informa�on, priori�se importance, organise and structure wri�ng.

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Then the professionals. Watson is a bot by IBM that is programmed to be the best doctor in the world. It easily beats the limita�ons of human beings in dealing with complicated medical histories, in remembering every drug and every drug’s interac�on with other drugs.

Then the crea�ve professions that think they can’t be replaced. Emily is a bot that writes music. There are bots that can paint and play chess.

The drive to develop things to make human existence more and more comfortable is a slippery slope that has reached such an extreme distor�on of reality that the things that give existence meaning are being replaced by automa�on.

These things are not science fic�on any more. They’re not a story set in the distant dystopic duture you can escape from just by closing the book. They’re already here. We need to see where we’re headed before innumerable bright and enterprising humans will find themselves the new horse, unemployable, uneconomic and essen�ally useless through no fault of their own.

20

Questions Unasked Architecture Dissertation

Exploring the connec�ons, consequences and implica�ons of what we do

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My best teachers were not those who knew all the answers, but those who were deeply excited by questions they couldn’t answer.

– Brian Greene.

Looking at the ever-growing number of buildings surrounding us, it becomes increasingly relevant and important for us to con�nually evaluate for ourselves the implica�ons and consequences of the structures we design and inhabit. To be able to do this, it is extremely necessary examine the connec�ons that exist between architecture and the other changes we see around us.

We got where we are by daring to ques�on the given; Challenging the accepted and established; Exploring other ways of looking at the world. There is no reason why the results of those approaches should be exempt from being analysed using the same approaches.

We need to raise some important ques�ons that need to look at architecture and the world closely. More importantly, we need to look at how we look at these.

The aim of this research is to raise some ques�ons that are relevant in today’s context and see why they may be relevant in understanding the view of the world we hold which shapes our desires, choices and ac�ons.

In order to ask these ques�ons we need to look at connec�ons with other disciplines and probably find reasons and trace the path we followed to arrive here in history.

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The problem with certainty is that it is sta�c; it can do li�le but endlessly reassert itself.

Uncertainty, by contrast, is full of unknowns, possibili�es, and risks. ― Stephen Batchelor, Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

Humans are probably the only species that are aware of and able to think about their own possible ex�nc�on. But it seems to end right there.

Most of us go through a phase in life where we ques�on everything we are told, we talk about every possibility, we hope for change and believe we can bring it.

We talk about shi�s we see around us. We dare to stand up and ques�on.

But beyond a point, we seem to surround ourselves with a bubble of reassurance, complacency and indifference.

Maybe it helps us deal with life. Maybe it helps us stay peaceful and sane.

Maybe there’s some �me le� as yet, maybe there’s a chance to be heard.

This disserta�on is an a�empt to raise a few ques�ons and try to start raising more.

Maybe looking at architecture and the world through these approaches can help us comprehend and possibly contemplate the changes and trends we see around us, that we influence and which in turn shape us.

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01

What are the broader implications of monumental architecture?

India is a country with a varied and rich cultural and architectural history. A history filled with a spread of architectural marvels and must-see sites of human excellence at building.

Da�ng various �me periods, different kings, queens and rulers, we see a mul�tude of grand monuments, huge structures; reminders of love, war, glorious eras and people; forts, palaces, temples, mosques, tombs, churches, administra�ve buildings, stupas, the pyramids to name a few.

Artist’s impression of the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza

Awe, wonder, insignificance, spirituality, humility, pride, peace. Our reac�ons and feelings at the sight of huge, monumental man-made structures are many. We respond to the first thing we see, the scale. We are in awe of the huge scale of these structures and the minds that conceived them. We wonder at the infinite minute details that give it its beauty be it the quality of construc�on, exquisite carving, sculp�ng and cra�smanship. We feel the insignificance of our own existence in the scale of the se�ng, surrender to a higher power and feel a spiritual re-connec�on with our own selves. We feel humbled by and proud of the �melessness of such crea�ons of human effort.

Most of the common labor force that worked on the pyramids was Egyp�an ci�zens. Most of the brute pyramid workforce was comprised of laborers of people who could not pay their taxes in livestock, produce, or manufactured goods and had to work off their obliga�on to the king. They were divided into teams and divisions and were provided with the basic necessi�es of life during their term of duty. Skilled builders and cra�smen were in the permanent employ of pharaoh and lived together in villages near the pyramid site. They were involved in the dragging of the huge rocks from where they were quarried to the base of the pyramid.

Even today the sta�s�cs are mind-boggling: two and a half million blocks of rock, weighing on average three tons each; a project dura�on spanning two decades; a labour force of as many as 100,000 workers.

Looking at history, we see the name of one ruler, or group of people who got it built in their life�me or reign. We see its beauty and their glory. We at most no�ce the cra�smanship of the work.

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What we do not see or some�mes ignore are the untold stories of massive displacement of people who worked on such projects. We hear the story of the Taj Mahal being built by twenty thousand workers over a period of twenty years who were mu�lated at the end of its construc�on so that they could not replicate the cra�smanship elsewhere.

The Taj Mahal in Agra

We do not know the name of the master builders who planned the huge temples throughout India. We do not know where the many thousand people who built it learnt how to build with such precision in the absence of today's advanced technology.

We do not know the flow of materials with which these were constructed, be it the huge stones of the temples, mosques and tombs, or the marble for the Taj, or the red sandstone of the forts, or even the iron for the iron pillar in the Qutb complex.

We do not realize the impact these had on the people of the �me; whether they were taxes levied on the many to make these dreams of a few come true, displacement from the land when it was probably taken from them. And we do not see the ul�mate power one or few individuals hold over a much larger group of people.

Why is this relevant today?

We s�ll con�nue to build huge structures today and with increasing frequency. We see huge towers of 50-100 floors and more, built to capitalize on a supposedly growing real estate sector.

Many of which lie vacant to remain unused, just one investment of many. We see buildings which dwarf the largest temples we've seen. We see thousands of people being displaced every day from distant villages to major ci�es, tricked by promises of money only to feed the need for cheap migrant construc�on workers, ending up in ever growing slums.

We s�ll don't see the sources of the materials that we so lavishly use up in building. This is made easier because most of us today have access to the same materials, no ma�er where they are.

We can tell ourselves that these buildings fulfil a real need today for large amounts of office and residen�al space, with the limited land we have le� to occupy in our ci�es.

But the fact remains that we s�ll build structures built to commemorate events or people and to establish the power these people wield. We have a memorial supposed to commemorate a freedom fighter which ends up glorifying the pe�y local poli�cian who ordered it built. We have a building made to house a government that is shunned then converted into a hospital when the government changes. We have a 27 floor 'home' that ends up unoccupied for most of the year and just stands an status symbol surrounded by slums that it helped create.

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Dr. Ambedkar Memorial, Lucknow

New Secretariat, Chennai

Antilla, Ambani Residence, Mumbai

When some of these projects are put on hold, the migrant workers who work on these are o�en stranded. Like when work on around hundred skyscrapers stopped in the U.A.E in 2009, about 1.1 million indentured labourers mainly Indian, Pakistani, Nepali, and Sri Lankan were stranded in labour camps without water with their passports taken away. 99% of these people have been engaged by private projects.

It is, therefore, extremely relevant and increasingly important that we ask ourselves why we build big and what it means for us, and others we have an impact on.

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02

What are the reasons and driving forces of religious architecture?

Architecture's usual criteria of purpose, access, capacity, construction, and financial viability are simply not enough -- in religious buildings the question of meaning, image and symbol are also integral to the task. What I find particularly curious and inspiring about this topic is its inherent contradictions. Religious buildings always have to bridge the gap of being literally a 'concrete' implementation of a highly abstract idea.

-Lukas Feireiss When we think of religious architecture, we think of our respec�ve symbols; Hindu temples, mosques, churches, Buddhist monasteries and we see them as representa�ve of their religion, its sanc�ty and permanence; a holder of sanc�ty, mystery, tradi�ons and culture.

This is largely due to the fact that buildings are the most public and visible expressions of religion.

Across religions, we see many features that are different; some very specific, some very broad; tradi�ons and prac�ces that are unique to each religion. But we also see some commonality between all these. These prac�ces probably originated as a way of bringing meaning to life, a way of rela�ng to the world, a way of imbibing certain values intrinsically, ensuring certain valuable prac�ces were passed on from genera�on to genera�on whether or not the meaning was immediately apparent.

Over the years, we see accumula�on of the dust of the centuries, distor�ons of original principles and values as with anything passing down genera�ons.

The once efficient way of educa�on based on faith is now defunct as we have started ques�oning everything we once believed when told. This is also good in a way and necessary to iden�fy the fallacies that have added. We thus need to evaluate based on validity what we once accepted with faith. This is also reflected in the architecture that we see represen�ng these religions.

A growing trend in religious architecture seems to be to shy away from ostenta�ous iconography, and to instead allow the visitor to immerse themselves in light-filled serenity, free to fill it with their own thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

Oneiric Hut, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Proposed interior of Meditation House, Jebaa, Lebanon

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Interior of Matri Mandir, Auroville, Pondicherry

Crystal Cathedral, by Philip Johnson

Church of Light, by Tadao Ando

Sacred, religious and holy structures evolved over centuries and were o�en some of the largest buildings in the world, prior to the modern skyscraper. While the various styles employed in sacred architecture some�mes reflected trends in other structures, these styles also remained unique from the contemporary architecture used in other structures. With the rise of Chris�anity and Islam, religious buildings increasingly became centres of worship, prayer and medita�on.

Religious and sacred spaces are amongst the most impressive and permanent monolithic buildings created by humanity. Conversely, sacred architecture as a se�ng for in�macy may also be conceived of as transient, small and intensely private and personal.

Sacred geometry, iconography and the use of sophis�cated semio�cs such as signs, symbols and religious mo�fs are endemic to sacred architecture.

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Since temples are the only buildings from ancient Greece which survive in numbers, most of our concept of classical architecture is based on religious structures. The Parthenon which served as a treasury building as well as a place for venera�on of deity is widely regarded as the greatest example of classical architecture.

The origins of the first church was in a simple building comprising a single mee�ng space, built of locally available material and using the same skills of construc�on as the local domes�c buildings. However, church congrega�ons, from the 4th century onwards, have sought to construct church buildings that were both permanent and aesthe�cally pleasing. This had led to a tradi�on in which congrega�ons and local leaders have invested �me, money and personal pres�ge into the building and decora�on of churches.

Ruins of the Dura Europos house church, built ca. 232 AD

When Early Chris�an communi�es began to build churches they drew on one par�cular feature of the houses that preceded them, the atrium, or courtyard with a colonnade surrounding it.

Most of these atriums have disappeared. The descendants of these atria may be seen in the large square cloisters that can be found beside many cathedrals, and in the huge colonnaded squares or piazza at the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome.

Early church architecture drew its form not from Roman temples, as they did not have large internal spaces where worshipping congrega�ons could meet. It was the Roman basilica, used for mee�ngs, markets and courts of law that provided a model for the large Chris�an church and that gave its name to the Chris�an basilica.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

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In India, the idea of religious architecture is linked to the variety of religions of different periods as well as to different parts of the country. India was crisscrossed by many varied trading routes of merchants from as far as China. It was also the target of many invasions from outside, resul�ng in influences of foreign elements on na�ve styles.

Big Temple, Thanjavur

The Hindu temple is a representa�on of the macrocosm (the universe) as well as the microcosm (the inner space). Temple building started when idol worship started at the end of the Vedic period. Temples made of �mber and clay were the earliest followed by cave temples, temples carved out of stone or built with bricks. Heavy stone structures with ornate sculpture came later.

With many different types of ornate temples, there are some common features. The sanctum sanctorum or inner space is the place where the main deity is installed. The temple is built on a raised pla�orm. Another common feature is the presence of towers on top of the temples, some of which were extremely tall. Also meant to be the main gathering spaces of the society, they o�en had large pillared halls surrounding them used for gatherings and community meals a�er prayers.

Throughout our history, the temple as in ins�tu�on has exercised an enormous influence on our social life. The construc�on and maintenance of the building have provided employment to the architects, ar�sans, sculptors and labourers. Music, dance and other fine arts have received great encouragement and provided entertainment to the devotees. Being a centre of learning, the temple helped in the acquisi�on and propaga�on of knowledge. With its enormous wealth, it also acted as a bank to the needy, giving easy credits. The granaries of the temple helped to feed the hungry, and those unable to earn their livelihood due to disease and deformity.

There are several instances of even hospitals and dispensaries being run by the temple. The temple o�en played the role of a court of law for se�ling disputes. The temple also gave shelter to the people during wars.

Thus the temple has been a major por�on in the social life of a majority of our country for centuries.

The earliest mosques were square or rectangular in plan with an enclosed courtyard and a covered prayer hall. Historically, because of the warm Mediterranean and Middle Eastern climates, the courtyard served to accommodate the large number of worshippers during Friday prayers.

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Quba Mosque, Medina

The mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for prayer as well as a centre for informa�on, educa�on, and dispute se�lement. Mosques in some places evolved to include schools (known as madrasas), hospitals, and tombs.

One of the common features, quite obviously is the presence of community spaces for large gatherings of people, where the whole community around these buildings comes together. It acted as a place of medicine, educa�on and of common cultural growth when these.

With the development of separate and highly specific typologies for these different varied programs, we seem to have lost the need for them in certain ways. They therefore seem to have lost the mul�ple ways people connected with them and with each other and our buildings for those purposes seem to have lost the sense of spirituality that they imbibed all our ac�vi�es.

We have seen a change from the community to the individual in terms of importance in many aspects of society. Our spiritual centres seem to reflect the same shi� in focus from the sense of community and togetherness to a sense of individual reflec�on.

What does that mean for us?

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03

Is the “City� as we know it, even sustainable as an idea?

A city is a rela�vely large and permanent human se�lement which generally has complex systems for sanita�on, u�li�es, land usage, housing and transporta�on. A big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such ci�es are usually associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas, crea�ng numerous business commuters traveling to urban centers for employment. Once a city expands far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a conurba�on or megalopolis.

A city formed as central places of trade for the benefit of the members living in close proximity to others facilitates interac�on of all kinds. These interac�ons generate both posi�ve and nega�ve externali�es between others' ac�ons.

Some benefits include reduced transport costs, exchange of ideas, sharing of natural resources, large local markets, and later in their development, ameni�es such as running water and sewage disposal.

There are also disadvantages such as a higher rate of crime, higher mortality rates, higher cost of living, worse pollu�on, traffic and high commu�ng �mes.

New York at Dusk

Modern ci�es are known for crea�ng their own microclimates. This is due to the large clustering of heat absorbent surfaces that heat up in sunlight and that channel rainwater into underground ducts.

Now, Indian government-backed research shows that both Delhi and India’s biggest city, Mumbai, are becoming "urban heat islands", with significantly different climates to their surrounding rural areas.

Preliminary findings from the Delhi-based Energy and Resources Ins�tute (Teri) show that temperatures in both ci�es have risen 2C-3C in only 15 years. The on-going study, based on NASA satellite readings, also shows the ci�es to be 5C-7C warmer than in the surrounding rural areas on summer nights.

The phenomenon of urban heat islands is recognised as a direct consequence of urbanisa�on.

Like many other ci�es in developing countries, Delhi and Mumbai have more than doubled in size and popula�on in the past 25 years as rural migrants have flooded in.

But ar�ficial urban surfaces such as concrete and asphalt act as a giant reservoir of heat, absorbing it in the day and releasing it at night. Pollutants from nose-to-tail traffic add to the heat and, in a vicious cycle, people turn to air condi�oning, which pumps out yet more heat and pollutants, so increasing climate-changing emissions, which lead to warmer global condi�ons.

Waste and sewage and pollu�on are some of the major problems for ci�es.

Ci�es may generate posi�ve external effects. The close physical proximity facilitates knowledge spill overs, helping people and firms exchange informa�on and generate new ideas. A thicker labour market allows for be�er skill matching between firms and individuals.

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A sustainable city or eco-city is a city designed with considera�on of environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimiza�on of required inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollu�on – CO2, methane, and water pollu�on. Richard Register first coined the term "ecocity" in his 1987 book, Ecocity Berkeley: Building Ci�es for a Healthy Future.

There is no completely agreed upon defini�on for what a sustainable city should be. Generally, developmental experts agree that a sustainable city should meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future genera�ons to meet their own needs.

The ambiguity within this idea leads to a great deal of varia�on in terms of how ci�es carry out their a�empts to become sustainable.

Furthermore, close proximity of residents and major landmarks allows for the crea�on of efficient public transporta�on by elimina�ng long sprawled out routes and reducing commute �me. This in turn decreases the social cost to residents who choose to live in these ci�es by allowing them more �me with families and friends instead by elimina�ng a part of their commute �me.

Urban sprawl or suburban sprawl is a mul�faceted concept centred on the expansion of auto-oriented, low-density development. Topics range from the outward spreading of a city and its suburbs, to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, examina�on of impact of high segrega�on between residen�al and commercial uses, and analysis of various design features to determine which may encourage car dependency.

Automobile dependency is one of the major factors which shape the growth of ci�es.

Increased Vehicle Ownership

Generous Parking supply

Automobile Oriented Land Use Planning

Automobile Oriented Transport Planning

Cycle of Automobile Dependency

Sprawl & Degraded Ci�es

Reduced Travel Op�ons

Alterna�ve Travel Modes S�gma�sed

When it comes to automobile use, there is a spiralling effect where traffic conges�on produces the 'demand' for more and bigger roads and removal of 'impediments' to traffic flow, such as pedestrians, signalised crossings, traffic lights, cyclists, and various forms of street-based public transit such as streetcars (trams).

These measures make automobile use more pleasurable and advantageous at the expense of other modes of transport, so greater traffic volumes are induced. Addi�onally, the urban design of ci�es adjusts to the needs of automobiles in terms of movement and space. Buildings are replaced by parking lots. Open air shopping streets are replaced by enclosed shopping mall.

Walk-in banks and fast-food stores are replaced by drive-in versions of themselves that are inconveniently located for pedestrians. Town centres with a mixture of commercial, retail and entertainment func�ons are replaced by single-func�on business parks, retail boxes and mul�plex entertainment complexes, each surrounded by large tracts of parking.

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These kinds of environments require automobiles to access them, thus inducing even more traffic onto the increased road space. This results in conges�on, and the cycle above con�nues.

Roads get ever bigger, consuming ever greater tracts of land. Public transit becomes less and less viable and socially s�gma�sed, eventually becoming a minority form of transporta�on. People's choices and freedoms to live func�onal lives without the use of the car are greatly reduced. Such ci�es are automobile dependent.

Automobile dependency is seen primarily as an issue of environmental sustainability due to the consump�on of non-renewable resources and produc�on of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. But it is also an issue of social and cultural sustainability. Like gated communi�es, the private automobile produces physical separa�on between people and reduces the opportuni�es for unstructured social encounters.

Urban sprawl has been a feature of ci�es for as long as they have existed. The dynamic of rich inner city residents moving out to the lower density suburbs of the town can be traced back to an�quity. The term "urban sprawl" was first used in an ar�cle in the London Times in 1955 as a nega�ve comment on the state of London’s outskirts. However, London had been sprawling out of its medieval confines within the city since the 18th century.

Urban sprawl is associated with a number of nega�ve environmental and public health outcomes, with the primary result being increased dependence on automobiles.

Government subsidies for infrastructure o�en disguise the true cost of sprawl. Examples include subsidies for highway building, fossil fuels, and electricity.

Los Angeles at Dawn

A paradox of intensifica�on was proposed; urban intensifica�on which increases popula�on density will reduce per capita car use, with benefits to the global environment, but will also increase concentra�ons of motor traffic, worsening the local environment in those loca�ons where it occurs.

At the level of the neighbourhood or individual development, posi�ve measures (like improvements to public transport) are usually insufficient to counteract the traffic effect of increasing popula�on density.

This leaves policy-makers with four choices: intensify and accept the local consequences sprawl and accept the wider consequences a compromise with some element of both Intensify accompanied by more radical measures such as parking restric�ons, closing roads to traffic and car-free zones.

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Smart growth is an urban planning and transporta�on theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centres to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighbourhood schools, and mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. The term 'smart growth' is par�cularly used in North America. In Europe and par�cularly the UK, the terms 'Compact city' or 'urban intensifica�on' have o�en been used to describe similar concepts.

Complete Streets is a transporta�on policy and design approach in the US that requires streets to be planned, designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abili�es regardless of their mode of transporta�on.

Complete Streets allow for safe travel by those walking, bicycling, driving automobiles, riding public transporta�on, or delivering goods. Complete Streets emphasize the importance of safe access for all users, not just automobiles. There are similar concepts of living streets, Woonerf in the Netherlands, and home zones in the UK.

Shared space, Giles Circus, Ipswich

Smart growth values long-range, regional considera�ons of sustainability over a short-term focus. Its goals are to achieve a unique sense of community and place; expand the range of transporta�on, employment, and housing choices; equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and promote public health.

Smart growth is seen an alterna�ve to urban sprawl, traffic conges�on, disconnected neighbourhoods, and urban decay. Its principles challenge old assump�ons in urban planning, such as the value of detached houses and automobile use.

But there is a counterpoint that raising densi�es result in more expensive real estate, greater road conges�on and more localized air pollu�on. Others counter that traffic conges�on is a result not of popula�on density but of parking capacity. At a broader level, there is evidence to indicate a strong nega�ve correla�on between the total energy consump�on of a city and its overall urban density, i.e. the lower the density, the more energy consumed.

Ci�es also extend far beyond their physical boundaries in their reach for resources making it almost impossible to make a city a self-sufficient en�ty.

For example, the booming construc�on industry in Chennai is fed largely by sand from the river Palar that runs around 50-60km south of the city. The sand is being sucked from the river at a much faster rate than is allowed leading to almost 10 �mes the allowed amount being mined from the river bed.

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Depth of illegal sand mining at Pazhayaseevaram village, Palar River, Kanchipuram district

Extraction and transportation of illegal sand at Palar River

The river bed itself has gone down more than 30 feet in some places where repeated and excessive mining has happened.

The river which was once filled with water and that provided water for irriga�on and other purposes to all the villages along its course now remains dry for most of the year with no water available for the people in the villages. This is especially ironic because there is a water packaging unit along the river that packages water extracted from this river and supplies the en�re southern railway network as ‘Rail Neer’ and also a unit that pumps water for supply to Chennai city again while villagers right along the river have to get excessive permissions to draw water.

Even though this ac�vity is not exclusively for Chennai, Chennai is one of the major sources of pressure, and one of the major beneficiaries.

There is so much in a city that is problema�c and troublesome. Maybe because of its sheer scale and our inability to create systems that large without significantly altering our surroundings or even to predict their con�nued working, we might be unsuccessful in crea�ng an en�ty this large that actually sustains itself.

Is it not �me to ask ourselves what we are doing?

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Academic WRITING ASHOKA UNIVERSITY

01

Standardisation of Space in School Design and Effects on Behaviour and Learning Outcomes

“Mass education was the ingenious machine constructed by industrialism to produce the kind of adults it needed. . . Even today it retains throwback elements from pre-industrial society. Yet the whole idea of assembling masses of students (raw material) to be processed by teachers (workers) in a centrally located school (factory) was a stroke of industrial genius. The whole administrative hierarchy of education, as it grew up, followed the model of industrial bureaucracy. The very organization of knowledge into permanent disciplines was grounded on industrial assumptions. Children marched from place to place and sat in assigned stations. Bells rang to announce changes of time. . .The inner life of school became an anticipatory mirror, a perfect introduction to industrial society. The most criticised features of education today – the regimentation, the lack of individualisation, the rigid systems of seating, grouping, grading and marking, the authoritarian role of the teacher – are precisely those that made mass public education so effective an instrument of adaptation for its place and time” – Alwin Toffler, Future Shock Introduc�on There are some factory-like aspects to educa�on that developed as the systems of mass public educa�on started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as the bulk processing of students grouped by age, a typical curriculum that precludes learning at individual speeds, and a focus on producing a certain uniform product (Strauss, 2015). Around the same �me, in the first half of the twen�eth century, the modern architecture movement began with a focus on func�onality, industrial materials and an industrial aesthe�cs (Tietz, 1999). The physical form of most school buildings has barely changed since mass educa�on was established in its basic form in the early 20th century (Jilk, 2009). Industrialisa�on had the effect of increasing standardisa�on and mass produc�on to improve efficiency during this �me and this affected developments in architecture as well.

The schools that housed the educa�on system reflected the same standardised approach with a series of regularly shaped rooms arranged along a corridor in which students moved from one to another according to a fixed �me schedule i.e. the “Cells and Bells” paradigm (Nair and Fielding, 2005).

The layout of spaces and their use in educa�onal environments are not only reflec�ons of the pedagogy but generate their own effects on pedagogy and its outputs (Peatross and Peponis, 1995). Taylor and Vlastos (1975) argues that the quality of the physical environment of a school makes a difference in behaviour and learning of children.

Despite research into the link between the architecture of schools and learning outcomes, not much research seems to have been done on the effect of standardised spaces on children in schools. The paper will be looking at the origins and growth of standardisa�on, its impact on architecture and educa�on systems and finally, the effects of this standardisa�on on the behaviour of students. In order to understand the connec�ons between built environment and behaviour, the paper will look at exis�ng research on the impact of architecture and built environment on the behaviour of occupants, and research on connec�ons between pedagogy and school design.

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Sec�on 1: Standardisa�on and Architecture Standardisa�on became prevalent and spread with the development of mechanised produc�on, industrialisa�on and mass produc�on. Higgins and Halstrom (2007) write that with mechanised produc�on, standardisa�on gained a new dignity leading to old unique cra�s’ artefacts giving way to homogeneous products with interchangeable parts. A�er World War I, mass produc�on boomed with things like cars, household appliances, agricultural machinery, relying intensively on standardised components and design conven�ons.

This development, and the related rise of the engineers themselves as a newly professionalized body to a pinnacle of power and pres�ge in industry, triggered the emergence of an interna�onal (and interna�onalist) standardiza�on movement in the 1920s. (Higgins, Hallstrom, 2007) This standardisa�on was a phenomenon in architecture as well, with the rapid increase in the need for more buildings and newer types of buildings, for example factories, large public schools etc. The rapid demand led to a need for speed in addressing that demand. This was aided by the development of modular produc�on, which affected methods of construc�on as well. Major steps were taken by nineteenth century architecture toward prefabrica�on and standardisa�on (Picon, 2008). Budden(1916), wri�ng about the standardisa�on of design elements in the domes�c architecture of England, talks about the connec�on between vastness of a demand of a uniform character, the urgent need for inexpensive construc�on and the existence of mechanical produc�on. A logical result of this connec�on is a standardisa�on of elements and details of design.

It is a consequence whose inevitability becomes the more obvious the be�er its origins are appreciated. Stock pa�erns have been evoked by an irresis�ble demand, by the opera�on of economic laws to which no effec�ve opposi�on is now possible, even if it were desirable. (Budden, 1916) He asserts that standardisa�on is inevitable as it is dictated by economic condi�ons and a large demand that are valid considera�ons and that what should be essen�al is that the form being repeated be good in itself at a level where repe��on can be sustained. “A form bad in its inception becomes insupportable when repeated indefinitely” (Budden, 1916). The author suggests that it is possible within a restricted register of design elements, to achieve endless varia�on in effect. This necessity drove standardisa�on of buildings according to the basic func�ons required of these buildings.

Form indeed does follow func�on; Sullivan was right. But func�on must be a greater concept than the modernists have made it out to be. (Harrigan, 1950) But beyond this func�onality and concentra�on on efficiency that drove modern architecture, for many modern architects it was only a path leading to a be�er understanding of how architecture is truly about what space can do for people. Gropius in his 1936 book, The New Architecture and the Bauhaus, writes that there are two sides to func�onalism in architecture.

The removal of ornament, emphasis on structural func�ons and economical solu�ons represented only the material side of the approach to modern architecture. The other was the “aesthetic satisfaction of the human soul”.

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What is far more important than this structural economy and its func�onal emphasis is the intellectual achievement which has made possible a new spa�al vision. For whereas building is merely a ma�er of methods and materials, architecture implies the mastery of space. (Gropius, 1936) Func�onalism was not an exclusive achievement of the period of Modern architecture, with many earlier periods believing in func�onalism. Though they didn’t not have modern media – iron, steel, concrete, glass – they expressed it in the building materials available to them (Zucker, 1942-1943). Though func�ons of buildings have always shaped how they have been designed throughout history, they o�en worked within the constraints of size and scale posed by the materials they were built with. These constraints were largely removed by the flexibility of modern industrial building materials. The modern media and the modular process came about as a result of industrialisa�on which had an impact on architecture as well.

Hryniewiecki writes that there are two different ways of looking at architectural industrialisa�on.

On one hand, there is the argument that only by industrialising its technical processes could modern architecture hope to cope with the growing needs of world popula�on, especially for housing. On the other hand, there is another considera�on: how to achieve all this without encroaching very considerably on other fields of life. In addi�on to housing, this also extends to essen�al communal buildings as schools, hospitals, and cultural centres to which similar rules and considera�ons apply as to the house (Hryniewiecki,1961).

The design of our learning spaces has also been shaped by the same forces of industrialisa�on and standardisa�on. To understand the links between industrialisa�on and schools, we need to trace the origin of systems of mass educa�on and how they manifested as spaces.

Sec�on 2: Industrialisa�on, Educa�on systems and School Design The first mass educa�on systems were started and went through radical shi�s as a result of industrialisa�on. Wa�ers writes about the history of the educa�on system in the United States of America. In America, Industrialisa�on happened in phases with dis�nct effects on the structure of society and on educa�on as well.

The phase of early industrialisa�on in the early nineteenth century saw a large number of people migra�ng from rural areas to urban centres, shi�s to wage labour and a division of labour. This meant extensive urbanisa�on both in towns and ci�es, which was accompanied by a huge social transforma�on as well. There was a need to educate much larger numbers of people than before. This resulted in the crea�on of systems of mass public educa�on and the earliest state subsidies to educa�on and the first compulsory schooling law. Mass produced textbooks and rote learning were some of the features of this �me. The second phase of industrialisa�on in the second half of the nineteenth century saw the development of railroads, the growth of huge metropolises and mechanised produc�on. This period in educa�on saw the first spread of tui�on free schooling, passing of more compulsory school laws, the development of extensive age-graded self-contained classrooms in urban school systems. The third phase in the first half of the twen�eth century saw the rise of assembly-line factories and the growth of a consumer economy. In educa�on, there was a growth of standardised tes�ng and an implementa�on of compulsory school laws. (Wa�ers, 2015)

42

These systems were similar in many ways to the factories that these schools were to designed to equip people for. These were some aspects such as the bulk processing of students, grouped by age, a focus on producing a certain uniform product with a standardised approach to the curriculum that precluded learning at individual speeds (Strauss, 2015).

There are also earlier examples of factory like schooling, notably monitorial schools of the early nineteenth century, where one teacher would be in charge of up to several hundred students in one massive classroom, with the more advanced students ac�ng as “monitors” of their classmates (Wa�ers, 2015). Gislason (2007) writes that these schools were large, housing anywhere between 280 to 1200 children. Students were graded by performance and were seated accordingly, rather than the spa�al grouping by age or subject that we see as general prac�ce.

Arguably, the physical form of most school buildings has barely changed since mass educa�on was first established in its basic form at the beginning of the twen�eth century (Jilk, 2009).

The tradi�onal classroom se�ng that we see is a result of a process based not on educa�onal effec�veness in terms of student-oriented learning, but on space efficiency, reflec�ng the same industrial approach. Nair and Fielding (2005) write that the early original classroom model involved placing several regularly shaped interchangeable classrooms along a double loaded corridor that could be easily supervised i.e. the “Cells and Bells” paradigm. This was efficient from the point of use of space and provided adults with the most control. This worked best if the day was broken down into neat li�le segments announced by bells, leading to the term “cells and bells”. The vast majority of school buildings are in fact cells-and-bells models (Nair and Fielding, 2005).

The design of learning environments is a complex assignment. While the solu�ons may be simple or elegant, they can almost never be "simplis�c" (Nair and Fielding, 2005). Jilk (2009) writes that there are limits on our design of learning environments due to its origins in the Fordist mentality of industrial, assembly line efficiencies and the a�empt to fit the shape and form of the building to its efficiency needs.

In Classroom Discourse and the Space of Learning, the authors make the point that is highly unlikely that there is any one par�cular way of arranging for learning that is conducive to all kinds of learning. In order to find effec�ve ways of arranging for learning, researchers need to first address what it is that should be learned in each case and find the different condi�ons that are conducive to different kinds of learning (Marton, Tsui, 2004).

Typical campuses are regarded as a place where learning is supposed to occur but are themselves not considered to be the source of learning. As long as space is understood as a container or sta�c backdrop to experience it will be disregarded in educa�onal research (Judson, 2006).

Neglect of the spa�al dimension in educa�onal research is due in part to its 'invisibility': "the 'everyday', by its very nature, is difficult to grasp. Its very "normality', its very 'taken-for-grantedness', 'all-around-us-ness', makes it elusive to pin down, to take stock of". (Judson, 2006) To look at improving learning, we cannot ignore the spaces that learning is supposed to happen in. We need look at the effects of spaces on the behaviour of its occupants and understand how

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learning spaces can affect children and their learning processes to be�er shape the way we design learning spaces.

Sec�on 3: Impact of schools on behaviour and learning outcomes of students The loca�ons of daily life through which human beings ac�vely experience the world are centres of meanings; they are places that are fundamentally important to existence (Berry, 1970; Gruenewald, 2003; Relph, 1976). The spaces we inhabit have an impact in how we feel, behave and interact within them. The same applies to the ways in which we design and create our learning environments. Schools, like other constructed spaces, are built environments that convey potent messages about how to think and act within a par�cular milieu (Markus, 1993).

Gislason(2007) asserts that it is a mistake to bracket the psychosocial dynamics of a classroom and set them apart from the school’s built form. School spaces are not inert containers or backdrops to curriculum processes but are ac�ve processes in process that are understood and experienced in a mul�plicity of ways (Crang & Thri�, 1999, p.3).

Annesley(2002) argues that “the design of a school affects the way pupils and staff interact, and their motivation and self-esteem”. She con�nues by saying that “these factors in turn have an effect on learning”. Buildings communicate ideas, form percep�ons, and guide ac�ons, as might a teacher. Buildings are indeed loaded with messages regarding how one should talk, behave, interact, and so on (Peponis & Wineman, 2002).

Gislason (2007) writes that the built environment “teaches” percep�on and behaviour on two basic levels: social and phenomenological. On a social level, he suggests that a place serves to “situate people within a material context which communicates cultural values and directs behaviour and perception in accordance with those values” through “spatial and visual conventions”. On a phenomenological level, a place “orientates individual perception towards a given purpose or intention, and generally provides a means of its fulfilment”. He asserts that situa�on and orienta�on have at least one important thing in common: they are fundamental to our capacity to make meaning of, and in, the world.

Nicholson (2005) tries to make a direct connec�on between children’s learning and the buildings they inhabit. The choices made in the design of an educa�onal environment represent a choice about what is and is not to be provided, based on a judgement about what is important for children. And children read meanings about themselves and the world from the environment of their school. This is the learning she talks about.

In an educa�onal context, Gislason (2007) suggests that: the configura�on of a classroom reinforces certain power dynamics between teachers and students. J. W. Getzels (1974) proposes that a rectangular layout strongly favours a teacher-centered pedagogy, for example: the student’s a�en�on is firmly fixed on an authority figure – the teacher – who occupies a central posi�on of command, in both a spa�al and a pedagogical sense. (Gislason, 2007) In this sense, there seems to be a link between the design of spaces and the methodology of teaching. It makes sense, therefore, to look at the impact of learning spaces on learning outcomes. Moore and Lackney(1993) have explored the rela�onship between educa�onal outcomes and the design of school facili�es. The paper goes on to look at evidence to show that the physical environment factors such as school size and classroom size directly affect academic

44

achievement.

The connec�on between learning outcomes and built environment and use of learning spaces is thus mediated by tangibles (e.g. quality of air, light, spa�al density) and intangibles (school and classroom culture, sense of belonging and self-efficacy) as well as teacher-student rela�onships among other media�ng variables. (Blackmore et al, 2011) The industrial era’s cookie-cu�er approach to school design does not map well to today’s mul�faceted educa�onal needs. Instead, schools and other places of learning must to reflect our understanding of how people learn. Greene, Miller et al.’s (2004) research noted that student percep�ons of classroom structures were important for their mo�va�on.

The literature review by Blackmore et al (2011), looks at the exis�ng literature with respect to the effect of learning spaces on learning outcomes. There is a growing importance being given to the design process.

Tradi�onally, learning spaces have been designed by architects and interior designers — not teacher-prac��oners. They generally mirror contemporary architectural rather than educa�onal imaginaries, o�en leading to the reproduc�on of the industrial model of classrooms. (Blackmore et al, 2011) Gifford’s (2002) analysis of environmental psychology findings for educa�onal se�ngs makes several points, one of which is that the scale of building and structural shape impact behaviour and two, that the amount and arrangement of space is very important for classroom performance and related behaviours.

Orr (1993) writes that academic architecture is a kind of crystallised pedagogy and that buildings have their own “hidden curriculum” that teaches. He goes on to list some of the lessons that are taught by the way we design, build and operate academic buildings. The first of these is that architecture is the preroga�ve of power and not that of those who teach or learn, shown by the lack of consulta�on of faculty and students on whether or what to build or where. Another lesson that modern academic architecture teaches us is about the limits of imagina�on, assuming that intellect can be nurtured in sterile places largely devoid of imagina�on.

The use of imagina�on mostly stops short of the places where learning is supposed to happen, the design of which is s�ll the cubical classroom, or the lecture hall (a cavernous space with audio-visual equipment), both of which reached near state-of-the-art some�me before the Dark Ages. Such spaces do li�le to li� the spirit, s�r the imagina�on, fuel the intellect, to remind us that we are ci�zens of ecological communi�es. (Orr, 1993) These two lessons are related to one another. The decisions shaping classrooms are not accessible to teachers or students and this might be one reason we s�ll have sterile spaces shaped by bare func�onality driving the design of learning spaces. Looking at increasing par�cipa�on of teachers and students in the design process can be a possible solu�on to address this problem.

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Sec�on 4: Par�cipa�on in design In exploring the produc�on of children’s spaces, and school buildings especially, it is worth acknowledging that virtually all of the spaces used and inhabited by children today are s�ll designed, made and managed by adults. (Koralek and Mitchell, 2005) Clark (2005) writes that there is an increasing interest in listening to children and the importance of children’s par�cipa�on when making important decisions about their lives, which forms the basis for the need for children’s views to be heard regarding the form and shape of their own physical world.

It is occupants, not architects, planners and builders, who live in places, and who give them soul. And soul is more important than appearance, although the two are normally interlinked. (Day, 2002) Jilk (2009) looks at a twenty first century approach to learning ar�culated as “Critical Pedagogy of Place”, a synthesis of “critical pedagogy” and “place-based education”. In keeping in line with this approach to learning, the user has to move from being a passive recipient of the environment to an ac�ve player in shaping their learning experience and hence their learning environment. The goal is to design a se�ng that engages the learner by design that is incomplete without the user’s involvement. The key element is the ability of the children and teachers to create their own learning environments rather than having everything predetermined for them.

An environment for ‘Cri�cal Pedagogy of Place’ is an environment where standardized ‘placeless’ curriculum cannot survive.

Higgins et al. (2005) and others argue that par�cipatory or genera�ve design involving students and teachers needs to con�nue throughout all phases — from design to evalua�on — in order to achieve sustainable impact within a rapidly changing context. Nicholson (2005) writes that all of those within a community should have a stake in the design of the new school buildings and the form that the educa�on should take. She sees the building as “the third teacher”, a “tripartite alliance between teachers, parents and the environment”.

Orr (1993) writes that the design and opera�on of buildings is an opportunity to teach students the basics of architecture, landscape architecture, ecological engineering for cleaning wastewater, aquaculture, gardening, and solar engineering. Buildings that invite par�cipa�on can help students acquire knowledge, discipline, and useful skills that cannot be acquired other than by doing.

Koralek and Mitchell (2005) write that children and young people have a democra�c right to be heard about the make up of their educa�on, and most importantly the form of their school buildings, many of which were designed for the nineteenth century.

The review by Blackmore et al (2011) says that the trend towards par�cipatory decision-making is mirrored in the research literature on school improvement. The input of teachers is cri�cal because staff morale and teacher a�tudes affect the use of space and learning outcomes.

Par�cipa�on in the design process indicates to teachers they are valued.

46

The effects of standardisa�on can be influenced through personalisa�on by the occupants of a space, in this case, students and teachers. Blackmore et al (2011) write that personalisa�on has various meanings. In the architectural paradigm, personalisa�on is about making a space feel like home, familiar, a place of one’s own, a sense of ownership, implying safety and/or privacy.

Strategies for personalised learning spaces can include mul�modal approaches to teaching and flexibility in classroom se�ngs conducive to learner-centred and project-based interdisciplinary pedagogies. Killeen et al. (2003) examined how the permanent display of student artwork in educa�onal spaces provides a sense of ownership arising from personalisa�on, sense of control, territoriality and involvement.

Korbalek and Mitchell (2005) study the case of several ini�a�ves in the UK, tes�ng the idea that schoolchildren could contribute to an architectural design process in a meaningful way. They study the “School Works” program which was started in 1999-2000, as a way of bringing a new awareness to the rela�onship between architecture and effec�ve learning. Another study is of the student proposals under the “Designing for Real” program at several schools including the Carlton School in London, the Daubeney School in London, the Rhyl School in London, the New End School in London.

Some other successful ini�a�ves are “Crea�ve Spaces” the UK Construc�on Industry Training Board’s compe��on scheme, “Classroom of the Future” at the Ballifield Primary School.

Giving young people control lies at the heart of the new collabora�on in school design.

The posi�ve aspects of allowing young people to take control in par�cipatory design and planning processes has been well documented (Hart, 1992, Trafford, 1997 and Adams & Ingham, 1998). (Korbalek and Mitchell, 2005) The authors write that projects like this open up whole new ways of understanding the evolving nature of both educa�on (pedagogy and prac�ce) and of school buildings as an architectural form, and we can move closer to a new concep�on of how young people and children explore and define their space at school. (Korbalek and Mitchell, 2005) Conclusion In The Language of School Design (2005), the authors take square aim at the tradi�onal “classroom-based model of a school,” in which �me and mo�on are s�ll segmented in a quasi-monitorial fashion. This “cells and bells” paradigm is, according to Nair and Fielding, governed by an industrial-era model of learning that is linear and one-dimensional. The authors assert that educa�on should instead be holis�c and mul�-faceted and should involve project-based learning and a mul�disciplinary approach. Learning spaces should therefore be made more flexible, in order to support dynamic educa�ve processes. Standardisa�on is driven by an ever-increasing demand for resources and has to be looked at from that perspec�ve. One way to address the effects standardisa�on in school design can be through customisa�on of space, which can be done through a par�cipa�ve approach to designing learning spaces.

Further research is needed on the intersec�on of the areas of technology, architecture and educa�on, and into the most effec�ve aspects of school design which can be made more par�cipa�ve.

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02

Tickets and Totems: Cinema and Mythmaking in Tamil Nadu Politics

In Tamil Nadu, the Dravidian movement was built on a strong an�-brahmin stance with ra�onalism being a cornerstone of its movement. The Tamil language was made a symbol of self-respect and regional pride.

The Dravidian movement began as an a�ack on Brahmanic religion, that legi�mised oppression of the other castes. EV Ramasamy, commonly known as Periyar, a social ac�vist and poli�cian started the self-respect movement and the Dravidar Kazhagam or Dravidian party in Tamil Nadu.

Periyar propagated the principles of ra�onalism, self-respect, women’s rights and the eradica�on of caste, opposing the exploita�on of the Dravidian people of South India. In several places, the inscrip�ons on statues of Periyar read “He who created god is a fool, he who propagates god is a scoundrel and he who worships god is a barbarian”. Periyar’s had a great ability to rouse the masses through his prophe�c denuncia�on of Brahmanism. Periyar in the movement that was his Dravida Kazhagam, said that the members were to wear black shirts as a symbol of degrada�on of the Tamils, have a black flag represen�ng the subjuga�on of Dravidians with a red circle in the centre symbolising hope. He urged his followers to treat August 15, 1947 as a day of misery for the failure to obtain separate na�onhood for Dravidians. There were many such symbolic gestures he used to strengthen a Tamil non-Brahmin iden�ty and demonstrate his opposi�on to religion. Periyar’s an�-religion movement became a religion of its own (Pinto 1999). Periyar also launched a Tamil cultural offensive, using theatre to capitalise on the strong literary focus among Tamils of all socioeconomic backgrounds, who hold the skilful use of language in high esteem (Dickey 1993). Some of these symbols including the black shirts and the colours of the flag remain to this day in the symbols of the Dravidian par�es. Periyar himself remains a symbol of the Dravidian movement �ll today, his iconic bearded face con�nuing to be used in the posters.

The quality of Tamilness that forms the basis of the Dravidian movement was presented through films first by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). C.N.Annadurai, broke off from the DK in 1949 to form the DMK. Annadurai was a playwright and orator for whom films were meant for the promo�on of social and poli�cal messages. His idea was to use films to aid the rise of a Tamil consciousness among the people, and he himself played a major role as actor and writer. Theatre and cinema became instruments of communica�on of not just poli�cal and social messages but also party propaganda with the name of “Anna” on everybody’s lips. He became the first DMK chief minister in 1967 and since then, every Chief Minister of the state has had strong �es to cinema. One of Annadurai’s more effec�ve means of a�rac�ng the masses was to have movie stars address party rallies (Dickey 1993).

He was followed by M Karunanidhi, who started as a playwright and scriptwriter for films.

Karunanidhi pioneered a technique where poli�cal verses were set to the tunes of popular cinema songs, which were then sung in theatres and on loudspeakers in every village (Pinto 1999). The Dravida ideology was popularised through the silver screen besides street theatre, skits and plays with the number of theatres doubling during DMK rule. Parasakthi, wri�en by Karunanidhi and released in 1952, is now considered a major milestone for the Dravidian movement. That and other movies explicitly or implicitly propagated ideals of social jus�ce, ra�onalism and an�-Brahminism.

The cinema-poli�cs link meant that the silver screen became the ideal space to assert Tamil na�onalism and construct a new poli�cal imagina�on (Damodaran, The Wire, 8 December 2016).

MG Ramachandran took this power of cinema to shape popular poli�cal support to a whole new level.

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He built a strong presence on the screen, combining physical bravado with emo�onally powerful and ar�s�cally eloquent language. He was soon popular enough to wield substan�al control over many aspects of his films, ensuring that they enhanced the DMK party’s image and his own. This message was reinforced by the use of party symbols and colours in the films. But MGR was careful to keep his image separate from the party with widely publicised independent contribu�ons to chari�es and focus on himself as a leader and saviour in the films (Dickey 1993).

Star�ng out as an actor suppor�ng the DMK in the early 1950s, he broke off from the DMK to form the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He converted his fan clubs to form his party bases, a route since then followed by all film stars aspiring to a poli�cal career (Ranganathan 2006). This along with the fact that a high percentage of the lower ranks of cadres of the DMK le� with him to form the new party, created the base he needed to win the Chief Minister’s seat in 1977. MGR remained the chief minister un�l his death in 1987.

Deifica�on of the Leader There are two main aspects of cinema’s connec�on to poli�cs that lead to the deifica�on of a leader such as MGR in Tamil Nadu. The first is that leaders like MGR have been able to build a mythology about themselves that “serves as a protec�ve coa�ng, a�rac�ng voters’ trust and repelling a�empts to discover something underneath the outer image”. Though the popularity and glamour of cinema leads to any star who enters poli�cs to be perceived as a personality by viewers and a�ract voters on that basis, not all are heroic figures, which comes with a certain “intensity of following, a depth of devo�on felt for leaders perceived to be ‘heroes’” (Dickey 1993). Hoffer writes about “the true believer – the man of fana�cal faith who is ready to sacrifice his life for a holy cause”. This fana�cal nature of fandom in Tamil Nadu was supported by cinema’s ability to encourage divine associa�ons, leading to MGR’s demigod status with many fans believing MGR would live forever, making him nothing less than a superhuman leader. Over his forty years of film ac�ng, MGR developed an image as a protector of the poor, an image fans accepted as a representa�on of his own personal nature (Dickey 1993).

His success in crea�ng a larger than life image as a protector and benevolent guardian was followed successfully by Jayalalithaa in the years to come, un�l then a leading actress alongside him in the cinema industry, who joined his party and worked up the ranks to take over the party a�er his death following a brief clash with his wife VN Janaki. She had never sculpted an image comparable to MGR’s but she used her popularity and recogni�on and her associa�on with MGR as his supporter. She became the chief minister in 1991, and since then built up a huge public image as “Amma” or Mother, this image leading to her being worshipped. There was a carefully constructed larger than life image of “Amma”, that kept her out of scru�ny from her “children” with images such as those of her party leaders prostra�ng at her feet. She created a string of welfare schemes with the name Amma and her picture such as the Amma canteens, Amma laptops that spread out across the state with her death in December 2016 with newspaper headlines such as “Amma dead, millions orphaned” (Scroll, 6 December 2016) The second is the presence of fan clubs and their connec�on to poli�cs. This creates the possibility of a large grassroots network to engage directly with a large number of people who also form a poli�cal base. MGR’s network of fan clubs which he converted into outlets for social work, formed a major part of the myth of the philanthropic image of MGR. They formed an opera�onal structure to perform social service, func�oning as a link between the residents of the areas where they were formed and func�onaries of the ADMK government who they had a direct link to, a link they felt en�tled to have as fans of MGR. were credited to MGR fan clubs

53

and therefore to MGR himself, even though he played no role in the day-to-day func�oning of any of these clubs. MGR fan clubs were unique in that they were elaborately organised, playing a significant role in poli�cal support at the local level, with the direct and stated aim of any work undertaken by them being the reputa�on of MGR. Like the depic�ons of his benevolent and giving persona from the silver screen, these acts of social service in his name and the many speeches praising MGR that followed also added to the demigod image of MGR. These unite the devo�on to the image with patronage rela�onships that create a sense of adula�on and worship.

This was followed subsequently by many actors, who converted their fan clubs into social service ou�its.

Vacuum of a Deity The death of Jayalalithaa in December 2016 and the poli�cal inac�veness of Karunanidhi have le� a void in the poli�cal space in Tamil Nadu. This is a void not only of a leader but of a leader of mythic propor�ons. This vacuum has led to the announcements of entry into poli�cs with par�es of their own by Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan, two of the biggest personali�es in the Tamil cinema industry, a�er MGR and Shivaji Ganesan. Though having spoken about poli�cs many �mes over the years, this vacuum acts as a reason for these actors moving forward with the stated objec�ve of crea�ng change.

Characteris�c of cultural regenera�on is the emergence of a propheta (a charisma�c leader) who embodies the vision of a new nomos (a new sect, new religion, new principle for making sense of and reordering society) as the basis of a new society (communitas).

If the embodied nomos can a�ract enough followers during a nomic crisis to gain a cri�cal mass of support, a secessionist movement or sect forms able to serve as the nucleus of a new society, though it may have to occupy new territory to establish the new religious-ritual community. (Griffin 2012) For example, Rajnikanth over the years, has built a larger than life image as the man of the people, leader beyond compare, for whom nothing is impossible to achieve. He has maintained a strong control over his image and has built up a reputa�on as a good humble man, who is grounded in his superstardom. In 2002, he even a film which shows him as a man of god who enjoys the blessing of heavenly beings as he enters poli�cs. Rajnikanth also enjoys a massive fan following that is as fervent in its following as MGR enjoyed. The fana�c nature of fandom in Tamil cinema con�nues �ll today, with a religious fervour. Reports are o�en seen of fans throwing money at the screen, ligh�ng camphor, throwing flowers, offering milk, body piercing, dancing and even suicides. These are “pan regional and cut across poli�cs and religion. It pervades the sacred, profane and the funerary” (Srivathsan, The Hindu, 2 July 2011) In this context the key social theory is no longer Weber’s concept of charisma�c authority or even Durkheim’s theory of “collec�ve effervescence” laid out in “Elementary Forms of Religious Life” (1912) and eminently applicable to modern secular religions which aim to reverse anomie. Instead, it is Georges Sorel’s analysis in “Reflexions on Violence” (1908) of the power of myths and utopias to unleash forces of social transforma�on. (Griffin 2012) The poli�cal usefulness of cinema in Tamil Nadu lies in its ability to create gods out of men, create and sustain the myths that give them that status, create communi�es of followers around these gods and to make this image reach the people across boundaries of class and caste.

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Cinema is not just an ar�s�c medium in Tamil Nadu, it becomes an expression of socio-economic and poli�cal change that the protagonists want to offer the people when they invariably enter their own poli�cal journeys in real(-el) life.

References

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C. K. Raman. “Symbols, Women and Tamil Nadu Poli�cs.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 18, no. 30, 1983, pp. 1335–1336. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4372338.

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Maya Ranganathan. “Television in Tamil Nadu Poli�cs.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 41, no. 48, 2006, pp. 4947–4951. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4418970.

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“A�er MGR.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 23, no. 6, 1988, pp. 223–223. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4378058.

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Forrester, Duncan. “Fac�ons and Filmstars: Tamil Nadu Poli�cs since 1971.” Asian Survey, vol. 16, no. 3, 1976, pp. 283–296. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2643545.

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Ludden, David. “The Journal of Asian Studies.” The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 60, no. 4, 2001, pp. 1232–1234. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2700090.

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Ambrose Pinto. “End of Dravidian Era in Tamil Nadu.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol.

34, no. 24, 1999, pp. 1483–1488. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4408067.

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Rajan Krishnan. “More Stars than Ever.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 41, no. 24, 2006, pp. 2414–2415. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4418338.

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Hardgrave, Robert L., and Anthony C. Neidhart. “Films and Poli�cal Consciousness in Tamil Nadu.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 10, no. 1/2, 1975, pp. 27–35. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4536796.

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“Glamour Poli�cs in Command.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 12, no. 26, 1977, pp.

1009–1010. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4365717.

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Ram, Mohan. “Ramaswami Naicker and the Dravidian Movement.” Economic and Poli�cal Weekly, vol. 9, no. 6/8, 1974, pp. 217–224. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4363420.

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Dickey, Sara. “The Poli�cs of Adula�on: Cinema and the Produc�on of Poli�cians in South India.” The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 52, no. 2, 1993, pp. 340–372. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2059651.

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Damodaran, Kar�keyan. "In Tamil Nadu, Can There Be Poli�cs Without Cinema?" The Wire. The Wire, 08 Dec. 2016. Web. 15 Feb. 2018. <h�ps://thewire.in/85254/tamil-nadu-poli�cs-cinema/>.

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Hardgrave, Robert L. “Poli�cs and the Film in Tamilnadu: The Stars and the DMK.” Asian Survey, vol. 13, no. 3, 1973, pp. 288–305. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2643038.

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"Actor Kamal Haasan Announces Poli�cal Tour; Names It a�er MGR Film." TimesNow. N.p., 25 Jan. 2018. Web. 18 Feb. 2018. <h�p://www.�mesnownews.com/india/ar�cle/tamil-nadu-chennai-actorpoli�cian-kamal-haasan-aiadmk-social-service-public-poli�csadopt-village-former-chief-minister-mg-ramachandran-naali/192512>.

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Griffin, Roger. "The Legi�mizing Role of Palingene�c Myth in Ideocracies." Totalitarismus Und Demokra�e 9 (2012): 39-56. SSOAR. Web. h�p://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-384427

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A, Srivathsan. "Fans and Fallacies." The Hindu. N.p., 02 July 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2018. h�p://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/fans-and-fallacies/ar�cle2153063.ece

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Sivathamby, Karthigesu (1981). Tamil Film as a Medium of Poli�cal Communica�on.

Madras: New Century Book House. h�p://www.noolaham.net/project/76/7596/7596.pdf

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Staff, Scroll. "'Amma Dead, Millions Orphaned': How Newspapers Announced the Death of J Jayalalithaa." Scroll.in. H�ps://scroll.in, 03 Jan. 2017. Web. 19 Feb. 2018. h�ps://scroll.in/ar�cle/823392/amma-dead-millions-orphaned-how-newspapersannounced-the-death- of-j-jayalalithaa.

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Hoffer, Eric. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. New York: HarperPerennial, 2010. Print.

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03

Architecture without Architects: Can automation make the architect obsolete?

Abstract The field of architecture is seeing a rapid spread of the use of automa�on in the design process.

Though a democra�zing force in some ways, it also means at best a need for the redefini�on of what it means to be an architect and at worst, a complete elimina�on of the whole profession.

With programs capable of designing whole buildings, can the human crea�ve effort be replaced completely? To be able to answer this ques�on, we need to put automa�on in the context of the history of the intersec�on of architecture and technology. This paper will examine what limita�ons may exist in AI systems that may replace human architects.

As long as the human race survives, we will con�nue to build structures for ourselves. In this sense, architecture cannot be done away with. But the process of designing and construc�ng these buildings and our ci�es is seeing an infusion of technology and automa�on like never before. In this rapidly changing context, we need to rethink what the role of the architect is, and also examine the implica�ons for all crea�ve work. This cannot be done by looking at the field of architecture and the role of architects today in isola�on.

Throughout history, in some sense we have always had architecture without ‘architects’. Most construc�on work was done by ar�sans – masons and carpenters, with some of them rising through the ranks to the role of master builder. Technology played an important role in the ini�al establishment of the architect as a separate profession. With the industrial revolu�on, and engineering growing in leaps and bounds with various developments in materials, technology and mathema�cs, the structures we were building developed in complexity. The role of the architect and the engineer became more defined and specialised with the introduc�on of new materials with increased strength and new capabili�es, which brought an increase in complexity of built form, with certain typologies like large steel bridges and factories being designed and built for the first �me.

The big technological jump was the introduc�on of computers and their applica�on to the field of design and architecture. It immediately became much easier to digi�ze parts of the process, for example, preparing drawings, with the dra�sman’s role quickly shi�ing from making tedious drawings by hand to making drawings on the computer. But in this ini�al stage, the design process was s�ll very much conven�onal. This process s�ll involved specific manual steps like the study of the context, the site, the requirements, the budget, and then the design and then the execu�on.

This brings us to the most recent and dras�c change to the field, which leads us to the claim we are analysing, that architects will soon be obsolete. This change was the introduc�on of programming to the field of architecture. This began with the process of automa�on of drawing, parts of the dra�ing process were automated to generate three dimensional models from two dimensional drawings. This was the beginning of a movement called Parametricism. This was the crea�on of a design approach, where design would be generated and op�mised automa�cally by the use of programs on the basis of certain pre-determined parameters and ranges of their op�mum values.

Essen�ally, the design process has always been a process of crea�ng an op�mal solu�on to address the requirements in the par�cular context while considering all the constraints present.

In this approach, all design aspects and their dimensions can be considered as parameters, such as loca�on, orienta�on, func�onal requirements etc. The only difference that parametric design

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brought was that these parameters could be defined in code and the responses could be generated through the program.

This was not the first �me that this kind of an approach was adopted. In 1977, an architect called Christopher Alexander wrote a book called “A Pa�ern Language”, in which he coined the term pa�ern language to describe a set of good design prac�ces and pa�erns of organising spaces. He had a background in mathema�cs and tried to break down architecture into a language of pa�erns, essen�ally iden�fying the form of a place (the syntax) and its use (the grammar), with a visual dic�onary of examples where it can be observed. These design pa�erns could now be replicated by designers who could use these pa�erns to achieve certain end results. He wanted to create an ever-expanding encyclopaedia of pa�erns we could use to build in con�nuity with what came before us. It was also a system that anyone could adopt and use to design their own spaces.

The beginning of parametricism also did something similar to the design process, changing it in two different aspects. One was that now even the most basic computers could run through thousands of itera�ons of solu�ons through the program, much more than could be done manually. The system could then be applied by architects to generate several op�mum solu�ons and then pick the best one. The second aspect was that the forms that were now being generated as a result of these equa�ons started to form complex geometries that so far had been beyond the scope of the human mind to design, model and hence construct. But now, it became possible to generate ways of physically solving these structures as well.

The idea of a syntax of space suggested by Christopher Alexander has been taken by researchers as a term to describe the structures for organising space. This is used to govern the solu�ons generated for buildings on different levels. On the basic level, the computer could op�mise the floor plans of buildings based on factors such as ligh�ng, movement pa�erns and on rules governing proximity of different elements. At a higher level, it can be used to determine site design and how different blocks come together on a site, influencing and varying not only the posi�on but also its shape when impacted by other blocks near it. This can be taken further higher to the level of the city, where different ameni�es, transport networks, urban density can all be mapped and a programme can be used to generate the best possible configura�on of elements to maximise efficiency according to parameters like walkability, transport �me reduc�on and amenity distribu�on in specific areas. ‘Space Syntax’ is one such organisa�on that is working on using technology and urbanism to predict the impact of urban planning, transport and design on people and ci�es. AI is being used in so�ware such as Space Syntax’s ‘DepthmapX’, designed at The Bartle� in London, to analyze the spa�al network of a city with an aim to understand and u�lize social interac�ons and in the design process. With the developments in Big Data, it is also possible now to use the large amount data that is available to us about the city and its residents to shape how the city is planned. Machine learning is being used for research in urbanism in places such as the MIT Media Lab, to analyse ci�es through street view images and test theories about urban growth and change pa�erns, that were only hypotheses �ll now.

A research project in New York ques�oned the idea of having a uniform building code for en�re areas of a city and a�empted to create a programme to generate specific building regula�ons for every plot of land based on the specific site condi�ons and the surrounding context. In 2011, Google began a project called Genie, which set out to reduce construc�on costs by 30-50 percent and shorten construc�on schedules by 30-60 percent. This project was later rebranded as Flux. One of its products is a modelling interface where parametric buildings are automa�cally geberated and adapted to specific site constraints for any site you pick.

59

This could be the future of building construc�on where developers could have a programme like Flux that can automa�cally design a building for any site picked. Finally, this can also be extended to an even broader level, to look at designing large scale networks, like transporta�on and power networks. This could poten�ally replace the architect as well.

So far in this process, the role of the architect has been slowly changing to include data processing and programming. New tools such as Grasshopper that provides an interac�ve interface for parametric modelling and the Galapagos Evolu�onary Solver that runs through several thousand itera�ons to find possible spa�al solu�ons, have been developed and made available to the architectural community. This has made the process of designing parametrically extremely easy to do and widespread. A�er the ini�al part of the programming process where the variables are set and the solu�ons are star�ng to be generated, the architect’s role is to go through the mul�ple possible op�mum solu�ons and select the final op�on and further detail out the final product. The speed at which the interna�onal architectural profession has been changing with parametric design has been phenomenal. Architecture schools have also been changing the way they are educa�ng students with experimental work and research on AI that not only keeps them relevant but also pushes the field forward.

Researchers Carl Frey and Michael Osborne from the university of Oxford, in their paper ‘The Future of Employment’, have es�mated that architects have only a 1.8 percent chance of being automated, compared to a 93.5 percent chance for accountants. They say that architects must be able to innovate and nego�ate, two things computers cannot do, at least not yet.

Richard and Daniel Susskind, in their book ‘The Future of the Professions’, write that it will be a broad democra�za�on of exper�se through big data and data sharing, and automa�on that will change how we look at professional work. Daniel Susskind in his ar�cle ‘The Way We’ll Work Tomorrow’, writes that we must look at technology not replacing jobs but tasks. Professions exist to make specialisa�on of knowledge and exper�se possible, and computa�on can democra�se access to that knowledge and exper�se. The profession can be separated into tasks, not all of which require the “crea�vity” that only humans may be able to bring.

Peter Rowe, professor of architecture at Harvard, describes the design process as dependent upon “heuris�c reasoning”, due to the complexity, ambiguity and open-endedness of design problems. This maybe the “crea�ve” aspect of the design process. Daniel Susskind, refutes that as flawed, saying that when architecture is separated into tasks, certain tasks may require ‘crea�vity’, but not all tasks do. Tasks such as preparing schedules, measuring and calcula�ng, evalua�ng performance, can all be automated.

All of the solu�ons we are seeing are weak AIs, which are domain specific and can perform repe��ve tasks excep�onally well, such as data collec�on and processing, pa�ern recogni�on and pa�ern genera�on based on specified parameters. We are looking at automa�on augmen�ng the skills and competency of the architect, with the architect entering newer roles and fields like programming and data science. But so far, design decisions s�ll con�nue to be made ul�mately by human designers. The human aspect of architecture is crucial because ul�mately architecture is inhabited by humans and human crea�vity in architecture as in any other crea�ve field exists in crea�ng new links and connec�ons in order to make spaces more human, not just in pa�ern recogni�on or func�onal op�misa�on, both of which AI is excep�onally be�er at than humans.

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Luciano Floridi writes that while digital technologies can do an increasing number of things be�er than humans, by processing increasing amounts of data and improving their performance, we should work to distribute the shared benefits. While it is not likely that the profession of architecture itself is replaced, we must see the ways in which the focus of the profession must shi� to adapt to the changes brought by increasing automa�on.

The direc�on that the architectural profession takes can be controlled by building on exis�ng skills and developing new ones. The focus should be on crea�vity that is an integral part of the design process, but also on learning new skills that include the crea�on and improvement of the computa�onal pla�orms and systems that can augment the designer’s role. Firms at the forefront of architectural work today have already embraced this hybrid role that the architect of the future needs to take on, using genera�ve and parametric design along with data systems to streamline and organise their prac�ce and pushing the boundaries of design as well. This is the way to move forward.

REFERENCES

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Frazer, John. “Parametric Computa�on: History and Future.” Architectural Design, vol. 86, no. 2, 2016, pp. 18–23., doi:10.1002/ad.2019.

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Walker, Ma�hew. Architects, Builders, and Intellectual Culture in Post-Restora�on England. Corby: Oxford UP, 2017. Online.

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Rocker, Ingeborg M. “Apropos Parametricism: If, In What Style Should We Build?” Log, no.

21, 2011, pp. 89–100. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41765402.

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Diller, Elizabeth, and ANTHONY VIDLER. “Architecture Is a Technology That Has Not Yet Discovered Its Agency.” Log, no. 28, 2013, pp. 21–26. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43630864.

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Meltzer, Tom. "Robot Doctors, Online Lawyers and Automated Architects: The Future of the Professions?" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 June 2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�ps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/15/robot-doctors-online-lawyersautomated-architects-future-professions-jobs-technology

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Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein. "A Pa�ern Language: Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein" Internet Archive. Oxford University Press, 01 Jan. 1977. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�ps://archive.org/details/APa�ernLanguage

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Schumacher, Patrik. “Parametricism And the Autopoiesis Of Architecture.” Log, no. 21, 2011, pp. 62–79. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41765398

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"Parametric Design: A Brief History." Aiacc.org. American Ins�tute of Architects California Council, 25 June 2012. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�p://www.aiacc.org/2012/06/25/parametric-design-a-brief-history.

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Hosey, Lance. "When Buildings Design Themselves." The Huffington Post.

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Davis, Daniel. "A History of Parametric – Daniel Davis." Daniel Davis. N.p., 6 Aug. 2013.

Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�p://www.danieldavis.com/a-history-of-parametric/

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James Manyika, Michael Chui, Mehdi Miremadi, Jacques Bughin, Katy George, Paul Willmo�, and Mar�n Dewhurst. "Harnessing Automa�on for a Future That Works."

McKinsey & Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�ps://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/digital-disrup�on/harnessing-automa�onfor-a-future-that-works

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Davis, Daniel. "Why Architects Can't Be Automated." Architectmagazine.com. The Journal of the American Ins�tute of Architects, 15 June 2015. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�p://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/why-architects-cant-be-automated_o

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Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture without Architects. New York: Doubleday, 1969. Web. h�ps://monoskop.org/images/d/d3/Rudofsky_Bernard_Architecture_Without_ Architects_A_Short_Introduc�on_to_Non-Pedigreed_Architecture.pdf

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"Space Syntax | Science-based : Human-focused." Space Syntax | Science-based: Human-focused. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�p://www.spacesyntax.com/.

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Frey, Carl Benedikt, and Michael A. Osborne. "The Future of Employment: How Suscep�ble Are Jobs to Computerisa�on?" Oxford Mar�n School. University of Oxford, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Oct. 2017. h�p://www.oxfordmar�n.ox.ac.uk/publica�ons/view/1314

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El-Quessny, Yasser M. “The Impact of Introducing Ar�ficial Intelligence Technology to Architecture and Its Leverage on the Concept of Design Automa�on.” Handle Proxy, Universitat De Barcelona, 1 Jan. 1987, www.hdl.handle.net/1721.1/73284

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Archpaper.com, 24 Aug. 2017, www.archpaper.com/2017/08/architecture-profession-automa�on-big-data/.

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THE ETC. Opinion Blog

01

Sex: India’s Unaffordable Taboo My Taboos, Your Taboos. Why we don’t talk about them but should.

We have always had taboos in society. Every society has its own taboos, and the things that are considered taboo can show interes�ng things about different aspects like the culture, history, religions, and morality of the society. These are not fixed and go through a process of change that every society undergoes, allowing us to trace how different events and trends in history constantly shape cultural, social and religious and moral values.

India is a diverse country with people of different religions, languages, socio-economic backgrounds, and poli�cal iden��es. Despite these differences, the topic of sex and sexuality is taboo across almost all of these. From childhood, this is certainly a topic off limits in general conversa�on, meant to be dealt with as adults in private. Any discussion about sex is carried out in hushed tones and behind closed doors.

A historical perspec�ve To much of the western world, one of the things India is known for even today is the ‘Kama Sutra’ – an ancient Indian text on sexuality and ero�cism. The text famously details various aspects of sexual ac�vity in life, reflec�ng prevalent open a�tudes of the �me towards not just sex, but also towards gender and sexual orienta�ons. There are temples in India which have sculptures illustra�ng sexual posi�ons in intricate detail. Hindu philosophy, sacred texts and literature were open towards ideas of sexuality, sexual orienta�on and gender with a defini�on of a third gender, encompassing individuals having strong elements of both male and female in them. This was first affected by the advent of Islam in India but the most important impact came during the colonial era, when European sensibili�es towards sexuality were more conserva�ve than the people of the sub-con�nent.

The Bri�sh era saw the imposi�on of these sensibili�es on the people they ruled, with even the Kama Sutra being driven underground by the sexual censorship of the �me. There was a s�gma�za�on of sexuality, a condemna�on of the pluralism of Hinduism and its liberal a�tudes as barbaric and inferior to Victorian values.

This eventually led to a change in a�tudes towards gender, sex and sexuality through a colonisa�on of the mind through Western educa�on and the introduc�on of strict laws governing what cons�tuted natural and unnatural acts of sexuality. Western defini�ons of gender have tended to group humans into two dis�nct binary categories based on the physical genitalia, but defini�ons of gender across South Asia tended to reflect a different understanding of gender as non-binary and dependent on different essences. Over �me these values and a�tudes have been internalized in a way that it is has become the cultural norm in today’s India, irrespec�ve of religious backgrounds.

Lack of Sex Educa�on Today, across the spectrum of religion, caste and class, most parents in India find sex and sexuality an embarrassing topic to be discussed with their children. Children grow up with a lack of understanding and in many cases misunderstanding of the topic. In schools, the topic of sex is only men�oned in the context of biological reproduc�on, and even then, discussed by teachers with apprehension and discomfort. There is a lack of proper sex educa�on as a part of schooling, leading to not just a lack of knowledge of sex, but other important ques�ons of reproduc�ve health, hygiene and socializa�on. In the lack of credible and safe sources of informa�on from the educa�on system or their parents, children are le� to gather informa�on from books, magazines,

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movies and mainly through pornography, with its easy accessibility in recent �mes. In some ways the wide access to internet pornography has allowed access to some informa�on, but the unrealis�c ways in which sex is portrayed combined with the vast availability of sexually explicit content on television and overly sexualized representa�ons of women in popular media is also likely to create a distorted view of sex in the minds of young children. We see the impact of this in several ways in aspects of society.

Sexual violence There is a suppressed curiosity on ma�ers related to sex in young children. This creates a situa�on where people find themselves incapable of dealing with their own sexuality in a comfortable manner, that manifests in some�mes very unpleasant ways.

Though this affects men and women both, in a patriarchal society like India, this has a far greater effect on women. In June 2018, a survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Founda�on ranked India as the world’s most dangerous country for women. This is not necessarily due to the fact that harassment, rape and violence against women has increased dras�cally, but due to the fact that the repor�ng of these crimes has increased a�er several years of widespread media a�en�on and public protest star�ng from the brutal gang rape case in New Delhi in 2012.

Despite this, in general, rape and sexual harassment of women go largely unreported as they are seen as a loss of “honour” of the women, and an insult to the family.

rape 99%

c a s e s don’t get reported

12%

of all crimes against wo m e n

250 200 150 100

Delhi Gang Rape 2001

2012

2016

Source: NCRB Census

Reported rate of Sexual Violence (per million females)

The numbers are also lower than the reality because marital rape is not a criminal offence in India. This is especially worrisome, considering the fact that adult heterosexual marriage is the rule in India, and people are expected to wait un�l marriage to have sex. Premarital sex is frowned upon, especially focusing on women with their virginity associated with no�ons of purity. The vast majority of marriages in India are s�ll arranged by parents. In such a scenario, children grow up in a lack of informa�on about sex up un�l the point where they are married to a prac�cal stranger, and expected to have sex with them and o�en give birth to children soon a�er. This is also further complicated by the fact that caste plays an important role in the lines that are drawn for love, sex and marriage. Any acknowledgement or evalua�on of the complex connec�ons between these factors is hindered by the fact that even talking about these concepts is considered socially unacceptable, openly in society and also especially within different genera�ons of a family.

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Gender and Sexuality In discussing gender and sexuality, there is widespread social nonacceptance and harassment of any person who differs from the heterosexual norm as well. Members of the LGBTQ community have long suffered social s�gma and abuse. Homosexuals were constantly subject to the possibility of harassment under Sec�on 377 that criminalized any sexual acts deemed unnatural.

There has been a strengthening movement that has brought that discussion into the public space with the law being struck down and homosexuality being decriminalized only in September 2018. Similarly, the members of the trans community are struggling with a Transgender Persons Bill that has been passed in December 2018, which claims to address protec�on of their rights, but effec�vely ins�tu�onalizes the viola�ons constantly faced by the community.

Popula�on and Sexual Health

1.4 billion

China

India

1.2 billion 1 billion 800 million 600 million 400 million

United States

200 million 0 1700

Brazil

1750

1800

1850

Source: Gapminder until 1949, UN Population Division from 1950-2016

1900

1950

2016

Population by country

1.6 billion

Projection

1.4 billion 1.2 billion 1 billion 800 million 600 million 400 million 200 million 0 1950 1960

1980

Source: UN Population Division (2017 Revision)

2000

2020

2040

2060

2080

2100

Population projection by the UN, India

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India is the second most populated country in the world with almost 18 percentage of the total world popula�on and is projected to be the most populous by 2025. India is a country where an incredibly large number of people is con�nuing to have sex and have children, we need to address ques�ons of sexual and reproduc�ve health, encompassing issues such as early pregnancy, unsafe abor�ons, STIs and sexual abuse.

In India, half the pregnancies are unplanned and a third of them are terminated by choice. This is also due to the fact that even adult Indian women are mostly unaware about their sexual and reproduc�ve rights. Due to the social s�gma associated to sex and especially premarital sex, many young women find it difficult to even admit that they have been sexually ac�ve. Though the Na�onal Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2015-16, suggests that the use of contracep�on in single women has gone up from 2 to 12 per cent in the last decade, women, especially adolescents, s�ll lack sufficient knowledge about the dangers of unprotected sex and STIs. This is also true of the topic of menstrua�on which carries with it several religious and social connota�ons of impurity as well. Despite its reality as a natural process every woman undergoes, any discussion of the topic is ac�vely discouraged. There is s�ll a situa�on where a woman cannot openly buy sanitary pads and carry it home, with it being wrapped in newspaper or put in a black opaque bag in order to be taken home from a shop. There is an ongoing discussion surrounding the restric�on of entry of women of menstrua�ng age into certain temples being a discriminatory prac�ce surrounding the Sabarimala temple. But it is an everyday reality that women face in their homes and families as well.

Informa�on, educa�on and communica�on about male sexual health, contracep�on and steriliza�on are also inadequate, not only in society but the public health system as well. In the absence of a credible source of informa�on and lack of inclusion in public awareness ini�a�ves, men o�en ignore their sexual health issues which in turn can lead to mental trauma, male fer�lity issues and infec�ons. Only 5 per cent Indian males use condoms and male steriliza�on forms only 0.3 per cent of modern contracep�on. This situa�on is also worsened by the fact that men are taught from an early age that reproduc�on and therefore, contracep�on and maternal and child care are all women’s responsibili�es. Indian men also lack the open discussions with their peers about ma�ers rela�ng to sex that are present to some degree in women and are reluctant to seek professional medical help for their sexual health needs as it is seen as an a�ack on their masculinity.

It is impera�ve that sex educa�on with topics such as female sexual health, contracep�on and menstrual hygiene become a part of our educa�on systems in order to deal with the mystery and social s�gma surrounding sex.

A�empts at conversa�on A�empts to spread sexual health awareness through some form of sex educa�on at school level talking about sexuality, informed consent, safe sex, etc. have been resisted through several protests and moral policing. With the view to generate awareness among adolescents and youth, a scheme for an adolescent educa�on programme in the school curriculum was promoted by the Na�onal AIDS Control Organiza�on (NACO) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, which led to a major controversy in 2007. Cri�cs responded that the content was inappropriate on cultural and religious grounds, that it offends “Indian values” and corrupts the youth. The conten�on was that it may lead to promiscuity, experimenta�on and irresponsible sexual behavior. Even urban educa�onal ins�tu�ons are reluctant to include these

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programs to avoid social backlash. As fallout of the controversy, several Indian states declared that the course content as suggested by MHRD was unacceptable and thus banned the programme.

The government also has a Na�onal Adolescent Reproduc�on and Sexual Health (ARSH) strategy, released in 2006 with various states implemen�ng their own versions of it. NGOs like PFI, Mamta and Haiyya are working extensively to raise awareness and remove the s�gma a�ached to discussing sexual health and needs. Some online portals have also been able to create a safe and private environment for the discussion of these topics, but all of these have s�ll been able to reach only a small sec�on of our vast popula�on with limited public awareness.

There have been a�empts in popular media as well to address some of these topics, but they have been facing a societal backlash as well and progress is slow. Movies like ‘Lips�ck Under My Burkha’ which talk about women dealing with their sexuality are met with protests and are called “morally corrupt” while movies which constantly objec�fy women as sexual objects are the norm.

Conclusion It is absurd that in India, where there once was an open and accep�ng discussion on ma�ers related to sex, today sex con�nues to be seen as a morally disgraceful topic too taboo to talk about openly. It is high �me that we create a more open conversa�on about sex and sexuality so that we can normalize sexual desire as a natural phenomenon, embrace diversity and improve safe and effec�ve access to sexual health and educa�on in order to deal with the many challenges we face such as discrimina�on, sexual violence and popula�on growth. India cannot afford to stay silent about its sexual health anymore.

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