3's Company

I can hardly recall when's the last time I have gone through as much stress as I am under now. Usually my stress arises from the fact that I am not a people's person, and in my job, I have to be one. An introvert thrown to the lions cant be good for the introvert -- cant be good for anyone for that matter, but atleast if you are a generally social person you have a chance. Lions are considered to be one of the most social of animals, so I guess you can pat the maned bloke on the back if you can get close enough and say "Hola Amigos" or something of that sort. For an introvert, if we get close enough to the lions, we are probably being the dinner.

Currently, my stress emanates from the fact that I have to quietly do some work for 3 companies. One that thinks I am positively an architect, one that assumes I am probably a Project Manager, and one that insists that I am her husband!

The Flat that we dreamt of is now ours, officially. And then we, this 3rd company, decided that we need to furnish it and do the interiors nicely to - pardon the cliche - make a home out of a house...whatever.

For those architect couples reading this blog (no one does, ever, I think) trust me, dont try this at home. Its one thing to design for others, its another thing to design for yourself, or even better, your goodself. Typically, after we put the baby to sleep and have our dinner and sit in front of the comp, its usually 11pm and then by the time we are through with discussing and disagreeing and agreeing and finally the dust settles, its close to 1:30 in the morning.

As a professional, its hard to admit this in public, but the truth is that I have come to realise in the last 3 weeks of tryin gto do our own home how much disservice we do to our clients. The question is not really of money, the quantum of it, but rather the value you bring out of it. When it comes to your own hard earned money, the amount of thought and iterations and brainstorming and argument that goes into every line that we draw! -- I think in 3 weeks I could have finished designing and made a half decent presentation to boot. And why the hurry for others and why not for my own house? Am I not losing money too if there is a delay? I am paying a high rent for my current residence, a steep maintenance for the new flat without using it and every month I delay, I lose.

One of the reasons to blame is a term called 'professionalism' which has come to be interpreted in quite a wrong way these days. I will take this up in the next blog.