III. College Experience; thus the architect’s journey began

When I was asked, by the interview panel for the selection of scholarship courses, why I am not preferring Mathematics honor in third world, but rather the architecture course in India, little did I know that saying being architect means being an independent entrepreneur than depending on government job would mean that I had no idea about what architecture is all about. Thinking that preparing drawings and making money as architecture was my first sin. And that architecture is just about building was another mistake. I was learning bricks, pencil thicknesses, paper sizes, giving half cut to the paper, grinding the metal piece in workshop, carrying a chain in the rose garden beside the college, sketching the flower, and computer, before I even started drawing any building.

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Many friends in the class had already learnt few things about engineering drawings, read about architecture and had coaching on architectural software. I was the dumbest in the class because all I did during the pre-scholarship period was being excited about going to India and do architecture.  All I had was a foreign face and big blank head. One day, a computer teacher asked why we chose architecture, and many gave answers from having a dream to build their own name to having sent by parents to having not qualified to IIT and therefore choosing Architecture. I on the other hand, bluffed them that our government needs architects as we have hardly 50 architects for the developing country and god be great, we in fact needed architects then, but now I cannot say about that anymore. With each passing day, I survived by copying what my friends did. Sometimes, even though my submission was the copied one, I used to score better grades, however, most of the times it made me think whether I chose the wrong profession or not. I was not learning anything than copying other’s work. I was wondering what the architecture is about? By the way about the mathematics which availed the opportunity for me to get enrolled for the architecture course formed a very small part of our course. And it was just a semester course which finished by just studying about differential equation.

Hostel life was of course more homely. With senior Bhutanese friends consoling us that they were also clueless in the beginning and that with time, we would settle well into the web and enjoy the course. Most of times, carrying a big parallel bar, and a roll of A1 Sheet, like everyone, I drove on ring road in auto-rickshaw to the college, come back to the hostel, visit a senior’s room for a friendly talk, have dinner, then go around asking my friends about the home work and spend half the night preparing the drawings by copying from my friends. By the way, it wasn't the building drawings, but rather a brick bonding drawings, arch patterns, basically all that was not about building which I dreamt(at least I thought so then).