Mr. Humayun Kabir [then cultural affairs minister] referred to the great temples of the South and the Taj Mahal. Well, they are beautiful. Some of the temples of the South, however, repel me in spite of their beauty. I just can’t stand them. Why? I do not know. I cannot explain that, but they are oppressive, they suppress my spirit. They do not allow me to rise, they keep me down. The dark corridors—I like the sun and air and not dark corridors.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Mr. Humayun Kabir [then cultural affairs minister] referred to the great temples of the South and the Taj Mahal. Well, they are beautiful. Some of the temples of the South, however, repel me in spite of their beauty. I just can’t stand them. Why? I do not know. I cannot explain that, but they are oppressive, they suppress my spirit. They do not allow me to rise, they keep me down. The dark corridors—I like the sun and air and not dark corridors." in the context of "March 1959 speech at the seminar on architecture organized by New Delhi’s Lalit Kala Academy. https://www.firstpost.com/india/central-vista-diaries-part-2-when-jawaharlal-nehru-prophesied-rajpaths-second-redevelopment-9687791.html" to mean that wisdom is timeless.