Landscapes without Nature!

I have always loved the poetic outdoors. In my five year stint with architecture, I mostly designed built spaces. But it was the open spaces shaped within the built mass that had begun to catch my interest. For someone like me, always attached to structures and places more than to people, working in a landscape office therefore became the obvious choice. I thought of it as an opportunity to interact better with forms just by being in them and getting the feel of them…
But my passion for nature got curbed when I joined as a trainee with a leading landscape architect of Pune. In order to churn out maximum designs per day, the creativity and sensitivity was lost entirely, slowly tending to a wicked manipulative business approach. After much struggle, I decided to quit…
I took a month long break as I wanted to get in touch with my inner urge again, which needed care and reassurance now. I started taking lessons in water colour with an elderly landscape artist of Pune. He was in his 80s and me, in my early 20s, trying to strike a balance somewhere. After taking a look at my brush strokes, he was convinced about my seriousness to bring back my disheartened love for art.
We visited parks and gardens early mornings to paint with the first streaks of sunshine; the early birds chirping… the first dew drop dancing on the grass blades…And I realized, I had brought back my ‘self’.
I admitted it was only ‘me’ who could understand my own love and dedication towards my hobby, turned into passion, now a way of life…It’s only your inner self that can best respect your outer self. And when any one of the two gets hurt, the other rushes to console it! Unlike architecture, known to be frozen music, landscape sometimes grips deep frost inside closed structures - crisp from the outside, but slightly hurt from within. Working with average landscape firms does create a difficult situation for nature lovers. One has to snatch lovely sunlit time and escape the locked up interiors…whenever the heart says…whenever the conscience allows…take the risk and just follow the eco trail reaching out to the orange twilight of change.

Design is a gift. It cannot be taught or passed on. Either you have it or you don’t. It’s ironic how such a subtle subject can be evaluated in extremes. And landscape is a designer’s gift to nature. I chose my second job very carefully. This landscape architect duo came across as a much more creative, sensible and sensitive combination of mortals. It’s nice when your employer understands your talent and saves you from all odds in order to direct it.To an extent, I found my ‘gift’ here. Something that I brought back in myself with the help of nature… to pass it onto her again.