BRICK NEWSPAPER

BRICK SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE 01

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SMEF'S BRICK GROUP OF INSTITUTES, PUNE

TRAINING UNDER THE MASTERSABCD STUDIO 'AN ARCHITECTURE D-TOX'

Written by Prajakta Chakravarty

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AHMEDABAD:

Have you ever read a book, which has

intimidated you for many years, but finally

when you pick it up....its unputdownable?

Have you ever seen a movie....which keeps

you rooted to the seat from the word 'go'.....

And then when it is over (the movie or

the book)....You are a changed person.We

experienced the same emotions in the ABCD

(Architectecture with B.V. Doshi, Chhaya sir

and Durganand) studio in Ahmedabad. It was

an Architectural cleansing and D-tox. For

all of us. From the evening of 14th January

2018, when we met Doshi Sir at his residence,

till the night of 20th January 2018, we were

in an Architectural limbo, mentally and

physically. Each day there was an evolution

and new revelations, about self, hence the

way we perceive Architecture and space.

From day 1 evening, we were asked to go and

experience a space (Manik chowk in Ahmedabad),

it was Uttarayan and the space was jam packed

with eating stalls, people, vehicles, etc. The

same space was to be experienced the next

day morning at 6.30.....the place was 'vast',

peaceful and exact contrast of the evening.

We experienced the 'pols' and we could see

the surrounding structures. After coming

back there was intensive discussion on the

same, where people came up with amazing

interpretations like it was a stage where

performances and performers change.

and hence the experience. From then on every

day we experienced a new structure, starting

from Sangath (B. V. Doshi Sir's office),

Sarkhej Roza, Dada Harir ni wow, Mill Owner's

Association, Institute of Indology and

Kamala House (B.V. Doshi sir's house).

These experiences were planned in a series,

that were various steps of evolution

and there were intensive discussions

on the same, making our brains exercise

themselves, unlearn what we have been used

to seeing and perceiving and learning to

put on different cloaks of sensitivity

to understand the spaces. We have been

fortunate to experience and discuss most

of these with Doshi sir himself. I myself

realised the difference, when i visited

the Mill Owner's Association 20 years

back, in my 2nd year and explained by

one of my faculty. This time We went with

Doshi sir, who sensitized us about the

massing, the way we looked at a structure,

the quality of light and the narratives

that go behind designing of each and

every detail. There was a story to each of

these experiences.

The intensive brain storming sessions

that happened at Sangath and the small

assignments which we all did together

was a fun learning. Along with this the

most effective were the evenings, where

everyday a new allied session.

where everyday a new allied session

was organised, about music, dance,

workshops, travelling, Shayari,

etc. These things are so important

to sensitise us as humans. We were

becoming lighter each day the

barrier of faculty, students big

small experienced and amateur were

left behind. It was as if suddenly

the shackles were broken and now you

can fly high. It was an experience

difficult to put down in words or

present on a power point but it is

a culture, a mindset, a religion of

which a small morsel we carried back

from Ahmedabad and now all of us need

to ingrain that within our everyday

life within and outside the Brick. In

B.V. Doshi sir's words. A School is

a FOREST.

These five words say a lot of things,

it has very deep set meaning and if we

can understand that, we should be able

to cultivate this religion and carry

it forward.

"Brick should become a place of

challenges, where each brick is

flying" - Neelkanth Chhaya

TRIBUTE TO THE PRITZKER PRIZE WINNER-

AR. B. V. DOSHI IN THE VERTICAL STUDIO MASHUP CONTND. TO PG. 5

BRICK SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE BRICK NEWSPAPER 02

ENTHUVA: A HIGH-OCTANE ENERGY FESTPUNE:

ENTHUVA is a seven days festival

celebrated by students and faculty at

Brick School of Architecture in the month

of January every year. This includes the

exhibition of academic and co-curricular

works of students of B.Arch. and RDID,

workshops conducted by various experts,

sports, cultural events and display

and sale of handicrafts and cuisine

prepared by the students. The festival

started on Sunday, January 7th, 2018,

with inauguration of the exhibition by

renowned architects, Ar. Narendra Dengle

and Ar. Ramesh Edwankar. The ceremony

was graced by the presence of Ar. Pratap

Jadhav, Ar. Vishwas Lele, Ar. Hemant Khire,

Ar. Jyoti Panse and Ar. Sanjeev Joshi. The

campus was adorned with a number of art

installations done by the students.

The studios were very imaginatively

converted into display gallerias for

exhibitions. There were two interactive

sessions with the guests and faculty.

Ar. Narendra Dengle had given a positive

feedback about the students' work. He

also addressed everyone with his vast

experience in the field of architectural

pedagogy. Jan 8th -10th 2018 was the

period for the workshops.

CLAY EXPRESSIONS - This workshop was

designed and organized by Ar. Ninada

Kashyap. She designed it to demonstrate

and learn the techniques to work with

clay to express the emotions. These

techniques included use of potter's

wheel, sheet method etc. On the first day

Students had prepared animal characters

in clay. Day 2 was planned for thinking

of the expressions and express these in

the form of masks. On day 3 they worked on

potters' wheel and prepared pottery.

BAMBOO WORKS- This 3 days workshop

aimed at developing the understanding

of using Bamboo as a building material

and its possibilities with respect to

form, structure and construction. This

workshop provided a theoretical and

practical understanding of working with

bamboo and applying proper construction

methodologies. The workshop was designed

and conducted by Ar. Vaibhavi Agarwal and

Ar. Shital Chaudhari. They are founders

of RAY design studio. Their work focuses

on geometry, structure and material

explorations, visual arts and teaching

methods all through the lens

of Architecture.

URBANSCAPE - Urbanscape workshop was

about learning the water colour

techniques to express the streetscapes

and landscape on paper. They started with

imagining a landscape and then painting

it with simple techniques. Second day

they started painting based on some

photographs and third day they went to

Pune University and painted real scenes

in the campus. This workshop was designed

and conducted by Mr. Vilas Kulkarni. He

is an artist and author of book titled '10

Landscapes step by step'. His art works

are demonstrated in the solo and group

shows in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Singapore,

Dubai and France.

UPCYCLING - Upcycling workshop by Ar.

Dhara Kabriya was focused on preparing

artwork, sculpture and street furniture

from municipal waste.The waste was

collected from municipal scrap yards.

This included meter boxes, cables,

metal pieces, broken sheds of bus stop

and similar waste. Students had well

thought of the creative use of these waste

materials and converted them in the form

of durable street furniture.

LEEWARDISTS - This workshop was

conducted by Ar. Anuj Kale. It was about

creating interest in architectural

presentations through a story board of

cartoon series. Humor can be inserted

in the expression of spaces and people,

through this medium. If drawing is the

language of design, Leewardist conveys

dialogue between the people and spaces

and that too in a lively and humorous

way. Students understood the ways of

presenting a story about the space with

inclusion of people and dialogues in it.

At the end of the workshop they came up

with story boards of fifteen types.

Similarly, we had a workshop on

enriching the self through thinking,

role-playing and introspection called

'DESIGN YOUR MIND' conducted by life

coach Mr. Shankar Mrihda. We also had

the popular SALSA workshop by the

well known choreographer Mr. Rocky

Poonawala and his associates as well as

an intersting workshop on visualizing

and representing information called

'ART OF INFORMATION DESIGN' conducted

by Ar. Ashwin Chikerur.

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TRAVELLING WITH A PURPOSE !

BRICK STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN

VENICE BIENNALE

HOW WAS YOUR INTERNSHIP?

FINAL YEAR STUDENTS SHARE

INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES

PUNE:

Research grant of year 2016-17 has been won by

group of three students, Ojas Nibandhe, Tanvi

Shah and Shruti Mittal for 'Study of Adoptive

Reuse of Havellies of Rajasthan'. Travel

Grant of this year has been won by group of

three students, Archit Awasthi, Maithreyi

Nair and Swarupa Pawar for 'Exploring

world of Monks'. Every year the Satish Misal

Educational foundation releases two grants,

for each of these programs. The proposals

for these grants are invited in the month of

June and in the guidance of Brick faculty,

a number of students from B.Arch. And RDID

apply for these grants. These proposals go

through a jury at School and the winners are

announced on the Founder's day. The winners

get ten months' time to complete their work.

Research grant program is designed

specifically for advanced study in any area of

architecture, which effectively contributes

to the knowledge, teaching or practice of the

art and science of architecture. Students

explore architectural knowledge beyond the

boundaries of syllabus.

Travel Grant program is designed

specifically to assist students from Brick

Group of Institutes to travel across the

country experiencing and documenting

architecture, people and places. The grant

intends the recipient to study by travel

and contemplation while observing, reading,

writing, or sketching.

In the year 2014-15, Suraj Bhandari had won

the grant for 'cost effective construction

techniques in Vidarbha region of

Maharashtra' and group of three students,

i.e.,Vipin Gurunai, Yashada Potnis and Sanjan

Jadon had won travel grant for Comparative

study of regional wadas. In year 2015-16 the

travel grant was given to group of three

students, Simran Mehta, Gautam Ramesh

and Qutubuddin Unwala for 'Travelling in

Pondicherry to study the mixed fabric of

cultures'. The research grant of this year

was won by Anurag Agarwal for '3d printing

in Architecture'.

PUNE:

The first batch of SMEF's Brick

School of Architecture went out for

internship in 2017. Brick School

of Architecture has established an

internship facilitation cell, to help

the students in applying for their

internships. Most of the students

successfully completed their

internships by the end of October

2017, while some continued till end of

November 2017.

We decided to create an opportunity

for these students to share their very

first experiences with the 'World

Outside'. An informal presentation

and interaction session was arranged

in the Orange studio of our school on

Wednesday, 22nd November 2017 .

VENICE:

A group of 40 students from Brick School

of Architecture had participated in a

workshop at Venice Biennale which is

one of the most prestigious and historic

cultural institutions in the world with

history of more than 120 years . This was

the 57th International Art Exhibition,

titled Viva Arte Viva. The Exhibition

included 86 National Participations in

the historic Pavilions at the Giardini,

at the Arsenale and in the city centre

of Venice.

The students participated in a one day

workshop organized by Luca Foundation,

where they were supposed to design a

pavilion for India, in group of three

to four students. In spite of extreme

cold climatic conditions, they worked

enthusiastically and creatively and

had come up with wonderful concepts.

These concepts included the expression

of physical and cultural divesity

of India in terms of built form. The

students' work was appreciated during

review and discussion. Students had

received a certificate at the end of the

workshop. This was part of BRICK's annual

'Exposure Tour' which is goes to different

culturally rich places all around the

world. Last year, it was in Italy.

THE FINAL CALL TO ISTANBUL!

Our faculty members Ar. Ketaki Gujar

and Ar. Aditi Agarwal were invited to

present their paper titled 'Permanence

in Architecture: Context and Time' at

ARCHTHEO '17 conference in Istanbul.

Their paper looked the aspect of

longevity of built forms with respect

to 'context' and 'time' and their inter

relationships. They substantiated

their arguments through historical

as well as contemporary case studies.

This experience brought in a lot of

learning to the school and has paved

way for other faculty to undertake

such endeavours.


Colaborate | Educate | Empower

COLLABORATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN

INITIATIVE

SUMMER WORKSHOP

Written by Priyanka Mangaonkar Vaiude

Design Mela 2018Written by Prajakta Chakravarty

PUNE:

Summer 2018, Brick introduced a

fantastic opportunity for creative hands

to understand and experience the process

of 'Design Development' through learning

from material properties, craftsmanship

and technology involved in the shaping a

product. This workshop was an initiative

by CEE: Collaborate | Educate | Empower

in collaboration with REHAU, Greenlam

and ZAGA.

The participants got a chance to

enrich their preliminary hand skills for

Carpentry, Weaving with polymer plastic,

Fabrication. There were total 33 people

who got registered for this workshop. Out

of these there were 16 professionals, 11

Students and 6 social entrepreneurs who

got benefited by learning from each other

along with the skills taught to them by

the experts.

Every participant came up with

an amazing product which were displayed

and exhibited at ZAGA for 3 days after

the workshop got over. Further after the

exhibition, participants were open to

keep their products for selling or could

take them back home for personal use.

This summer workshop gave each and every

participant an excellent opportunity

not only to design & learn a skill but to

also market their product globally in

attractive and inspiring environment.

PUNE:

The The idea of design mela was conceived to give an enthusiastic start to

the semester, a run up for the upcoming semester and to explore student's creative

side, we decided to start the semester with a big bang. We decided to celebrate design

through a 'Design Mela' at our very own SMEF's Brick Group of Institutes .

The design mela intended on bringing together the faculty and students alike,

celebrating design in various ways and creating opportunities to brain storm, discuss,

experience, work on Architectural design. To achieve all this, the design mela was

divided into three segments; The Workshops- Mash up, The vertical studio and Brick 12

on 12 2018.

The mela started on 7th June 2018 with three workshops simultaneously

happening on the campus for 2nd, 3rd and 4th Year Architecture students.

For 2nd year B.Arch., Ar. Yatin Pandya, Ahmedabad, conducted a workshop on 'Space

narratives'. The basis of this workshop was to understand various elements that makes

up a space and give some essence, some meaning to the same. Apart from inputs, the

students got to do a couple of explorations, and have continuous interaction with Ar.

Pandya as they refined their explorations. In the end, the students came up with some

very interesting explorations and memorial designs, with varied themes. The designs

were presented and thoroughly discussed in front of the faculty, with valuable inputs

from Ar. Pandya.

Simultaneously, 3rd year B.Arch. students had a workshop on 'Campus designing and

planning'. This consisted of live case study visits to the campuses of IUCAA and Suzlon,

Pune. Students studied campus formation through arrangements of built and unbuilt

spaces. The campus case study also exposed the students to the thought process of two

Master Architects, Ar. Charles Correa and Ar. Christopher Benninger, dealing with

two completely different types of campuses.


INDIAN CONCRETE INSTITUTE’S CEMCON 20187th - 8th DECEMBER 2018

IISER Auditorium, Pashan Road, Pune

3rd R.N.Raikar Memorial International Conference & Gettu-Kodur International Symposium on

ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CONCRETE 14th - 15th DECEMBER 2018

The St. Regis, Mumbai

To know more about the upcoming conferences you may contact

Hemant Joshi Sir

The second part of the workshop was an

extensive input by Ar. Vikram Hundekar, on

Principles of campus planning and designing

and he showing and making a comparative

analysis of five different campuses and

ultimately showing the design process of IIT

Gandhinagar Campus designed by himself.

The third workshop going on in the

campus was again conducted by Ar. Yatin

Pandya for 4th Year B.Arch. students on

'Sustainable Habitats'. The workshop intended

on kickstarting the housing semester,

with some quick and basic calculations and

volumetric analysis etc. to understand how

to go about a housing or habitat designing.

The students also got input from Yatin

sir on various types of habitats and their

importance for the society and how they are

more to do with community building, than

just building design.

The three workshops concluded on

10th of June 2018 with a thought that the

learnings shall be carried forward in the

respective design studios.

The second segment of the Mela

consisted of Mash up : The vertical studio.

The vertical studio intended on two things,

firstly increasing interaction amongst

the various classes from 2nd year to 4th

year, within RDID and Architecture. It also

intended to have increased interaction and

bonding between the faculty and the students.

What could be a better opportunity than this,

to pay a tribute to the Master who recently

won the Pritzker Award and is the Mentor of

Brick, Ar. B. V. Doshi. . The vertical studio

aimed at understanding Ar. Doshi's design

related philosophy and thought process, by

studying his various designs.

The entire student's population was

divide into mixed groups of students from

various classes and disciplines. Eight

such groups worked on understanding

eight different models of eight structures

designed by Ar. Doshi. Each group of

students was allotted with one mentor each

from the faculty for understanding the

design philosophy, structures, materials

and technology, climatology and materials

Through this they had to can create the models. The students managed to not only

recreate models of these structures, but while managing to show case the philosophy

behind the design and use of materials and technology etc., extracted the design

philosophy and presented that as well. The vertical studio went on for three days.

At the end of the third day, each group of students presented their structures and

study along with the models created in the past two days. Some of the presentations

stood out exceptionally.

The intensive Design Mela concluded with an event Brick 12 on 12 2018, where 12

students; eight of Architecture and four of RDID, presented 12 of the best designs

of the past semesters, in 12 minutes each. This was the second year of Brick 12 on 12.

The chief guest for the event was Ar. Kirit Vora. The event took place in the Mahatma

Jyotiba Phule sabhagriha, in Fatima nagar, Pune. The event showcased the students

works in design studios from 1st year to 4th year, again in Architecture as well

as RDID. This was a good exposure for the students as well as faculty as to what is

happening parallelly in the other classes, also giving an idea, how design studios

progress along with students and their maturity in designing. After the students

Ar. Vora presenting his own work, high end residential project 'Voyage to the stars'

and gave a very valuable feedback that; Students seem to be very confident and

extremely well spoken. There is a good amount of depth in the process. The one very

important thing that seems to be lacking is, the students are still not thinking

in 3rd dimension, in volumes and sections.

The program ended with the chief guest felicitating all the 12 students who

presented and Design Mela ended with an enthusiasm for the next semester.

BRICK SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE 06 BRICK NEWSPAPER

Students at SMEF's Brick COA recently

visited IUCAA on June 7th 2018. It was

a group of 45 students from third year

B.Arch. Some of the students had read about

this campus. As a part of Architecture

fraternity students and faculty believe

in understanding and learning through

multimedia, and hence most of people had

already seen IUCAA in Volume Zero. But,

what struck to everybody's mind was an

engagement with its intangible aspects.

This campus was built for scientists

involved in Astro-physics and Astronmy

as per the documentary. The design is so

much impactful for inner self as if it was

programmed to affect humanmood, level of

attention and stress level.

As soon as one enters the campus the

visitors start going through various

courtyards of various volumes, light

intensity and air movements. These

courtyards were combination of covered ,

semi covered and Open spaces which were

placed along a diagonal axis. This helps

to discover the non-static behaviour

of any buildings happening due to

Panchmahabhuta. The breeze flowing

through these courtyards created a

comfortable environment. Additionally,

the gigantic central courtyard allows

a person to subconsciously absorb the

beauty and meaning in the structure.

The place was so impactful that its

feeling made a place in every student's

mind and heart. It was till an extent

that the group who is so fond of listening

loud music was relishing the experience

individually without playing any music.

Layers of shade and light in courtyards

of IUCAA.

Experiencing Architecture

IUCAA, PUNE

Written by Ninad Rewatkar

Space Perception !FROM YATIN PANDYA WORKSHOP

Written by Divya Mallavarapu

PUNE:

Space Perception Workshop.

The workshop started with a mention

from Juhani Pallasma. A door knob is

a handshake between the visitor and a

building, Fenestration can change the

character of the space. A perfect example

of perception and conception of space.

The students were then introduced to the

various of space making through

Ar. Yatin Pandya's book. Elements of

Space making.

Various examples and case studies

were presented to the students as

an inspiration to their exercise to

implement and experiment with all these

elements of space: physical, natural,

metaphysical (the six senses , sixth

being notion).

As an exploration to implement the

understanding from the presentations

and understanding was presented as a

challenge to students. The exploration

was to design a memorial. The students

were divided into groups of 5 - 6 per

group. Through discussions and votes. The

themes for the memorials were decided,

the students could choose from:

Peace

Freedom

Human Spirit

They were given the independence to

choose their own sites, no restrictions

on the geographical location, areas.

They had to come with a design through

a model; which is experiential, must

include the physical elements of space

making, natural and the meta-physical.

The students came with models, spoke

about the journey through the space and

experiences of the user.

The students gained an insight into

spatial design, elements of space and

team work. The workshop is a foundation

to the Design explorations for the Design

studio this semester.

THE MASTER STROKE!

KAMALA HOUSE BY B.V. DOSHI

Written by Prajakta Chakravarty

AHMEDABAD:

I sit in this corner and think about

a 'home'. I can hear Hariji's flute in

the background. I am in the embrace of

plants...somewhere a koyal is cooing and I

see a peahen prancing around in

the garden.

Kamala House! From the moment you enter,

the space connects with you. It embraces

you, encloses around you through the low

height lobby. A play of light and shade ,

the warmth in colors and again the play

of light on colors, play of heights, this

is all so theatrical, but not dramatic.

Its not a performance, you are not a mere

spectator, you become a part of it. The

journey takes you to the basement, the

'garbhagriha'. The light here is magical.

Am I inside? am I outside? I don't care.

I am just feeling at peace, playful,

overwhelmed, all at the same time.

Then as you come out in the garden

'freedom', place of co-existence with

nature in true sense. I see langoors come

and go, various birds settling down. So

many corners and nooks, with so many

memories. Its a memorabilia.

As you move, the space, the light moves

with you..it accompanies you in different

characters. Once inside, the glimpses

of the outdoors play a game of hide and

seek...they wave at you and disappear,

then reappear. What a wonderful game!!

what a wonderful play!! home !!All the stationary from the

class are always stolen by the unknown. beware!!!

Illustration by: The writer

BRICK SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE 07OPINION : CHANGING TRADITIONS

After witnessing around 4 decades of construction, you feel awe

that how things have changed in construction. Concrete was

produced entirely on the site for all types and extent of sites in

70s and 80s.

Then, only four constituents of concrete ( namely, Cement,

Coarse aggregate, Sand and water ) were exclusively used for PCC/

RCC. Using 10/7 mixer machine was only alternative available for

any type of concrete, normally. So, Concrete production set up is

usually, Mixer machine or machines are located strategically

on the site and heaps of material along with cement godown at

the back. Either workers convey material to machine hopper by

‘ghamela‘ or for well controlled project in 'farmas' of 1.25 cft

size. Mixes were prepared volumetrically like 1:2:4( so called M:15

grade ) if good control on site is there or just by 12:16 ghamela for

one bag of cement, otherwise. Water was added by machine operator

(who was considered to be authentic concrete technologist on

site). He used to decide the workability of concrete. Even hand

mix concrete was being produced on many sites.

Hardly, any testing was conducted for concrete. Neither for fresh

nor for hardened concrete. May be only some major sites used to

keep compression testing machines which were hand operated.

Over the years, now manufacturing process has changed. First RMC

plant in India was commissioned in 1992, in Pune commercially

but wound up operations due to non viability.

CONCRETE PRODUCTIONWritten by Hemant Joshi

Later, may be around 1993-96, RMC India, Unitech, ACC etc

started commercial operations in Mumbai and then it became

available in other Metros. Concrete from RMC is available

for smallest quantum also ( bucket concrete ). Quality Circle

of India ( QCI ) now started giving quality certification to

the plants.

There are 5 major types of cements now available. 4 major

types of cement additives for replacement are available. 4th

generation variety of admixtures are available to adjust

the properties of fresh and hardened concrete( Consider BASF

who has 65 different product to add in concrete ). There are

variety of other additives like steel fibres and synthetic

fibres available in market. In cities like Mumbai, water is

de-mineralized to avoid any salinity in concrete which is

very harmful to reinforcement.

Batching Plants of high output of 30 cum/hr, 60 or

120 cum/hr are available. They are fully automated so as

once the recipe is given it will give well controlled mix

within 1%- 3% tolerance of batching which has consistent

quality in fresh and hardened state. Many types of concrete

like self compacting, light weight, porous, low heat, high

early strength, architectural coloured concrete etc

are now available. Concrete grades upto M:100 are being

commercially produced and M:180 in laboratories.

Now, actually self cured and self healing concrete

is available in laboratories which will be commercially

available in near future.

Material testing laboratories and Concrete

technologist are giving lot of assistance even in 3rd tier

cities. Rather, Material testing laboratories have gone

further and they are involved in structural audits of

structures and forensic investigations of problems.

Though this is the major scenario in Metros and tier 1

cities, at rural or interior locations things have not change

much from previous era. Many cement manufacturer like

Ambuja, Birla and Ultratech etc are giving free guidance

to small customer; mobile testing and mix proportioning

facilities. They are also holding free seminars in small

cities as well, as a social responsibility.

So, now concrete has become a fashion statement!

Though some say that concrete is not going to sustain,

concrete will survive because, change is key to survival.

Traditions in Hinduism were considered mainly as superstitions,

but with the advent of science, it is becoming evident that these

traditions are based on some scientific knowledge and moved

from generations to generations as traditions. Though the

common people did not know science in it, they were following it

very faithfully over the years.

Most of the practices, customs and traditions or rituals have

some basis, some of which are truly scientific. The tradition

might also be right under the conditions prevailing at the time

it was made part of the social conduct. Later on, they get

incorporated more as practices as over the years, the actual

reasons are forgotten.

Traditions and customs were taught at a very young age and

followed as part of life because we are programmed like that

since childhood. Here are some misbelieves or superstitious

things adopted due very logical reason at long time back:

Why People Don‘t Get Married During The Chaturmas

The Chaturmas are the first four months of Dakshinayan

lasting from July ‘ Mid October. Uttarayan is the period of

northward movement of the sun with days lasting longer than

the nights and during the period of the Dakshinayan, nights

are longer than the days. Medically, Uttarayan is a phase of

a positive state of mind and Dakshinayan is the phase of a

negative state of mind.

CHANGING INDIAN TRADITIONS INTO SUPERSTITIONS

SCIENTIFIC FACTS

Written by Anurakti yadhav

BRICK SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE 08 OPINION : CHANGING TRADITIONS

Also Chaturmas falls at the time of the rainy season with a high

rate of infestation by worms in the soil leading to contamination

of surface vegetables. Leafy vegetable are a part and parcel

of all marriage ceremonies, therefore, community lunches and

dinners are avoided in Chaturmas to prevent people from being

food poisoned. At old times due to rain people were unable to

travel with bullock cart to attend the marriage and that‘s the

reason they started avoiding getting married for that months

which is now taken as the form of Devsoyani period.

‘ Why do we have Navratras?

Navratras give enough time to the body to adjust and prepare

itself for to the changing season. These nine days were marked

as a period when people would clean their body system by keeping

fasts by avoiding excessive salt and sugar, meditate, gain a

lot of positive energy, gain a lot of self confidence & increase

the self determination power (fasts are a medium to improve our

will power and self determination) and finally get ready for the

challenges of the changed season.

‘ Why Do We Worship 'Peepal Tree'

'Peepal' tree is almost useless for an ordinary person, except for

its shadow. 'Peepal' does not a have a delicious fruit, its wood

is not strong enough for any purpose then why should a common

villager or person worship it or even care for it? Our ancestors

knew that 'Peepal' is one of the very few trees (or probably the

only tree) which produces oxygen even at night. So in order to

save this tree because of its unique property they related it to

God/religion.

‘ Why Not To Sleep With Your Head Towards North?

Myth is that it invites ghost or death but since says that it is

because human body has its own magnetic field and Earth is a

giant magnet. When we sleep with head towards north, our body's

magnetic field become completely asymmetrical to the Earth's

Magnetic field. That cause problems related to blood pressure

and our heart needs to work harder in order to overcome this

asymmetry of Magnetic fields.

Apart from this another reason is that our body have significant

amount of iron in our blood. When we sleep in this position, iron

from the whole body starts to congregate in brain. This can cause

headache, Alzheimer's Disease, Cognitive Decline, Parkinson

disease and brain degeneration.

Editorial Team:

Ideation:

Poorva Keskar

Photo Credits:

Student's Photography

Club

Shriram Lele

Edited by :

Shraddha Manjrekar

Ketaki Gujar

Designed by:

Karan Rane

Ketaki Gujar

Kanchan Shinde

‘ The Act Of Putting Water Around The Plate

As we know water acts as a repellent to many tiny creatures

that roam on the floor seen and unseen, hence the circle of

water stops them to approach the plate when kept on the floor

also they are attracted towards the part of food kept outside

the plate making it safe to consume the food. This practice is

redundant while eating on dining table which is presumable

cleaner than the floor.

‘ If A Cat Crosses Your Way

In the previous times there was not much machinery and

technology. There were only carts to transport & travel in

those times.

Travel usually was done via carts pulled by bullocks, mules

or horses crossing fields, jungles etc and travel could be any

long from a day to weeks.

So when a cart is on move and if some Cat or any other animal

crosses the way, that bullock, mule or horse get scares at the

sight of that ferocious animal. Since the journey is long and

animal is scared, driver steps out of the cart and used to run

his hands around the neck to calm them. This process takes a

couple of minute and once the animal is fine and relaxed, they

could resume their journey.

Over the ages, reason to make a halt was long forgotten and

became a superstition.

‘ Curd/Yoghurt with sugar

It is considered good to have a spoon of curd mixed with little

sugar before moving out for any important task like taking

exam, interviews etc.

Curd soothes your stomach and gives a cool soothing to body

and mind. Sugar, as source of instant energy, is mixed to make

great combinations. This mixture is also considered as thirst

reliever.

Thus, having a spoon will keep your mind and stomach better

to concentrate on the work and also you won't feel thirsty so

quickly.

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