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The City (Beautiful) that made me an architect

Tribuneindia.com invites contributions to SHAHARNAMA. Share anecdotes, unforgettable incidents, impressionable moments that define your cities, neighbourhoods, what the city stands for, what makes its people who they are. Send your contributions in English, not exceeding 250 words, to shaharnama@tribunemail.com Do include the name of your city and your social media handles (X/ Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn)
Illustration: Sandeep Joshi

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There is a famous saying, ‘Fathers make cities and cities make sons’. Little did I know that my own life would be sculpted on those lines.

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Way back in late 1960s studying at Patiala, I found the old city quite magnificent with its royal buildings along the Mall, lined with gulmohar trees that bloomed with scarlet flowers every spring. Patiala’s architectural beauty and royal gardens were etched on my adolescent mind.

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But then we heard stories about a new city called Chandigarh, coming up not too far from Patiala. We were eager to see it — especially its famed Sector 17 where big luxury stores had opened up, and an ultra-modern theatre, Neelam, screened latest English movies.

Three of us close friends decided to visit the dream town. To save money on local transport in Chandigarh, we carried our bicycles on top of the bus from Patiala. Reaching Chandigarh, we straight away headed to Neelam where a Hollywood hit was running to full house. Compared to the ornate Phul cinema of Patiala, the Neelam cinema’s interiors had a sleek design with abstract murals on the walls.

During the interval, we rushed to have an ice-cream at Softie Corner nearby, the new rage in town.

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After the movie we paddled to the PEC campus, that my engineer father had instructed as a must-visit pilgrimage. We made our way towards the Capitol Complex where buildings were still coming up. We didn’t understand much of their enigmatic style, but certainly there was a newness of materials and shapes. Compared to the sarkari kothis where we lived, with their verandas and arcades, these looked very different, arousing curiosity.

The trip to Chandigarh left some indelible impressions on my mind. Years later, I initially joined the Punjab Engineering College (PEC), but after a few interactions with the students of the newly started Chandigarh College of Architecture engaged in their creative and imaginative assignments, I decided to dump engineering and shift over to architecture.

This was nearly six decades ago, and both my mind and the city, are a work in progress.

Rajnish Wattas, Chandigarh

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