Chapter 5: Landscape and Architecture

"the Pink City"

I love architecture. I always have. In 7th grade I went to New York City and my friends came back with tons of pictures of their friends and I had ALL photos of buildings. I went to England over interim and the architecture was one of things I loved most about the country. I love architecture. That means that I found this chapter very interesting!
Being a history major, I could relate to how the author talked about how cities were often build around bodies of water. This is very typical of civilization in general. However, I found it interesting how these settlements are divided into different areas depending on whether it was a village or city. It was also interesting to me that people build their homes out of different materials (kaccha or pakka) depending on their socioeconomic status. Kaccha homes are made out of perishable materials whereas pakka homes are built of permanent substances. This is important to remember when Claire and I go to India because we will encounter people of differing classes and it is important to remember how they live and how that is reflective of their status in India society.
There are also several cultural points that are made in this chapter that will be relevant to adapting to indian culture. For instance, the text points out that it is customary to remove your shoes when entering private space. Also, the kitchen of a home is considered the most pure part of the home and at times this area is cut off from certain people, such as menstruating women and people of low caste. When living in India, this is something I need to know in order to be able to relate to people effectively and in a way that does not make them uncomfortable or offended. Another cultural point that I found interesting was that there were no tombs in India until the Muslims introduced them because Hindus tended to cremate their dead...so until the Muslims introduced burial, there were no major architecturally significant tombs.
I also found that I liked the cohesiveness of the cities described in India that seems so different from American or English cities. For instance, Jaipur is the "Pink City" because it was decreed that all buildings not already made of the pink sandstone should be painted pink. It is almost like some cities have a theme! It also talked about another city that was largely made of curves in order to represent the nature of light! I find that very interesting and reflective of how the idea of urban areas and development is different in India than it is in America.
I think all in all, the hardest parts about this reading is that it is hard for me to visualize some of the structures that are described because they are so foreign to me. Also, I find myself getting bogged down in names of places and people which makes the text harder to follow.