While I Hang In The Balance…

I sit through the day with my family, my college mates; seniors, juniors everyone alike and together. No discretion or discrimination; for we all are united in our resolve and intent. We aim at only the bird’s eye and for us it is defined by registration by the Council of Architecture as Architects.

People question my means; they ask me about my motive, about the kind of anarchy that I seem to be supporting. To every one of them who ever thinks that 200 students are sitting here for a cause that isn’t worth the furore, think again. My means are the only ones which were left open to me I tried all the other doors, none opened. I am not here to create a revolution or to fight against any authority. I sit here peacefully to take a stand, to make sure that when I pass out of one of the most taxing and challenging professional education course in the world, I have the one reward for which I am spending countless days; my identity.

To me my identity is defined by the right to practice as an Architect after I leave my college. I am studying in one of the best institutions of India. Faculty of Architecture, GBTU, Lucknow is one of the most esteemed, oldest and best schools of architecture in the state and the country. The plight that we are suffering due to several reasons is grave. We are unrecognized by the Council of Architecture and it would render our B.Arch degree virtually useless once we step into the competitive and professional world.

My fight or as I would prefer calling it, my initiative is not against anyone. My aim is not to isolate the person or the authority responsible for the predicament I am in. My only intent is to claim and achieve what is rightfully mine; the right to practice as an architect, the right to have an identity. Nothing shall deter me from my aim. I have walked through rains, I have braved the scorching sun, I have stood silent where the indignation within me has tried to burst out, I have braved the emotional duress of being denied an audience. But despite all this, I stand, as do the nearly 200 other members of the GCA family; vehemently, determinedly, peacefully, immovably…... silently.

-          H. Roark