Jayanta used to live in a small two room apartment in the Rokadiya Hanuman Colony near Kranti Chowk with a few of his friends and I joined the gang. My interview for the post went well; there were no other contenders, but I distinctly remember the enormous office of the Vice-Chancellor of the University who took my interview, and bargained down my salary to Rs. 475.00 instead of the promised Rs. 500.00, but having no experience in such matters, I accepted the offer and joined the Office of the Deputy Architect to Government.
I was an odd man out in the office, as I was an employee of the Marathwada University, and supposed to work only on the University projects and reported directly to the head. But he was a busy person having a large number of Government projects, and had hardly any time to work on the University projects, with the result I was having virtually no work, and was eagerly waiting for an opportunity to start my own practice with the UD-6 projects I had been promised. I did not have to wait for long. In the first week itself Jayanta told me that the Municipal Council at Sailu in Parbhani Dist. was interested in carrying out some of the UD-6 projects, and I set out for place which is a 3 hour journey by road from Aurangabad.
It was at Sailu that I met Advocate Kharkar, the President of the Municipal Council, who was later to act as my patron and set a direction to my practice. He had participated in the freedom struggle and was in politics for the ideologies he believed in, and was an intelligent and thoroughly honest man. Given the practical side of his profession I sometimes wonder how he could have had such a flourishing practice, and that too, in a small town like Sailu.
When I met him for the UD-6 projects, he already had his ideas about them and was very specific about the outcome. I prepared the entire set of project drawings in a week and when I went back to discuss them, Mr. Kharkar asked to give a presentation to the entire Council. My presentation was applauded by most of the members and I was told that my proposal was accepted without any change.
The only issue to be settled was the terms. I was too young (twenty-two and half years) and inexperienced in this matter, so was Mr. Kharkar who drafted my agreement with the Council, taking care to secure my interests as well as those of the Council. He asked me whether there were any norms and I gave him a copy of the IIA norms on which he based the agreement. (Norms prepared by the Indian Institute of Architects were the only ones available at the time. This was in the year 1977, the Council of Architecture norms came much later in 1989)
That started a professional relationship which lasted for almost fifteen years, and looking back, I think that it these projects which defined my architectural career. I had complete freedom in the design, the only things I was questioned about were the other technical issues like volumetric details, cost and execution. But this freedom also meant that I had to do a thorough research before making any proposal, browsing through a variety of norms, standards and so on. This process was to become a standard practice for me in my professional career, and paved the way for my teaching career eventually.
I was an odd man out in the office, as I was an employee of the Marathwada University, and supposed to work only on the University projects and reported directly to the head. But he was a busy person having a large number of Government projects, and had hardly any time to work on the University projects, with the result I was having virtually no work, and was eagerly waiting for an opportunity to start my own practice with the UD-6 projects I had been promised. I did not have to wait for long. In the first week itself Jayanta told me that the Municipal Council at Sailu in Parbhani Dist. was interested in carrying out some of the UD-6 projects, and I set out for place which is a 3 hour journey by road from Aurangabad.
It was at Sailu that I met Advocate Kharkar, the President of the Municipal Council, who was later to act as my patron and set a direction to my practice. He had participated in the freedom struggle and was in politics for the ideologies he believed in, and was an intelligent and thoroughly honest man. Given the practical side of his profession I sometimes wonder how he could have had such a flourishing practice, and that too, in a small town like Sailu.
When I met him for the UD-6 projects, he already had his ideas about them and was very specific about the outcome. I prepared the entire set of project drawings in a week and when I went back to discuss them, Mr. Kharkar asked to give a presentation to the entire Council. My presentation was applauded by most of the members and I was told that my proposal was accepted without any change.
The only issue to be settled was the terms. I was too young (twenty-two and half years) and inexperienced in this matter, so was Mr. Kharkar who drafted my agreement with the Council, taking care to secure my interests as well as those of the Council. He asked me whether there were any norms and I gave him a copy of the IIA norms on which he based the agreement. (Norms prepared by the Indian Institute of Architects were the only ones available at the time. This was in the year 1977, the Council of Architecture norms came much later in 1989)
That started a professional relationship which lasted for almost fifteen years, and looking back, I think that it these projects which defined my architectural career. I had complete freedom in the design, the only things I was questioned about were the other technical issues like volumetric details, cost and execution. But this freedom also meant that I had to do a thorough research before making any proposal, browsing through a variety of norms, standards and so on. This process was to become a standard practice for me in my professional career, and paved the way for my teaching career eventually.
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