MM School of Architecture organized one day workshop on ‘Busting the Global Green Myth’ by Ar. Gaurav Shorey, Ar. Aparna Pathak and Ar. Karishma Chaudhary on 14^th March, 2019 with an aim to discover the peace and glory within oneself and in our society by getting self-realisation.Ar. Gaurav Shorey is the principal member of ‘5waraj’- an NGO working on reviving faith in Indian traditions and culture in the context of sustainable development and climate change. He has worked on over 50 green buildings & GRIHA projects as a researcher/ consultant for building energy simulations, sustainability strategies including water and waste management and renewable energy technology applications. The workshop was attended by all the students and faculty of MM School of Architecture along with few students of other departments of MMU, Sadopur.

Ar. Deeksha Sharma welcomed the guests of the day and addressed the students and faculty, talking about the crowning achievements of Ar. Gaurav Shorey. The event kicked off by the customary lamp lighting ceremony by all the eminent personalities of the day, as a tribute to maa Saraswati, the embodiment of knowledge.

Ar. Gaurav Shorey started by sharing his journey as what made him an architect and his passion for building sustainable environment, his working style in order to raise awareness on our local, traditional culture and its inborn connection to the local environment because ‘Sustainability does not stand a chance’. We as educated humans live life by a set of beliefs and these beliefs shape the way we look at the world. He cited various examples so as to prove that how even after being well educated humans, we are being fooled by the so called industrial people of our own country as well as abroad. Taking Delhi as a case, he explained that the air quality of the city has become so poor that in order to clean that quality we need to have 59.23 crore trees in the city and for this about 46,536 sq.km of forest area is needed which is way more than the entire area of Delhi. Inspite of this fact, we have still not stopped polluting our own mother earth by changing our lifestyle. Ar. Gaurav along with his other two team mates, Ar. Aparna and Ar. Karishma,shared various other such thought provoking facts by which one thing was proved that if one becomes driven, focused and committed, he/she can surely help revive our local culture and its connection with local ecology. As per Ar. Shorey, ‘all this is being done to facilitate a back-to-the roots movement by making an impact on sustainable lifestyles and sustainable cities, reducing carbon footprints, decongesting cities and creating a sustainable future for our future generation’.

The workshop, then headed towards another very important session in which the three eminent personalities of the day talked about reviving faith through the five key elements that constitute a culture, also known as 5’D’s, i.e., Dialect, Diet, Dress, Dwellings, Dances & Songs (Bhasha, Bhojan, Bhesh, Bhavan, Bhajan respectively). In this session, they actually talked about various facts by which one can bring ‘sustainable development’ home by giving local a chance.In the workshop, a wide range of tasks and efforts had been undertaken successfully such as the students were asked to take a walk, engage with ‘environment’, feel it, touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it and then come & share the experiences; another task was about sharing experiences about vocabulary with one another, in which the students were asked to call their mother or grandmother and ask about what does our culture have as household remedies and recipes, i.e., the things which boost immunity in specific conditions in which the main focus was to look at prevention more than cure from the kitchen garden & local farm. Another very interesting task which was given to the students was about designing a dress for a specific zone & cultural context that intrigues us, i.e., something which the students were unfamiliar with and for this the students were divided into groups. This task had one condition, i.e., ‘God is in detail’ so, the students were not allowed to cut, tear or stitch the cloth but only allowed to make knot and it. It was a theme based task in which the students had to choose any one theme out of ‘climate, gender or profession. The exercise helped students to better analyse, synthesize, and generate new ideas, just as in every great idea, its power lies in its simplicity. In the end, Ar. Gaurav discussed the concept behind all the dresses made by different groups and applauded their efforts and guided them by relating these concepts to sustainability.

With such informative and catchy talks, Ar. Gaurav Shorey has stirred up the minds of the young gems of MMSOA with excellence and tremendous knowledge. Prof. Aradhana Jindal, principal, applauded the kind efforts made by the eminent personalities in bringing change to the societyand thanked them for taking time from their respective schedules and enlightening everyone present by sharing their knowledge. The students and everyone present had a lot to take away from this workshop and the experience will be cherished forever.