Mongsen Longkumer
Kohima
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness.” This famous quote which is an extract from the 1818 poem ‘Endymion,’ by John Keats reverberates more in our modern world as we live in a state of dullness in our urban landscape with a complete lack of beauty in architectural designs going into constructing private and public buildings. Plagued by the rising cost of land which has been exacerbated with the growth of overpopulation in an unprecedented and unplanned manner, this has led to the degradation of our human creativity in making man-made structures which would stand the test of time, not just in our state but across the world.
Modern buildings and other man-made structures today are only build for utility purposes with a short life span meant to be torn down after only 20-30 years of use. They are generally minimalist, monotonous and dehumanizing in design with no effort being made to create intricacy and embellished motifs. The buildings feel life-less bereft with emotion. This is similar to the way that fast-food products have come to resonate with the modern world today. It is cheap and easy to produce, and is generally unhealthy for the human soul.
Take the instance of the urban centers of Kohima and Dimapur which has experienced this plight first hand in the last few decades owing to a huge migration of people from the rural areas and an increasing birthrate. The landscape is dotted with thousands of grey, dull looking buildings both residential and commercial, which keeps mushrooming up every year owing to more individuals wanting to settle in these cities for economic convenience. Devoid of beauty, quality craftsmanship and care into making the buildings in these cities, they are truly a sight for sore eyes no doubt. One could argue that it is because the people are left with little to no option given unavoidable circumstances as most do not have the financial means to build quality buildings which could be due to high cost of construction materials, cost of labor and as mentioned above, the rise in the value of land.
It would be forgivable if this was restricted only to private residential buildings if not for the fact that public buildings too have suffered from this error. Poorly planned and constructed, they are the most recognizable in our cities today. The late Sir Roger Scruton, a British philosopher once said, “People now build without any consideration for what and how the building fits into its environment. What it does to the street, how it looks to the passerby, it is purely to satisfy a client.” In an age of technological development, improvements in the standard of living and better production facilities one wonders why we have regressed so much in this area.
The essence of beauty should be incorporated into the buildings and structures we create in order to conjure a feeling of pride, value and care we put into our work otherwise we risk falling into a state of dullness and misery from our surroundings. There is beauty in this world beyond our natural environment which we humans are capable of creating from our imaginations and creativity.
We used to be a people who took pride in our craftsmanship, be in the form of our morungs, gateways, exquisite figurines and other structures. Sadly, there is little of that skill left now in our society which we have left in the past along with our traditions.
As it stands currently we do not take pride in making our buildings look beautiful and pleasing to the eyes. Nor do we wish to create structures which would last beyond a generation or so simply because we lack the motivation, the desire and the will to carry out such noble endeavors which could be admired by future generations to come. Our buildings are cold and unnatural, the metal windows covered with white walls, plastic furniture, and glass. No wonder we feel depressed and empty in our life.
Cities and the buildings which exist inside them and its peripheries should be a place of wonder, joy and excitement to live in and it is possible to do so if we have the motivation to create such places for existence. Let us as a society strive to move beyond our mundane structural formulas to provide places where we wish to live in not just for our current generation but for generations to come.
Lastly, I leave you with this quote, “A man grows with the greatness of his tasks. Becoming a man or a woman who continues to self-create in the face of an increasingly regimented and conformist world is one of the greatest tasks we can commit to and is one of the greatest tasks we can commit to and is a task that can imbue our life with the meaning and purpose we need to flourish.”
