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สรชัย กรณ์เกษม | sorachai kornkasem

Est. 1971™

…Never a Day Without a Line.

>>These are lines of moments that I remember and think of growing up. I wanted to use this virtual space to record them. Welcome to my personal FAQs!

:1971

1. I --เด็กชายสรชัย กรณ์เกษม-- was born in 1971 at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand to middle class working-parents who were working for the government as official clerks. I have two other siblings and I am right in the middle. Here is my dad holding me in 1971; Sakorn Kornkasem ( 1939-2003). [ Here recently, my mom has just visited me in NYC 2009 ]

2. Our first house, Chareon Nakrin 32/1, was on the other side of Bangkok called Thonburi near the family temple, Wat Sawes Chat (วัดเศวตฉัตร), where my name was also given from (โดยหลวงพ่อวัดเศวตฉัตร). My grandmother house (my grandfather had passed away before I was born), Chareon Nakorn 39, was located across from the main street from us and was adjacent to the Chao Praya River (แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา). I remembered, as a kid, when we visited her, we were jumping and swimming in the Chao Praya River all the times. The river back then was clean enough to swim, I guess. I went to a pre-kindergarten in our walking distant, a neighborhood school. Only one memory I always have had was the incident occurred there that my head kind of stuck onto the trunk of a tree there. Once in a while, it somewhat shows up on my dream.

:1975

3. In 1975, our family moved out of Thonburi area to the northern part of Bangkok to get settled in a sub-division neighborhood, Sena Nives, far away from the center of the city. My first kindergarten and elementary school and my childhood life were along the small street called Soi Senanikom 1 (30 years later the “Soi” was upgraded to Road (thanks for the urban development).

4. The element school attended was named Smithichote, from K-6. There, I got my first gold medal for the 4x50m relay in our sport day in my Grade 4 (aka. ปอ4).

5. I attended Strividhaya 2 (SV2) as my high school of my (mom) choice after finishing from Smithichote. All our siblings also attended SV2 too with the main reason my mom explained that it is close to where we live. Does she knows that she, actually, helped reduce Carbon Footprints of our family’s contribution and to our environment by sending us to SV2. To get to the school, we must walk across the rice filed to the school most of the times. Even in a raining day, we took out the shoes and then clean our feet in school. We tried to save one or two baht (1-2 บาท) for transportation charge (rod song taew = รถสองแถว).

6. Early in my high school’s life, I joined a school’s soccer team during my grade 7 (aka มอ2), where I was trained as a goalkeeper. We won only one match the most, as far as I remembered. It was fun, though.

7. While practicing soccer, I found out that Math is my best friend since I didn’t have to spend lots of time for the homework like other subjects. I was really ahead of a class but my reading skill was really way behind them.

8. Besides being good at Math in high school, I found out the love of drawings, wherever I found, i.e. newspaper I collected them. We could not afford to buy a magazine or, etc.

:1986

9. After finishing my junior high school, I had a decision to make regarding to my own education.

[Notes: One was to stay in our school as my first choice of the math-science-art concentration, or I could go trying an exam to compete a spot at Triam Udom Sueksa (เตรียมอุดมศึกษา). as a second choice. But if I failed, I could go back the SV2 and I need to find other school. Was that a risk? My reluctant decision back then, as a 14 y/o old teenage, was heavily based on a school sport team I started to play, and my friends I had. So, I stayed and felt comfortable walking across the rice field o school, rather than take an hour public transportation to a school in the Bangkok downtown. Sometimes, I always wondered what would it be like, to be surrounded by all those top of classes at Triem Udom Sueksa. Did I miss anything in this fundamental education? I, then, went to try to take another exam for the King Mongkut Pra Nakorn Neur (เทคโนพระนครเหนือช่างเขียนแบบเครื่องกล) for a vocational program in mechanical drafting. Yes, I got admitted but I declined the acceptance and continued to the regular educational system of Grade 10-12 instead.

10. One of various dreams, I remember, was that I wanted to be a pilot while I never had owned a bicycle at home. My parents could not afford them either.

11. Besides math and drawing interests, I heavily played sports in school, i.e., soccer and basketball, but I was strictly trained volleyball player as a setter position every evening, including summer.

[Notes: The main role of a setter is to prepare a ball, whatever condition we would receive from teammates, in order for a hitter to have a chance to score a point, easily. A setter, in general, should know where the other hitter players’ position on the court and who could be blocking them, then he/she decide where we will set a ball too. It is also a satisfying feeling when your hitter gets the right ball and scores a point. For me, I just keep this good feeling to myrself.]

12. Physics became another best friend of mine too, I realized. I like those nerdy logical problems solving, both math and physics. I felt it is right when I find the answer.

13. I started to learn how to draw a little bit more there at SV2 but it is not going that much far.

14. At the same time I still continued volleyball training in the past two full years. I wish I could played a good basketball too, but I couldn’t shoot the ball into the basket.

[Notes: To me, it needs lots of accuracy, practicing and muscle training for that. As for volleyball, yes, I did the same accuracy, training nad muscle skills, but the areas to score on the volleyball court are wide open and give more chance where to place the ball.]

:1987

15. After finishing the Grade 10, to pursue my pilot’s dream, I took the test for the Thai Air-force Academy. I passed the exam at least at a paper test round, but failed in the physical and sport training tests. Ironic isn’t it? I did well in most of the tests but I tended to believe the reason I didn’t get I because of the rank placed for the first round was not high enough to compete with other 99 people.

[Note: the first round acceptance was 200 people, while they limited to only 100 in the end. Plus they had this special score for ones who have relatives in the air force. I understood and moved on.]

16. Into the fourth semester of studying Chemistry and Biology, I decided I will just give them up—I couldn’t remember them. So, it meant that I wouldn’t be able to get into any medical industry that requires both subjects. So, my specific goal aiming at the architecture and engineering fields, instead.

17. Math and Physics were indeed comfort me, shaping my confidence through the hard day at school where I didn’t well in other subjects requiring readings. They are my ego booster, whatever that means. To brag about it, I was one of the top three of the Math skills: whenever we have our-school-version of Math Olympics, I would sit there until the last round with other two friends, which both of them right now are physicians in Thailand. It was the greatest proud in my school life.

18. Through diffidence and difficulty in readings, I managed to pass the “Sop Tiep (สอบเทียบ)” [the Thailand’s advance placement system to skip Grade 12]. This system has been so popular in Thailand during my growing up. Who care about Grade 12, right?: specially, if you can enter to the university. That seems to be the main attitude to many Thai students.

19. At SV2, there had been a fact that almost none of my high school seniors we knew could ever pass the National Exam to entering the architecture schools. Maybe one or two max but usually they retook the exam.

:1988

20. Allowed to take it for the first time at the end of my Grade 11, I failed the first National Exam to get to Thai Universities (aka “Entrance”) completely. There, I chose 5 or 6 architecture schools. I didn’t prepare well on anything, admittedly.

21. The Thai National Examination to the Universities of your choice, also called, “Entrance” system, in fact, intimidated us students at SV2. We didn’t have any guts whatsoever that we would get in the top universities. It is just an attitude and our school’s record we have. We were of a third–forth tier kind of school, after all.

[Note: This “Entrance” system was to evaluate ‘superficially’ how well we as a high school students could do in their once a year 3-4 days nation-wide examination. Students then placed to school of their choice up again other students’ scores. So, the purpose was so simple: just doing well in the Exam itself! Who cares about High School attending much? We have outside tutorial systems to support over the evening and the weekend. Also, in the “Entrance” you choose schools , my years, upto 6 schools of you future occupation. So, if you choose randomly, you will end up being whatever scores you have lead to.]

22. A group of best friends who shared “art/design industry” interests helped formed a studying group. We supported and shared our studying materials and pushed each other in drawing skills. Piyanuch , Komkrij and Jezzada were ahead in a group. They had amazing hand and visual composition: Where did that come from?

23. During senior year, we did lots of extracurricular for an annual sport day. Our volleyball team never won the first place. We enjoyed our second.

24. One day my friend laughed so hard with this book, “WaWun (ว้าวุ้น)” (a funny story of Chulalongkorn’s architecture students). So, I borrowed her. Man, after a couple paragraphs of reading it, I laughed out loud and wanted to be their students too—what a genius! Why were they were so funny and creative? What made them ones? The had this things too, a summer comedy Broadway style, LaKorn Thapad. I admired their high creativities. That book was such a vital aspiration of my future--focusing on studying AND wanting to become an architecture student too. But there were only 5-6 schools offered during that time.

25. None of our previous seniors from SV2, by the way, could passed the exam and got into any architectural schools during that time (or maybe 1 max, if any). Was my school being “spelled” or “banned” from? We were not really strong in education. Oh well, we had to help ourselves.

26. We finally graduated as a Class of 1989 (the 12^th class). Yes, my school had only 6 graduating when I first joined them in 1983.

:1989

27. Piyanuch, Komkrij and I passed the National Exam to entering the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University; Korakot to Silpakorn at that year. Russamee to Thammasat and Pui to Chula’s Business school, instead. Unfortunately, Bee could not make it, so she joined a private university, instead. Jessada waited another year and re took it and got in Silpakorn’s Decoration. I thought at that time, we pushed hard -- studying and supporting group really helped us. I felt everything happiness: I really worked hard to be an architecture student at “that” creative and funny people I read from a book, year ago. Nuch got in the Industrial Design Department, Koh at Landscape Architecture and I studied Architecture major -- all three departments welcomed SV2’s alumni altogether for the first time, in the history of mankind. As a freshmen at Thapad Chula, we three were heroes in our high school SV2 as we aspired few more students afterward.

After all, you got to help yourself, your peers, etc. Was it the school system’s fallacy or an inequity in education, in Thailand?

……..(next is life at Chulalongkorn Architecture School; such as new friends for live, rugby, volunteering works, comedy broadway style, leadership skill and passion in education. Then, after school life; work, teaching and the next chapter in the United States journey.)

"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty.

I only think about how to solve the problem.

But when I have finished,

if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."

- Buckminster Fuller

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