Tribute – Late Prof. Mohammad Shaheer
In tangible terms, all that life is reduced to is 2.1m x 1m x 1.2m = 2.52 cubic metres of earth.
This earth is not as per the specifications given by the landscape architect.
But these are tangible terms…..Intangibly speaking, the soil test report of this 2.52 cubic metres of earth reads as such:
My first meeting with Shaheer was in 4th year of architecture at BKPS College, Pune in 1995 when he was invited for a talk and introduction to landscape Architecture…
His statement" Don’t try to be a landscape architect without becoming one" irked some and persuaded some to work harder for the entrance test and interview.
For the first assignment on play ground in the very first semester we had to design a super creative play area that’s unique and yet workable.
When he came to my desk and i shared some of the initial ideas he said" young lady every line you draw on the paper will be made on the face of earth. Understand the huge responsible you have as a landscape architect. Dont try to do pretty pictures. Let’s leave it to the artists. The design must be creative, sensitive and yet practical. Feel for the space, imagine you are in that space"
Writing about memories of Prof.Mohd.Shaheer brings tears to my eyes because it is too soon and so sudden. It has taken awhile to realise that expressions of gratitude, updates about profession and family would no more be related to a Delhi phone number. This is like an umbilical cord being cut unceremoniously without a ‘by your leave’. No time to say goodbye. Never did, come to think of it…
It is often said that after a parent it is the teacher who knows us better and as the advisor for my doctoral thesis perhaps Prof.Shaheer knew me the best. He emphasised being prepared to the best of one’s ability and nurtured intellect rather than imposing his own experience or knowledge. I feel privileged to be his only doctoral research student worthy of his time. I say this because as students we know him as a stern task master but as my advisor he was gentle, constantly enquiring about my children and meticulous with feedback.
I miss Prof. Shaheer because we collaborated on projects in Hyderabad and he never would miss letting me know if Mrs. Shaheer was with him. He told me about her liking for Seetaphal and about his son Kabir as well. My responsibility towards my family increased because of his constant reference to family. This extended to my daughter’s selection of her groom who is a Punjabi! Prof.Shaheer and his family attended my daughter’s wedding reception in Delhi.
Late respected Prof. Shaheer. New Delhi
For me it was from 1993 till July 2015…
22 years…
His death is sudden, untimely and shocking. News of his death was very disturbing. It was totally unbelievable then and even today. But it is a reality now and we have to accept it. On 26th July I had an opprotunity to interact with him while he was in Pune for a programme ‘Charles Correa: His times & work’.
Prof. Shaheer sent me a message….Thanks for your company at Pune. I wrote this after coming back from Pune but forgot to send it because of some distraction.Thanks for teacher’s day wishes and best wishes….
He was ‘a good human being’, ‘man of highest integrity’, ‘selfless’ and also ‘enigmatic’ on many ocassions. For me he was exceptional, a complete personality and a person of reference to me and many
December 3, 2015
Memorial Meeting for Late Prof. M. Shaheer at SPA Delhi: December 3, 2015
Prof. M. Shaheer former Head and Professor of Landscape Architecture SPA Delhi passed away on November 28, 2015. SPA Delhi, SPA Alumni Association (AA) and Institute Urban Design (IUD) jointly organized a memorial meeting for Late Prof. M. Shaheer on Thursday December 3 at Architecture Complex. It was attended by over hundred architects, alumni, students and faculty. Prof. Mandeep Singh Dean gave a brief profile of Prof. Shaheer. He was a great teacher and well known landscape architect. Prof. Ram Sharma and Prof. Rommel Mehta spoke regarding their memories of Prof. Shaheer on behalf of SPA Delhi. Mr. Sanjay Kanvinde and Mr. Ameet Barbar gave homage to him on behalf of IUD and AA. Rich tributes were paid to him by M/s. Divya Kush, K.T. Ravindran, Mahesh Paliwal, Sumeet, Manoj Mathur, Sharad Das, Surendra Suneja, and others. Messages from Neeraj Manchanda and other alumni were read out. It was organized in Open Air Theatre of Architecture Complex which had design inputs from Prof. Shaheer. The meeting ended with two minutes silence. Chetan Vaidya
Chetan Vaidya
Director School of Planning and Architecture (SPA)
New Delhi
Director (Additional Charge) SPA Bhopal India
Chairman All India Planning Education Board (AICTE)
I have been one of those lucky ones to have studied under Professor Shaheer at SPA in 2000-2002; And further work with him after the course for two years 2002-2004 , during which I gifted him his caricature on his birthday 27th April 2003/ 2004 either one. That day and the day they laid him to rest under that tree. I carry a vivid memory of that moment when I stood beside his grave while they lowered him. A sketch of what it seems to me is attached and his caricature that I made years ago.
Dear All,
Firstly, I would like to express my deep condolence to the fraternity of Landscape Architects in India on demise of Prof. Md. Shaheer. An irreplaceable loss to the nation.
My experience with him started in the year 1992 as an Architect collaborating with Ar. M. Shaheer as landscape architect on a project in Orissa.
Working together on the project. He inspired me on simple, mundane landscape design approaches enabling me to take up Masters Program in Landscape Architecture @ SPA, New Delhi in the year 1994.
As a student of MLArch @ SPA, New Delhi. I saw Prof. M. Shaheer as a mentor, philosopher and guide
My few Precious Moments with Prof. Shaheer
1997 same time of the year. Prof Shaheer slammed the door shutting me inside, to wonder what Next !!... I was told that I cannot sail through my thesis with such an uninspiring topic of designing a mere secondary school campus that too in an obscure location in erstwhile Bihar. I was sitting in his room in SPA and he himself had walked out of it ... in disgust !!
The next review, I shared with him a panorama of site snaps and not a single drawing. I remembered his eyes sparkled. He instantly realised that the soul of the project hinged on the response to the pristine beauty of the site . He asked me to redesign the architectural blocks although it was a landscape thesis. At the same time he did not miss out on apologising openly for being harsh on me the last time. That moment I experienced Prof Shaheer much deeper than just the "roaring lion" of the department. He was indeed very Kind, Gracious , Grounded and Simple.
During my working days with him I discovered him more as I was learning in leaps and bounds, everyday from his immense wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Also his humility and wry wit added an uniqueness to his personality. I fondly remember those drives along with him or travelling with him for an out-station project....... where I discovered that beyond his solemn and towering persona, was this amazingly youthful person who loved to chat, crack jokes and laugh heartily....
The Hand
The Hand that taught me to draw
The Hand that gave me the strength
The Hand that helped me to grow
The Hand that would express a million words
The Hand that would do the Magic
The Hand that would Teach me beyond the obvious
The Hand that would Judge the right
The Hand that would Assure me
The Hand that would Protect me
The Hand that would hold my hand ..
Prof Shaheer's Work
PROF. MOHD. SHAHEER
27th April 1948 -28th November 2015
It has been a rather unfortunate year for the Indian Society of Landscape architects, we as a fraternity are coping with the indispensability of a stalwart, visionary, guide and most of all our well-wisher.
Prof. Shaheer was an institution in himself, a guru to most India educated landscape architects. I call him an institution because he was unique in his excellence of design expression as well as intellectual thinking, a combination not in the least usual in our context. This expertise and depth across subjects has left its footprints on intellectual and design terrain as a legacy of exemplary landscape projects, insightful articles and generations of inspired and conscientious students turned practitioners.
The decades of his engagement with the Post graduate department of Landscape architecture, SPA Delhi, as Professor and then Head were indeed golden years. Under his guidance, the department was a probing, creative and an exciting place of learning. And this I can say with authority as I had the good fortune of being one of his students then. There are many others who will also vouch for that and consider themselves fortunate to have been under his watchful eye. He inculcated in his students the rigor of practice, the need to consistently deliver quality in everything one did. As a teacher he spawned an entire generation of landscape architects who believe he has had a major role in shaping their thinking and practice. He inculcated the true spirit of a Guru in wanting to disseminate his knowledge freely and repeatedly with all who went to him for advice. For generations we have considered it a badge of honour to have studied under him. We salute the Teacher that he was to all of us.
Even before meeting Prof Shaheer in person his reputation as a very respected teacher and a brilliant designer preceded him. Ashiana Housing Ltd did have the good opportunity of utilizing his brilliance when he was associated for our various projects. One of the Company’s retained Architect had in fact been his student and what he told us about him was so very true when we got to working with him.
Meticulous to the core, Prof Shaheer went to great depths to understand the client’s brief and when he did come up with the concepts, one could understand his vast repertoire since each project has its own unique requirements. His drawings were excellent, to say the least, and meticulously detailed with nothing left to chance.
Dear Fraternal Brothers and Sisters,
Salutation,
With The untimely death of our dear teacher that great man we became orphaned in our profession, a rudder less ship in the vast ocean of stiff competition, Prof. Shaheer was my teacher when I joined SPA in 1979 when Prof Jaswant Rai was the head of the department, I was one of the low performing students with minimum intellectual dispensations with all the negative qualities like poor communication skills etc. Immediately after my admission into Landscape course, I lost my father, which added to my mental stress, Prof. Shaheer was, as we all know a very, very strict teacher a tuff, no-nonsense man, but a large heart , a very, very kind person of immense compassion. In trying hours he stood by me comforting me as a kind Mother, he is not only a teacher to me but also a compassionate mother, When I met this great teacher after a span of 29 years in 2011 in Delhi, I asked him "Sir can you recognize me, I was your student in 79-81, " he stared at me for brief moment and said "Are you not Vishwanathan" believe me it was one of those blessed moments in my life, a teacher remembering his very old students name after 29 years, and I prostrated in front of him in the presence of all the VIPs who were there at that time, May the tribe of such great teachers glorify our profession in the future, with reverential salutation to my eternal Guru,
Viswanathan. G
Trivandrum
(December 2015)
Remembering Shaheer Sir …….
If he was Dronacharya, I was definitely not one of his Arjunas. I’d call myself his Eklavya. Although, this Dronacharya never bothered about the Guru Dakshina part from any student. If you do good work, he was happy, if not, he’ll just not waste his time on you.
I was totally unaware of the name Prof. Mohd. Shaheer when I applied for Masters in Landscape Architecture in SPA. I do know of my classmates who applied in SPA only because of Prof. Shaheer. My first preference was Masters in Urban Design. I couldn’t make it in UD and was kept on the waiting list for my second preference, Landscape Architecture. I guess I was destined to be in SPA, to know Prof. Shaheer, and to become a Landscape Architect. One student, who got through, didn’t join, and I got in.
I consider myself and my batch of students the lucky few who got the privilege of witnessing the *Shaheer Era*. It ended after our batch. We were few of the last ones who got the opportunity to listen to his spellbound Lectures on the Theory of Landscape Architecture in SPA. Those were the lectures where I would note each and every word he spoke, without looking up from my notebook. What he spoke was so deep and profound, it was impossible for me to comprehend as he spoke. There was an ease in the way he would speak about The Eras, the Names and the Examples in a flawless Landscape Jargon. I would go home and then try to understand from my notes - what actually happened in class today.
To Sir – With Love………………………….
It’s hard to imagine that so early on in life a day would come when I would put pen to paper to ink my tribute to the most revered Guru of Landscape Architecture - Prof Shaheer. The morning of 28th November 2015 was a devastating one. For dawn heralded the end of an era in landscape and pushed the landscape fraternity into darkness. The cold & daring enemy of life had struck & snatched away from us our most revered teacher. The doyen of the landscape profession had gone into eternal sleep. The year was soon to draw curtains on such a painful note is still hard to comprehend. Prof Shaheer’s passing away remains surreal.
While paying my tribute to Prof Shaheer’s mortal remains I was fighting back the fact that the tall, towering personality I had always looked up to; today lay still in sleep. Though he looked benign & at peace; I experienced a strange sinking feeling to see my hero lifeless. In retrospect I wish that day had never dawned. For, I have always cherished picturing Prof Shaheer profess and delight one and all with his sharp wit, satire and intellect.
I rue, if only Shaheer Sir had given us a chance; we would have moved heaven and earth by our prayers and compelled almighty to hold Sir back and have him amongst us. It may sound selfish; but it’s a fact that all his students and professionals needed him immensely. But Almighty’s ways are strange & I concede that, am none to question Almighty.
It is very difficult to come to terms that Sir is no more.
At a time when our lives were seeking to absorb not just knowledge but inspiration for growth as a human being, Sir was instrumental in nurturing our young minds.
I feel fortunate that I was his student. I want to share 2 out of many exchanges that we had in class.
1. At the very outset, he bulldozed the notion of inadequacy in my life when he responded to my dithering and agonised mind- “Explore your potential" and on another occasion, “Nobody is weak in anything. If you find something difficult, you just need to apply yourself harder so that you start understanding". Thus, he helped me to believe in myself and proceed with boldness, self-confidence and a sense of pride in my own creativity.
2. He asked us what we thought of India gate urban landscape. He wanted us to express an emotion we experienced when we were in that setting.
"Uplifting!" That answer was what excited him. That day I grasped the meaning of "scale" in designed spaces. He went on to deconstruct the planning of the India Gate area landscape and the way we perceive Taj Mahal from the entrance to its compound.
