Knowing how little I know about the science of architecture, I was intrigued when I was invited to talk about grassroots innovations to a very interesting, intriguing and inspiring meeting of some of the world’s most famous architects. Rauzia Ally, half Kashmiri, half Keralite and  Guyanese in some measure, the architect of this meeting, tried to create chemistry of Sufi traditions, Arabic experiments in combining meditative structures in everyday life by famous Harvard designer, Nader Ardalan, Czech frugalist Martin Rajanis using low-cost material to design affordable structures besides lovely icons for his friends who could only thank in place of fees, and of course Brazilian designers of solar structures, tapping into local youthful energy.

Ruthan Lewis, NASA designer discovered that art of seeing towards sky needs to be resituated on the ground. Wheel chair dancer like Judith (axis dance) created appreciation for spaces they could access and enliven by their creativity. She reminded us that we are all disabled in small part.

Rumi’s poetry tells the blend of what Middles east is trying to fathom amid all the cacophony of extremes, recalled beautifully by Nader. Eastern European design of dome of wood slings was erected in 36 hours in a manner that light is in but not sun rays. Doshi was present through his voice and signatures in the film that Gomez, editor of a famous architecture journal showed. Louis Kahn’s disdain for natural light and cross ventilation leading to dungeon-like corridors and classrooms also came up in the discussion. Notwithstanding the beauty from outside and highly functional broad corridors also came up for discussions. One did not miss how elbow rest arch windows facilitated dialogue and discussion among the willing discoursists at IIM-A building. I had nothing to share except the lessons we learned during thousands of miles of shodhyatras, lessons someday our youth might like to revisit.

What was most significant was the absence of how to bring non-human sentient beings inside our homes and gardens. The example of bird feeding platforms (chabutaras) which many people from north Gujarat have outside their homes in Ahmedabad was a telling commentary on what modern designers in India also are missing out. We work hard to innovate how to keep birds out of our structures rather than finding places for them to be in and enrich our lives. Squirrels and peacocks are an obstruction to expansionist and consumerist spirit. Recently parrots had a feast of sapotas and langurs had a party of organic tomatoes in my garden at IIM-A, and the gardener was apologetic about this celebration. But I asked myself, what would I do then, barricade my garden, enclose all the vegetables inside a green house for birds to look at but not devour? How do I pay for the life and vitality they brought to our life when they partook in the natural growth? Can we create urban garden where surviving wildlife can party? Can we have baskets of vegetables on roadside trees for children to see and learn how plants grow and for monkeys and birds to have their fill when fruits and pods come? Prayas had actually done an experiment of this kind at Bangalore.

Can we make it obligatory for every school, office and malls to provide some space for urban gardens, a wall for folk artists to show their creativity and a place for poetry and pottery to be displayed?

How else will finer arts, cultural traditions and nature become embedded in our psyche? Is asking for one wall per building for rural and urban folkloric artists too much? If it is, then let us at least have a global and national consensus on creating a graveyard of all traditional art, architectural and artisanal traditions in every city and put a lock on its doors so that no young person even by mistake visits these graves and get inspired!

Inspiration can be insurrectional, imagination can breed insurgency.  Don’t let breeze of grassroots innovations ever pass through your homes and working spaces, let pollution of ‘pristine’ nature not occur, and let popular mind not be infected by virus of sustainable forms, functions, features. Ah! Mandarins, Quarantine the curiosity!