My Architecture school journey: The Beginning of a wonderful dream come true!

26th July 2022 | Friday

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My Architecture school journey

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Dearest Reader,

On September 4th,2017, my 1st day of Architecture school, I remember looking extremely happy and excited on the outside but I was completely terrified and burdened on the inside. I felt that I was complete failure just because I was conditioned as a kid (not by my parents but people around me) that only success in life was to become a doctor! Dearest reader, this author having grown up in a small town on the tip of the world where any direction one turned the words 'become a doctor, bring honour to your family' was all that people had to say!! as if any other profession would bring chaos. Even the people who prayed for me would say the same.. least to say it was a bit overwhelming.

On my 1st day of Architecture school, I felt like I failed my mom! I felt like the path that I chose was only adding on to her misery (if only I had known that's far from what was in store for me)! 1st few days into college, this heavy heart never left me alone until one particular day in studio.. this day I was burdened so much and this feeling of fear I had felt before when I was 9 years old came rushing back to me at 17 years. I remember sitting in studio and praying to god and asking him for a sign that he has something great planned for me and that's why I was in this path. In the next few minutes my Architectural Design Detailing professors walked in and asked us all to gather around in front of the studio. I very distinctively remember what one of my professors spoke. The exact words!

My professor said "I want to talk to you all about something that maybe is running in your head and maybe you are feeling burdened by it and that you feel like a failure you couldn't become a doctor". Sitting there right in front of him my heart dropped in shock and I remember thinking how does he know what I was feeling all this time. I hadn't told anybody about the way I was feeling... And at this point in life I had become a master in bottling it in all up.. he then continued saying "you all need to understand that the profession you guys have chosen or the profession chose you is just as important as becoming a doctor" silence for few seconds as if he was making sure it sank in and then he continued "if a doctor does a mistake only one life on the table dies but if an architect makes a mistake an entire town, an entire city would be wiped out of existence". I felt my heart skip a beat like that was all it wanted to hear the validation of my choice.. the importance of the profession I chose.. the importance of the profession God chose for me. I knew God spoke to me through my professor and immediately this bible verse came to my mind i knew God wanted to speak to me directly now.

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give hope and a future"  -Jeremiah 29:11

Immediately a divine peace came over me and I felt at ease. Once my professor dispersed us back to our drawing tables I took a deep breath and thanked god for showing me and confirming to me that this was his will all along.

Before I joined Architecture, God closed all the doors and opened only the door to Architecture.. I knew he was stirring the wheel all along FROM making my mom get me registered for NATA just minutes before the registration closed (in the year I wrote NATA was being conducted only one time and cutting off the other 4 times from the usual total of 5 times) TO getting me admitted to a college where I had all the support I needed may it be the staffs, the administrative officials, the Principal, the Design chair and the Dean everyone in my college were so hands-on in helping me academically in any way possible! God gave me a peaceful and breathable space to develop me towards my career.

Honestly, I had prayed for such a college life since my school life was just plainly horrible to me since the day I started school. The teachers back in school told my mom that I would never get anywhere in life and that they were scared to take classes or tuitions for me and they refused to take classes for me. Even the teachers, who were close friends to my mom before even knowing me as their student and spent hours on end at my house, would pick on me for no reason at all when clearly I would be the innocent of the bunch but just because I was in the scene of incident I was the obvious criminal to them! All the immense hatred feeling towards me made me just wanna run far far away from them all!! School was the nightmare phase of my life!

But my mom never gave up on me.. she worked with me, she helped me study, she helped me concentrate on what I was doing since my concentration was all haphazard back then and I was one big tomboy! I thank Jesus for giving me such an amazing mother who spent every second trying to help me! In my elementary school, she went above and beyond to learn Hindi language all by herself as no one in my family knew the language and then she would teach it to me! She would create question papers after question papers for me to write until i got it all right! Eventually in my 10th grade I scored 492/500 with a centum in mathematics. I remember people calling up (well,technically blowing up my mom's mobile) mom in disbelief to tell her that they never knew I was this capable, the teacher who refused to take classes for me back in elementary apologized to my mom while they met up at a grocery store saying that she never expected it! Looking back now my story very much resembles Albert Einstein's story of this childhood! I can pick up instances from his life and see the parallels in mine.

In college, my experience with my professors were completely the opposite! They treated me as an equal, helped me out, guided me and heck! I was even the teacher's pet.. never expected that one coming!! my professors went as far as to use me as an example (academically ofcourse) to both my seniors and juniors and technically becoming a model student. Even with my classmates I never felt left out.. I always felt included and in most cases my opinions mattered to them even though I mostly kept to myself. My Voice mattered!.

This vast variation in my school and college life is a living testimony to God who gave me blessings beyond my understanding and thrice what I had asked him.

I know my mom herself was surprised of how God changed the whole narrative of me being a "good for nothing" to "she is one of the best ones she can do anything".

As my college life has come to an end it made me want to look back thank God a trillion times and still it wouldn't be enough because he has been so so good to me and fulfilled all of my heart's desires and beyond! And he is still keeping those blessings come in multifolds. These blessings i will be sharing them when the time is right! Probably will be another huge rant so hold on tight XD

Praises and all glory to lord god alone! Amen!