Of Concrete Monstrosities And Parasites
Gautam Bhatia has a knack for coining apt phrases. The Delhi-based architect who gave us such gems like Punjabi Baroque (an apt description of the vulgarly opulent houses that have sprung up in many of the capitals colonies) has now come up with another pearl. Malaria Dreams is certainly what typical urban life has now been reduced to with parasites (not necessarily of the insect variety) swamping the cityscape.
In his previous writings (besides his previous two books, Bhatia also writes regular columns for newspapers) he has always expressed his anguish at the degradation of architecture, especially at the hands of the nouveau riche, who set up ugly ostentatious structures. This book, however, goes beyond his ire at the vulgar and baneful influences on architecture and tackles the degradation of the city as a whole, the decay in individual moral values. But the anger and anguish is couched rather gently behind humour. Bhatia prefers to hit out through satire, poking fun at his characters, who are all loose caricatures of his clients, and on an odd occasion at himself too.
Written in a quasi-fictional mode, Malaria Dreams tells us the stories of seven persons a guru, a tycoon, a Raja, a collector, a businessman, an immigrant and a labourer. Bhatia encounters all these characters in the course of his architectural work. However, he goes beyond his architectural brief and studies their lives too. Astutely perceptive, Bhatia exposes the nefarious workings of their minds, their many weaknesses and foibles. In the process, he often ends up painting a hilarious picture take the story of the Punjabi emigrant to the US of A, Patwardhan Juneja, now called Pat, who has been sent abroad by his family as he is a bit of a black sheep. Pat, however, does exceedingly well for himself in the US and starts sending gifts homes the biggest of all arriving every Diwali in a Samsonite. Writes Bhatia: Like a Brahmin priest guarding a deity, the senior Juneja would stand alongside it, indicating his position as head of the household, and consequently, his right to first choice. The eldest son
would be asked to fetch the suitcase key from the secret compartment of the Godrej cupboard. He would handover the tiny serrated metal piece to Papaji, just the way the President awards a Padma Shree. Then, as soon as the suitcase cover was flipped open, everyone would pounce upon the contents like a bunch of starved refugees ripping open some airlifted CARE package..
All the characters in the book ring true be it the eccentric Parsi billionaire who uses Bhatia mercilessly to pursue his grand architecture vision but ends up not paying him a penny, the guru who collects American cars and visits brothels or the spoilt and cosseted Raja who, devoid of any income, wants to convert his palatial home into a hotel. Bhatia successfully strips the layers of hypocrisy behind their personas and exposes what they are truly like.
But then as he writes in the introduction, that is the very purpose of the book: Behind the public face of conventional beliefs lie the layers of memory, filled with personal conflicts, chaos and desires. It is from such a layer, from such a congenital defect that the individuality of a person springs. Mine is only an attempt at unearthing this defective layer, that afflicted, personal malarial layer which lies hidden inside. Adds Bhatia:If the individual is made up of his memories, his secret loves and associations, the public face he reveals the tangible, all too obvious architecture on the facade only serves to conceal. The real thing, the disjointed membranes that exist in continual tension behind the malaria dreams lie in some unidentified layer in the subconscious to which the dreamer invariable remains oblivious.
Bhatia brings to his writings the same love and intense affection that he feels for his architectural creations. And like his buildings his writing too is free, unspoiled and uncluttered. As he says: Writing permitted the same freedom as the architect had in the first stages of drawing, moving the pencil to his tune.
All in all, a brilliant book thought provoking, witty and perceptive.Like his buildings, Bhatias writing too is free, unspoiled and uncluttered.
Malaria Dreams and Other Visions of Architecture Gautam Bhatia Penguin Rs 295/273 pages