An architects’s life is often looked upon as the glamorous, easy going one with all the paraphernalia. Laymen always admire the heroes with the T square, who decides the horoscope of the sky-licking buildings. In engineering colleges also, architects are considered as a different creed as such, with a different, set of rules, fashion sense and tenure of course.


Sangeet sharma, through his book castles in the air lays bare the lives of the architects. Unlike the projected image, architects have been facing a lot of injustice, double standards and rejections. Unlike what we see in the movies architects are seldom appreciate for the amount of hard work they invest. Author says how after numerous submissions and resubmissions a plan is approved by a client which in turn would be changed by the contractors and further by the astrologers in the name of Vastu. Author criticises the meaninglessness in why an architect has to toil to balance between the client, contractor and consultant and finally end up being rebuked by everyone. 


Author has revealed a new picture in viewing an architect’s life. The book is more anecdotal than fictional. Author has a view on all the matters and has put forth the same with conviction. Author has brought to light a lot of unseen instances which the new and entertainment media has failed to acknowledge. However the narration seemed unilateral where in the exploited architects were depicted whereas there indeed is a group that were on the other side of the coin.


The aspirant house owner approaching the architect with an ‘inside outside’ magazine indeed tickles the funny bones which in itself is a regular sight. But the fact about the numerous submissions of the drawings stands true only for the new comers whereas the established architects charge for each drawings or so is the practice here. Another discrepancy is the architect being sidelined by the contractors and consultants. While this could be a possibility, there are architects out there who exploits the consultants and assort to fraudulent practices when it comes to the contractors. Well, I was just citing some unread possibility which could have been included in the book, the book is amusing, entertaining and quirky anecdote of an architect’s life right from the making to the establishment.


Overall the book is an entertaining engaging and easy read.