Dealing with the post travel depression

Lonavala waterfalls, Maharashtra

Today I'm going to talk about that feeling you get when you get back from a trip, especially when you've gone for an extended period of time or maybe you've never travelled alone before and it was your first trip, a trip that allowed you to step out of your comfort zone and you experienced something completely different than what you were used to for the first time.

Travel is addicting, very addicting. And once you get a taste of travelling, like you step out of your comfort zone and you experience a culture for the first time and you do things that you've never done before or you learned things you never even knew existed, that's called real travel, at least that's what I feel about travelling. You actually meet the locals and get to know them and their culture and traditions and you kind of become a part of it. Those of you who haven't been on the road yet, let me warn you, you are going to step into a completely different world and you’re going to get badly addicted to it. ;)

A visit to Della Resorts, Lonavala

I haven't been on a really long trip yet, my longest trip so far has been for two months to Pune. I got an internship at one of the prominent architectural firms in the US, one of the branches of which is in Pune. For any other person, it would have been like going to the office in the morning and coming back home late and then again office in the morning n so on.. But I made it a little more exciting than it would have been otherwise. After the office, I would go out to explore the city, culture, dine at different restaurants, trying the traditional Maharastrian food, meet new people, ride a bike to Lonavala at 2am which is approx 60 kms from Pune in that chilled weather and all that madness sometimes on my own and sometimes along with a friend and when I felt I no longer have any energy left to go any further, I'd return back home. I would go to Bombay on the weekends and roam around the city with friends, explore markets, and experience new things. I had the craziest time while I was there. There was this one time when I, along with a couple of friends went to Juhu and it started raining cats and dogs. We got drenched head to toe in water and when we entered a restaurant to grab something to eat, the manager wouldn’t let us sit on the couch because our clothes were wet and he had to get us huge plastic bags to sit on. People around us were looking and we were laughing our asses off. It was one of the most memorable trips I've had so far. 

It was the longest time that I've had actually been away from home. A couple of weeks before I was going to return from that trip, I was excited. I was excited to see my family and friends and sleep in my bed again and open my closet and see more than two tops and one pair of jeans and do my hair and little things like that. I was also sad because my trip was coming to an end, but I was excited to take the next step in my life.

It was really nice to come back home and be able to sleep in a clean, comfortable bed and to be in a place that was so familiar to me. But at the same time, it was so foreign to me all of a sudden. It was really weird and it wasn't like anything I had expected and I felt out of place. I was out for two months and I had experienced so many new things that I never experienced before. But all of a sudden I felt that sense of emptiness, felt sad and depressed. When you travel, you grow really fast. You learn things about yourself that you never knew before, you know your likes and dislikes. What you liked before, all of a sudden you dislike it and relationships change because of it. You'll find that you could be gone for two months and feel like what you learned is a lifetime worth of things. And then you come back home and find that everything is just the same as it was before you left. That is what affects you. That's because you come back and you feel like a changed person but everyone around is exactly the same. How can they understand what you just went through? That's when you feel like you're alone and no one really understands you and you feel sad. That's why it’s good to connect with people who have experienced a similar situation and who really understand what you have gone through and it would definitely make you feel better. But it is important for you to know that you've gone through a life transformation. You may not notice it while you're travelling, but you'll definitely notice when you come back home and that's something you might not be prepared for. No one's prepared for it. I thought because I had travelled previously many times, that I'd be fine going away for two months and coming back and getting back into society, but I could have never expected to go through what I went through after coming back from Pune. The emotions that came with it was something very unpredictable.

I had read somewhere that it takes the time that you've been gone plus half of that in order to start to feel normal. You can never feel normal once you've seen other parts of the world. You're never the same person you used to be. Once you step out, you experience new things and see the world in a completely different way, so when you're back home, you want to leave again. 

I felt depressed and it was really hard to deal with it because I didn't really understand why I was feeling that way. Wasn't I supposed to feel good and excited about the next chapter in my life? I didn't even wanna talk about that trip anymore with people. But everyone goes through a similar situation when they travel. I remember when I travelled alone for the very first time to Orissa, after returning back home, it was the most difficult time in my entire life to adapt to the same old environment and people. This time, it’s a little less, because I know it has to happen and it will happen, so let time do its trick. The only way to deal with it is to accept it and embrace it. It was hard, but I tried to get over it and I succeeded. If I can do it, so can you. Just be proud of yourself that you took this plunge to step out of the little box you've been living your entire life in and you opened yourself up to this massive world. And it’s okay to feel sad or depressed or out of the place. The more you travel, the more you understand and less you feel sad.

Xoxo <3

Summer Internship at GKKworks, Pune

I consider myself highly privileged to have had an opportunity to work as a summer intern with GKKworks, a multinational architectural firm based in Irvine, California. They have their Indian branch in Pune.

For a person like me, who had never left north India on her own, the thought of going to Pune all alone for an internship gave me goosebumps in the first place. I wasn't sure of how the nature of people in Pune was gonna be like, their culture and overall city's environment. I was nervous and scared of adjusting in a new environment.

The thought of working on U.S. projects in such a reputed firm was quite overwhelming. My first week at GKKworks was spent doing small admin jobs like stamping presentation drawings and taking print outs. But during the second week, my boss, Radhika (BIM Manager at the firm) asked me to model a project of my choice in Revit to check if I was capable of working on their on-going project. That gave me an opportunity to demonstrate my skills and I made a rendered 3D model of a clubhouse, seeing which she asked me, "Did you make that on your own?" and I said, "Yes, I made it on my own". The next moment she put me on the drawings of an on-going project - The Veteran Affairs Medical Centre, California.

Unlike my previous internships, where I worked on dummy projects to improve my software and designing skills, here, for the first time I got to work on an actual project. I put my heart and soul into it and worked hard, sometimes staying late in the office to finish off my assigned tasks. They welcomed my inputs, which was an amazing feeling.
Despite all the workload, I felt more than content and happy. I loved to spend time in the office than to go back to my apartment which I shared with three other girls and kill my time there. All my colleagues were incredible people. They freely shared their knowledge and experiences. Soft spoken and kind, they treated me like one of their own.

GKKworks is like a family to me now. They wouldn't get irritated by my frequent queries on how things work or queries related to my own college projects. It all started when Radhika came to my desk one day while I was working on the drawings and asked me if I knew the purpose of giving that particular equipment in every room, and I failed to answer. She got mad at me and told me that I should keep asking such questions and clear my doubts. She then gave me an elaborate explanation on the same.
GKKworks is one of those firms which not only gives importance to its multi million projects, but also focuses on fostering individual growth within the firm. I worked on both U.S. as well as Indian projects. It was a wonderful experience altogether. There were times when I was not able to stand upto their expectations due to lack of experience, but I can't deny the immense learning that happened through the failure.

My dream of working in a truly professional environment finally got fulfilled. At my last day at GKKworks, they threw a small farewell party for me, wishing me good luck for my future and an offer to work with them fulltime after my graduation. They say it right, "Hard work pays off".

Finally I'm extremely grateful to the Supreme force. I have absolutely no role to play in all that happened. It was truly God's grace that I was able to perform well.

Sustainable Architecture Hands-on

Image of a space frame

Last month, I was fortunate to have gotten an opportunity to attend Sustainable Architecture Hands-on Workshop by the legend himself, Prof. Anil Laul at Anangpur Building Centre. For budding architects like myself, who spend most of the time in colleges which are nowadays more of money making institutions rather than educational ones, and impart no practical knowledge, it was an amazing experience where we got an opportunity to learn various construction practices hands-on. It was a three day workshop during which we learnt:

Roofing System - Curved Funicular Shell and Flat Funicular Shell Roof,

Cladding System - Ram Lochan Tile (named after the mason who made it),

Walling System - Hollow Core Interlocking Block (Flyash, Papermache, Mud and Concrete) with surface engineering in varied sizes and shapes.

Geodesic dome, Cube on Vertex shelters, Twisted column, semi circular and flat Arches.

This workshop was a perfect opportunity to plunge into a rich pool of ideas, inspiration and practical learning that gave me a tool for personal growth as an architect and understanding of the holistic approach to achieve simpler solutions which may differ from the conventional answers to a problem.

From morning till evening, we would work on construction practices, while at night Mr. Laul would give presentations on Sustainable Architecture. His ppt sessions were so mind blowing, that we wouldn't realise how time flew!
We were 6 students from different regions of the country - Bengalis, Tamilians and Punjabis.
The workshop gave all of us a platform to exchange ideas on City Planning (how it is done today and how it should be done), Low cost housing, utilising building waste into the building yet keeping the aesthetics intact, Space Frames for maximum utilisation of natural light, etc.

Sustainable Architecture was one topic which would form a part of almost every discussion. Mr. Laul would highlight that how nowadays, some architects are designing brilliantly sophisticated and effective "green" buildings but these are still not sufficiently broadly conceived to deliver sustainability.

The accommodation and food at the Building Centre was amazing. It felt amazing to sleep under one of his concepts 'Cube on Vertex' Shelter. During the evening snacks, we would sit together on the terrace and talk about every weird thing that came into our minds and crack the most spontaneous of jokes. Dipon, being our favourite, was often called "Poha" instead of his name, because of the fact that he wore the same yellow shirt throughout the workshop.
Bal Singh, an intern at Anil Laul's, was an amazing person too. He would keep everyone's spirit alive at the workshop and would tell us his South Indian tales. Too much fun and learning.

During meals, Mr. Laul would tell us stories about his college days and we would then compare our college life to his and the conversations would last for hours.

He also wrote a book "Green is Red", which I think, is a must read for every budding architect. In this book, he has disagreed with the manner in which the green building concepts are promoted. He says, "It is the integration of the architect, the engineer, the artist and the artisan that is at the core of the principle". When asked about the title of the book, he said, "Whenever I think about the way green architecture is portrayed here in our country, I see blood, and that is why the book cover has 'green' printed in 'red' as it denotes anger".
Here's the link to his website: http://www.anangpur.org/

The workshop was a very good experience and I'm looking forward to attending more of Anil Laul's workshops. This shall be remembered for the years to come.

Mr. Laul's Mansion

Ram Lochan Tile in the making

Funicular Shell in the making

Conversations

Evening sessions with Mr. Laul

Sieving mud before preparing the mix

Semi-circular Arch in the making

With Mr. Laul

Arch made using dry aggregate takes so much load

Certificate of completion