Design Institute in India, Arts and Design Colleges and Schools in India -IICD

October 7, 2019

The peaceful aroma of incense sticks, camphor and fire invoked the dawn of September the 1st 2019, at IICD. Golden flames reaching out to the heavens invited the presence of deities into the very courtyard of the institute and their blessings into the hearts of all. Flowers, red, yellow and white; leaves in all shades of greens; and youth in many moods, colours and commotion of activities were busy ornamenting the body of IICD and colouring its soul. It was, after all, the auspicious foundation day, which initiated the college into its silver year, into its 25th-anniversary edition.

The day matured into reminiscences of the olden days, by the fortunate company of the founding members of IICD and the gracious attendance of the first batch that passed through the incipient walls of this dream of early visionaries, 20 years back.

Retired IAS officers Shri N.S. Sisodiya and Shri Puroshotam Agarwal, and retired IAS and first Secretary of IICD Shri Jagatpal Singh ji, joined in spirit with the eternal futurism of Late Shri M.P. Ranjan, took us down the memory lane and narrated the story of IICD right from an idea, to a filed dream in a government office, to a fenced field with an old ‘Chowkidar’, to the first taste of sweet water mined from the depths of these soils, to the novel bricks and mortar and the initial humble edifice.

But the authors of this tale are more than a mere few. Next chapter of this book was recounted by the first faculty members and their first pupils. With Mrs. Rajkanwar, Mr. Chandravijay Singh, Mrs. Meenakshi Singh and Mrs. Shramishtha Yadav, we became a party to the noble motivation that first drove them to these premises to contribute in the shaping of future minds into the subtle language of design within the broader wisdom of the indigenous crafts. The first novices took us behind the scenes, of those first classes, the first freedoms, first friendships, first craft interactions, first relationships with the material, first visits into the lives of artisans, first awareness of their knowledge and state, first resolves to integrate, first assurances of a good design, and first promises to do some good in this world.

It was a proud moment to hear that they were still living those promises as dedicated social entrepreneurs, explorers, design technocrats, design educators, and as agents of social, cultural and economic change, integration and evolution.

This is where the newest authors of this saga, students of the day joined the journey. They celebrated, projected, propagated and portrayed the mission and mandate of the Institute. Their multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic, multi-dimensional, truly global and absolute millennial identities cut across the dimensions of religion, race, region, gender, colour and caste. Delightful dances, mesmerising music, versatile verses and composite costumes conjured the image of an India unanimously united and dignifiedly diverse, respectably combined and secularly varied.

It was a day of ancient nostalgia, it was a day of potential prospects; it was a day of magical melancholy, it was a day of honourable hope. The modern apprentices of every advancing time period till eternity, laced with the tools of tomorrow, guides of today and awareness of the past will be the future creators, carriers and disseminators of this story and all the stories to come. Let us live and relive these tales with selfless love, colossal care, and realised responsibilities. The journey must never end.
Wish you a very happy birthday again.
Long live ‘The future’