Sachdeva

Arti Mathur and Vishwesh Viswnathan

The PSDA Studio Archives is being developed as a repository of work of the of the Late Pradeep Sachdeva and his design practice Pradeep Sachdeva Design Associates (PSDA). The studio started in the early ‘1900s’ at Khirkee Village and subsequently moved to its current location in the urban village of Aya Nagar on the outskirts of Delhi in 2002. The studio provides services in the areas of Architecture, Urban Design, Landscape and Interior Design with a focus on public places and hospitality industry.

Some of the studio’s key projects such as Dilli Haat, The Garden of Five Senses both in Delhi, and its street design projects across India have played an important role in impacting design practice in the country. The studio has designed hotels across the country whose design vocabulary draws significantly from regional craft practices for the Samode Group of Hotels, Taj Hotels and ITC Hotels.

The archive will house key material related to the studio’s projects to further research, learning and practice for use by students, designers and researchers. its collections have drawings, documents and images related to key projects of the studio.

‘Encounters with an Architect’ is envisaged to present the work of the studio using archival material. The narrative structure of the exhibition will be shaped by the stories of key people who collaborated with the studio in their making. Pradeep Sachdeva’s work emerged from his intense engagement and collaboration with people associated with a project and this exhibition hopes to not just present his work but also give insights as to how the projects came about.

25 years later when I visited the University in which he taught, I was told of his Urdu recitation while teachng Shakespeare.

03. Dear Grandfather, the story of your absence

My grandfather passed away when I was just a year old.

Growing up, I was introduced to Daddy through stories of all kinds from all sorts of people.

25 years later, I decided to archive these stories. Stories of not only his life and death, but stories of our family history, trauma, failed relationships and baggage.

Dear Daddy,

I clearly remember Grandma waking up in the middle of the night and howling in pain. I think her legs were the worst. Whenever anyone would pass by her singlebed, she would plead them to massage her legs. As kids, we would run across her bedside as soon as possible, trying to escape her shivering massage calls. As I write this to you, I recall the wrinkled, loose skin of Grandma’s arms - her flesh almost like a jelly. Her dark face was beginning to get more tanned as she took the sun - sitting idle, beside the large window of our newly renovated living room - mostly the entire day.

Every night, I fell asleep to the sound of Grandma’s cries. Eventually, it stopped bothering me - us - everyone - they had become a routine- we were too helpless and honestly, too tired.

I remember waking up in between and agitatedly pleading her to be quiet - in turn, she asked me to shut up. She said I didn’t care enough - that no one cared enough. On such nights, her only rescue was the tape recorder you had bought her - she endlessly kept changing sides of the same cassette, Jagjit Singh’s Hey Ram, until she dozed off. On more difficult nights, she repeatedly questioned why you left her alone?

exploration of the hidden archives

Material memories

HER STORY

Migration Stories

IN SEARCH reflect and recall their memories unravelling stories

Chronicling narratives mapping layered history of a city stories and secrets visual archive

LEGACY

REPOSITORY quest to find

Spaces for conversations

ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

PAST AND PRESENT family archives

Decolonising home through objects

Dear Daddy, why did you leave her alone?

Nobody has an answer to this. Not even you.

No one knows why you died in those seven odd days when everyone was sure of you making it further than Grandmother.

I was just over a year old when you departed. I believe it was Grandmother’s bitter cries, which introduced me to youand your absence.

Dear Daddy, how would it be if you continued to live instead of grandmother?

Would I then be on a quest to find her?

Would you too have cried over her untimely death?

Or we would have engaged in different questions in the middle of every night?

I wonder how that would have been.

The Pattani Family Archives

Spaces for conversations

ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS family archives quest to find

RESTORING AND REVIVING

Chronicling narratives

Decolonising home through objects unravelling stories

IN SEARCH mapping layered history of a city stories and secrets visual archive

PAST AND PRESENT

LEGACY reflect and recall their memories exploration of the hidden archives migration stories

Material memories REPOSITORY

A poet and philosopher at heart, Sir Prabhashankar Pattani was deeply concerned about the state of the society. ‘Ughaadi Rakhjo Baari’ is Sir Pattani’s own composition, written after witnessing a young boy in his family shutting a window to a beggar asking for alms. Moved by this act of apathy, and drawing on the metaphor of a window, Sir Pattani penned these lines urging the readers to open the windows of their heart and minds. This poem is an appeal by a state administrator, a man of position, imploring for sensitivity and kindness, a virtue he imbibed and practiced in his lifetime.

Sir Prabhashankar Pattani, the erstwhile diwan of the princely state of Bhavnagar, was a visionary whose foresight and political wisdom placed Bhavnagar in the league of states that braced themselves for the emergence of new India. Personal records, paintings, correspondences, photographs, books and several artifacts provide a glimpse into the vivid world of Sir Prabhashankar Pattani, re-creating a landscape of a time when the nation was young and excitedly bracing itself for freedom.

The archives hold key to several significant historical events that took place in pre-independent India, while also revealing the nature of a statesman administrator of the highest order, and his commitment to the nation, community, and family. Sir Pattani’s personal library collection of about six thousand books which contain some rare books and records, are witness to the intellectual dynamism and wisdom of a state administrator who ushered significant educational reforms for the state, while also encouraging foreign education. The scope of the archives is not just limited to excite historians and researchers, but also to administrators, communities and individuals who are interested in chronicling the social, cultural, political, and economic position of Bhavnagar in pre and postindependent India. Deeply passionate about preserving and reviving the history of the family, community and the region, the Pattani family and Sir Prabhashankar Pattani Open Window Charitable trust has embarked on this journey of archiving the life and times of Sir Pattani and his family.