(N)ever-ready

A sequence of emotions every time we were to have a design review in architecture school and it was my turn to present the culmination of a semester’s work before the “Grand Jury,” writes Riteish Deshmukh.

Twitchy toes, shifty legs, sweaty palms, chest pounding “GULP!!! Calm down, it’s going to be just fine! Deep breath, here goes…”

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A sequence of emotions every time we were to have a design review in architecture school and it was my turn to present the culmination of a semester’s work before the “Grand Jury.” I now wonder what the cause of anxiety was, they were just school professors giving us critical reviews on our design dissertations. Such logic though, didn’t prevail in those moments of truth!

The setting on a review morning was typical. You would have the enthusiastic bunch, brimming with confidence and re-rehearsing their zealously prepared speeches for the 100th time! Not that this deserved the undertone of disgust, just sour grapes, I guess. Then there were those who didn’t have any hope to make any kind of impression – had just about managed to bring semi-rendered drawings and notion of a model.

And then there were ‘US’ – too cool to be on time, too confident to have prepared spiels or too exhausted from not having slept for the last 36 hrs! The mantra “Creativity comes from Chaos” made the generic ‘US’ come to terms with our constant disposition. The real world of course doesn’t present the same scenario.

Years later I was at the inauguration my first building project. This time around, I was the enthusiast. Not feeling so nerdy, I thought, “I could get used to this confidence that comes with being ready to deliver when promised”.

The crowd had gathered, the ribbon was cut, and now it was time for the designer (ME) to say a few words (pre-rehearsed) and then it came... Twitchy toes, shifty legs, sweaty palms, neck craning, chest pounding “GULP!!! Calm down, it’s going to be just fine! Deep breath, here goes.” I guess you can never be too prepared!