There is an elective that is going in in my college related to the GAZA 51 theme. Gaza is a place in israel that has witnessed many wars. The city is very dense and the people there are very creative and sharing. I haven’t been there but I have heard this from people who have visited that place and also by looking at young artists work from gaza. During curfew the people come out to balconies and interact and cook there. There are speakers in all the balconies and everyone listen to the same songs. This kind of space that is created is very different and very energetic. In our daily life we experience this at home, in housing societies, in trains and many different places. Space is a term that is not easy to explain and there are many different kinds of spaces that a human or a living organism occupies or uses. But here I talk ABOUT PERSONAL SPACES.
The exercise that we did in college today started by a warm up. The warm up is a bit different. There is music played and we all do certain movements and after doing it 8 times we change. and we do it for two rounds. Later we were given thread and we had to take the amount that we needed and then make a space that we need around us. The space could be open, enclosed, partially open. It could have doors and smaller openings etc. After this first step the next was to close our eyes and then imagine the space and feel it. It was about analysing the space that I had created. Later on the we were told to move around into the spaces that others had created and quickly analyse it. So when I was moving around the space that my friends had created I observed that some did not have openings and I didn’t enter those spaces. I also observed that there were space which were too open and I didn’t go there either. Those for me like public spaces. There were two spaces that I could relate to easily and those were not too open and not too closed. but the entry was like a maze and the inner most part was very isolated. Such kind of isolated space is needed when I have ti think something deep or question myself and my existence.
The next and the last step was the remain in our own spaces and to invite others to our space. No one invited me and i felt bad but then I realised that I am maybe expecting from wrong people or I do not have anyone to be called by. But when my chance came I called a few and I didn’t chose anyone particularly. I just took name that came to my mind first. I am a person who likes to interact and mix with new people. When I talk to person I expect that person to respond in a certain manner, if it doesn’t happen i stop talking to that person or avoid talking. This I think is natural. My definition of friendship is very different and when it comes to personal space it changes with respect to what I am thinking or with whom I am. Sharing for me depends on how much and I trust that person. And trust I believe comes and builds by interacting more and more. And thus there will be soon a poem on talking in hindi.
Architecture and Life 