portfolio 73

Just a picture taken two months ago A few years ago, I wrote this article about how confused and how many questions I had before going to college. I was going to start a completely new adventure in my life, travelling more than five hundred kilometers from home, in a sub-tropical climate only to challenge my body that has endured extreme cold but not heat. I was then eighteen, curious and firing with excitement, ready to bring myself out to the world with the teenage motivation. I’d have imagined my college in ten thousand ways and often hoping it not to be less than stairs that opened with passwords and cozy common rooms for study, or a library with deep secrets. I must’ve idealized my college too much but I couldn’t blame because even after reaching the college and seeing what it exactly looked like, or worked, I would secretly hope for something fascinating to happen, at some point. It’s been four years now, and this is my fifth year. And if you ask me, I’m still trying ...

Frank Gehry’s works exceed the perspectives of any art form that it makes you believe that dreams can be woven with steel or concrete, or even titanium! However, not everyone will believe the same, or read Gehry as the kind of architect to be admired and worshipped. Some people think that his buildings are purely about spectacle than function, and that they are nothing more than just monumental sculptures. On the contrary, I am one of those millions, who have been genuised to death by the impeccable Guggenheim Museum. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao Guggenheim rejuvenates the glory of Bilbao in Spain with its magical folds of titanium tiles reflecting the ripples of Nervion River and a prodigy such as this revolutionizes the face of architecture. Sometimes I sit down without my phone or laptop and close my eyes- to think. It troubles me for some time to delve into this world without endless memes and message pop-ups but I try. I try to remind myself that I am a fourth-year co...

Someone's picture of loneliness Some fifty years ago, the Beatles asked this question is their song, “Where do all the lonely people come from? Where do they belong?”   I wonder sometimes, if some of us are clearly a case of typical adolescents who won’t admit that we are starving for friendship, or love or simply an acquaintance. Today, we’re more digitally connected to our friends and family than in real. We have thousands of friends online and lesser in reality, and still some of us experience the epidemic of social isolation. There is a scientific edge to single people’s grumble, “I’m going to die alone,” which is in fact dying if you’re alone. They say that a lack of social connection inflames the brain which affects everything with our body, and life. So the internet trolls about loneliness being more dangerous than obesity is actually true. But what is so wrong in being alone that it destroys you even to an extent of killing you? Humans are social species-...

Picture from Google Scientists, Mathematicians and especially Edmond Kirsch from Dan Brown’s latest book, “Origin” is addressing the possibility of a new kingdom in our taxonomical hierarchy. Technium : An Ecosystem of various technologies, a society of technological species that may operate even without human interference! I was unable to process my thoughts when I first learned about this- not just because of fear but realizing how there is a depth to this clichéd, otherwise overlooked statement: Technology will replace humanity.  This puts a danger sign on the various technologies serving various purposes in our lives today, that one day these might chip off our existence as a dominating race. Was the creation of technology a mistake? Should we curse the invention of wheels, should we forget the countless inventions that not only defined science but made human survival against all forces a possibility?  The word “Technology” was invented only in the year 182...

If you have, even the slightest bit of expectation that I am going to tell you about how hospitals are temples where illness is cured and priests walk around in white coats, then you may be reading the wrong article. Just kidding. You might already know more than me. But don’t worry. I have no intention to say anything demeaning about this great place billions of people depend on-to survive. I am only surprised how much I don’t know about hospitals even after having been visiting it since forever. My design project for this semester is design of a general hospital in Phuntsholing and the faculty thought we needed to do a project this huge for having stepped up into third year. It’s a really big challenge but I am strangely enjoying this stress and I tell you there is no hospital to cure this disease we get due to procrastination. So I’m trying to stay put, so is everyone in my class. A hospital needs the standpoints of various patients, their relatives and friends who c...

What is a day without light? Just a day, without light? Whether it’s bright sunny or foggy outside, it still is a day. We all wake up to a morning lit up with electricity in our rooms and have a day under the fancy bulbs and tube lights glowing towards the end of the day, and throughout the night. We work, walk, eat and sleep under the enormous artificial lightings, that sometimes we barely know the difference between day and night. On one hand, we are blessed with science. It has created a world where nights are brighter, and human activities are carried out endlessly. However, researches show that in modern cities humans spend about 90% of their times indoors under unnatural lights. Which means the biological need of the body to be exposed to daily cycles of light and dark is not fulfilled. The cycle of light and dark regulates the circadian system of the body and enhances our energy. So think about some of us whose curtains remain drawn all the time. Some of us b...

My friend cannot digest anything that is undone or unsaid. Or mysteries are what can wake her patience. She cannot stand unclear statements. She has to find out what’s going on. It’s like when everyone says that there is no solution to a maths problem, she wants to prove them wrong. Basically, her wind blows opposite to everyone else’s. This is the most amazing thing about her. So a while ago, when I told her that the Indian script has still not been deciphered and people still cannot justify the Indus valley civilization as clearly as the other civilizations, she said, “Wow.” Now that was really funny because I expected her to blow off and start googling, or atleast freak out a little but she was in the middle of maths. And nothing like that came out of her.   Plus, I was the spoiler myself. I started by saying, “Let me tell you something that is going to kill you from the insides.”   That was exactly like, “Let me tell you a funny joke that will roll you on the floor ...