Along with these political meanings, the Hall of Nations had inherent formal meanings. The building was a clear articulation of technological competence, its abstracted forms expressed modernist geometric lucidity, and it efficiently served its purpose of hosting exhibitions and events in a free space. The meanings in the structure itself, without the politics of nation building that it came out of and stood for, were those of rationality, functionality, and science. Its expression was rooted in modernism — that a building that serves its purpose efficiently is meaningful, that the honesty of structure and material is beautiful, that less is more, and that technology in itself is enough to create a national building.

The Bharat Mandapam carries very different meanings. It was reported that the structure is inspired from the shape of a conch or shankh, blown during Hindu rituals. The government added that the name of the structure is derived from Lord Basaveshwara’s idea of Anubhav Mandapam. The interiors of the building feature exhibits of India’s traditional art and culture — Surya Shakti to show India’s solar power capabilities and Pancha Mahabhoot, signifying the five elements in Hindu mythology. It’s needless to mention that the building was inaugurated with much religious ritual.

But interestingly, not everything was religious. There was another set of meanings that the government provided. The building expands the outdated facilities of the old Pragati Maidan complex. It meets the functional needs of a convention centre as these have evolved over time. It has a large amphitheatre which, apparently, outdoes the Sydney Opera House. The building has spacious meeting rooms and convention halls and infrastructural capabilities that make it “state-of-the-art” or, to use a more attractive term, “world class”.1

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• 1. Let us be honest. The Bharat Mandapam does fulfil all the functional requirements that the government might have envisioned. However, function is a low-hanging fruit when it comes to designing symbolic public buildings for a country such as India. We need to see beyond numbers, requirements, and energy efficiency. The building has no inherent formal meaning. Unlike the clarity of Hall of Nations, the building lacks any material grammar, and therefore, takes the recourse of pasting meaning on top of itself — like a sticker printed with a brick pattern pasted on an aluminium panel. What is this sticker? The sticker follows the language of the majoritarian state. The conch is forced upon as an inspiration for something that, at best, looks like a flying saucer. A conch because, in the majoritarian logic, India’s global convention centre must have a form inspired from a Hindu ritual. It represents a mandap, a space in a temple used for ritualistic performance, and then literally pastes traditional art and more mythology in its interiors. While the Hall of Nations expressed secular ideas and the ethos of progress, the Bharat Mandapam, a global convention centre, represents the majoritarian identity.