Aamai totem

Aamai means tortoise in tamil, a slow growing amphibian who has different values
for air. I feel as i was making the totem i went through all my memories as if i have
been living for centuries and observing everything, just like the tortoise. I was always
curious as to why we would do so many rituals, visit so many temples etc but given
my cultural background i had not much option but to listen and observe what my
elders had to do and say.

My childhood memory is full of playing cricket and spending time in my native place.
My grandparents have transformed me into a better human being right from day one
i feel. They drenched me with hindu mythological stories while bathing me, feeding
me, putting me to sleep even while travelling. Through stories they tried to explain
culture, ethics, tradition and even sharpened my brain. But the stories were not
enough to quench my thirst of understanding the customs we followed. During my
visits to my grandparents place i would spend hours in the back yard which was
huge and filled with different variety of trees, climbing them sucking mangoes or
playing with the cow. During some walks i remember passing by the snake temple
which scared me , the snake god was where my aunts and grandmother used to
feed the cobra.

I schooled in mumbai, a city so crowded i feel that even gods fear from entering to
resolve the problems there. If you get to see the horizon, sky, trees you are lucky. I
loved my friends and family but had a very negative feeling towards the city, mainly
because of the dinner time stories. My amma(mom) and appa(dad) were hard
working people, they had such a tight schedule waking up at 5 preparing breakfast
and lunch, washing dishes , washing clothes , travelling by heavily crowded trains for
two hours to reach their office, work all day, on the way back buy vegetables and
milk from the market , some how reach home and collapse on the couch for 10 mins
then get back on the feet wash yourself up, prepare dinner, eat dinner , wash dishes
and if any energy is left watch tv and fall asleep. Over the dinner the conversations
would be about office problems, travelling problems, political issues, family issues all
these things just gave me a feeling that we are not living in the right place. I began to
feel like this since i was 8 years old and i kept telling my parents.

Eventually when i finished schooling i was 15 and I decided to move to the

neighbouring city Pune, where i stayed with my uncle and his family for 1 year.
During this time for some reason i was not friends with many girls and spent my time
by myself, studying or trekking and exploring new places. Here i started feeling self
confident and also indulged more into art. I had a very funny profesor named mr.
moogat, he was around 70 years old and would only take boys who scored well
inside his class. The classroom did not have blackboard, he used to solve problems
in a notebook while reciting each step and the boys would stand around him trying to
peep into his book. he used to sing and dance while teaching us calculus. A person
who made me realise that fun is always around the corner no matter what you do.

After 2 years of Higher secondry schooling in pune, i had to move back to mumbai
for my architectural studies. Here i had friends, seniors and teachers who would
push me really make sure i did my best. For me my architectural education was
about the things that i should not be doing in life. Something i felt the education
system always does but we misinterpret them. I took a break for 8 months to travel
and explore natural building and art during my 5 year education , i felt i needed some
inspiration from the rural and remote side of india. During this time i met with a very
down to earth architect whose expertise was working with earth. We had insightful
conversations which really questioned my approach to life. He taught me all that he
could in a short period, what impressed me the most about him was the awareness
he carried living in a small town in Kerala and the amount of detail that he would do
in his design . He may be one of the main reasons as to why i make such intricate
drawings.

We celebrate children’s day on the 14th nov and the teachers and elders wish the
kids and offer them a rose. On one of these days i remember going up to one of the
teachers i liked and wishing her “ happy childrens day”, she asked me why do i wish
her “ I replied saying arent you some one child” Years after i went back to the school
just to visit my teacher, to my surprise i was informed that i am mentioned by her
every year during the children’s day speech that she gives.I cherish that moment till
this day, that as a child i was able to make an elder realise the child inside her
One thing that makes me happy is the fact that i could spend an entire week with my
grandfather just before he died. He was bed ridden, lost his vision and had barely
any hearing ability. All his children were busy with their life and family, i loved him
too much and i had the time. i spent all the days sitting next to him listening to what
ever he had to share with me. After i left he kept talking about me to each and every
person who visited him, saying “ mukunda came and spent his whole time with me”.
It was the time i realised that listening is a powerful tool to reach out to peoples heart
and make an impact.
Co founding the khel program where we used to cycle school to the street kids ,
making people laugh on a busy day in mumbai, participating in GSA brazil , starting
my own practice of natural building and integrating it with elos philosophy , bringing
awareness in people through workshops about natural building , using art as a
medium to socialise and to guide people into oneself can be few of my other
achievements.

Journey to brazil was one of the first times i stepped into foreign soil, here i learnt
what freedom of expression is and how being happy is not a state of mind but a state
of heart. In brazil i participated in many shamanic rituals including the ayahuasca,
this ritual really connected me with my inner child. Post brazil trip i started exploring
spiritualism and got more indulged into hindu mythology. This is when i became one
with my nomad heart. from this point onwards inspiration surrounded me in all my
actions, every small step i could see happiness and every fall made me stronger.
Now i am a wanderer, i can never get lost, i call world my home.I feel empowered
and secure like the aamai.

http://sochalaya.com/about/ some more deeper ways i look at myself