Da Cunha in Absurdistan by V. M. de Malar vmingoa at gmail.com
Imagine that you've won a prestigious national prize from the government, but no one notifies you or returns your letters or pays any attention to your inquiries. Imagine having to pose a question in Parliament in order to get official notification, or filing suit in court just to finally get your hands on it. It's an absurd scenario, right? It's Goa's own Gerard da Cunha's reality; he protested the indignities and ridiculous delay by wearing a child's cartoonish mask while posing for photographs with the Minister for Urban Development when the prize was finally awarded last week, an unconscionable six years too late. The great G. K. Chesterton wrote, "in a world where everything is ridiculous, nothing can be ridiculed." And so we must start by noting that India's urban planning is scandalously incoherent across the board; our urban spaces are notoriously among the worst in the world. Even as India's economy surges unstoppably, as architects and developers become ever more grandiose, we find our cities in a terrible mess. India is not handling urbanization well, there is precious little we can point to with pride in terms of urban planning and design. So, this award is, on paper, an excellent idea. The plan was to provide a national spotlight to large scale projects, to reward innovative architects and provide incentive for more good work, to create a culture of peer-reviewed excellence in urban design. The trouble came, as it so often does, when this fine idea was dropped into the lap of the babus and the stultifying bureaucracy that lives off patronage and crude power equations. And so da Cunha's surreal experience, which started with his team's eager application in the "Implemented Urban Planning and Design Projects" category of the 1998 ?99 Prime Minister's National Award for Excellence in Urban Planning and Design for their project in Bellary for Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Limited. The whole process was already late; competition was opened only in 2001, the high-profile jury met at the end of 2002. There were inexplicable shenanigans from the then-Minister of Urban Development, Ananth Kumar, from the beginning; he wanted his crony to get the award and refused to properly endorse the unanimous declaration awarding da Cunha the prize. Then the nonsense began in earnest, the file for this prestigious national prize stopped dead. It took an official question in Parliament from Goa's then Rajya Sabha member, Eduardo Faleiro, to get some movement. One day before the question had to be answered, on 15th March, 2003, the bureaucracy was forced to release the results. But a scheduled ceremony in Delhi was cancelled, and sheer inertia took over again. Finally, the now-irate architect filed suit in a Panjim court. It required a response by 10th February of this year, but this final embarrassment was averted by a hasty ceremony last week, where the proceedings were enlivened by the architect's silent, whimsical, protest (check the photo at www.goanet.org). There's a well-developed theatre tradition of absurdism, into which our architect's subversive mask fits quite suitably, that's been carefully delineated by greats like Stoppard and Beckett, following the much older Commedia dell'Arte. The Theatre of the Absurd offers its audience an existentialist view of the outside world and forces them to consider the meaning of their existence when there appears to be no true order or meaning. It's a form of expose, you understand far more about life when you highlight the ridiculousness to which we're regularly subjected. "In India," says da Cunha, "where our towns and cities are deteriorating at such a rapid rate, an award of this sort makes good sense, creating role models which others can follow. It is the duty of the Ministry to be fair and give the award on time." He continues, "the award was presented after a delay of six years. I felt it was my duty to protest." In doing so, he artfully turned a commonplace photo opportunity into something far more interesting, he imbibed the shabby last-minute event with unexpected meaning. Chesterton, rather inscrutably, said "you cannot unmask a mask," but that's just what the man wearing the Tigger mask did last week. Congratulations on the award, Gerard da Cunha, and good show at the ceremony. (ENDS) More articles at: http://www.goanet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ ABOUT THE AUTHOR: VM is an early Goanetter, who put his money where his mouth is and returned to settle-down in Goa in late 2004, while in his thirties. VM regularly writes for the Goa and Mumbai media. GOANET READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. We share quality Goa-related writing among the growing readership of Goanet and it's allied network of mailing lists. If you appreciate the above article, please send in your feedback to the writer. Our writers write -- or share what they have written -- pro bono, and deserve hearing back from those who appreciate their work. 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