CARTS 2012 - Comments

 

 

Thank you for offering the delightful course!

I was initially intrigued that such a different course was being offered at a B-school and opted for it, to see what was in store. The course outline looked interesting and I felt that I would be entering territories that I, deep down, had always wanted to explore but never did manage to - on account of various reasons ranging from tough luck to pure laziness. However, CARTS showed me a way to explore arts - the field of literature in which I had been interested since my childhood days (spent in the magical worlds created by the likes of Enid Blyton and J.K. Rowling) as well as the fields of music and films of which I had very little knowledge. 

I have never for a moment regretted my choice of having taken CARTS. It's literally been a joyful musical ride for me as I learnt to appreciate nuances I had never been aware of in music and I developed a strong liking towards some classic old songs which most of today's so-called numbers cannot dream of matching. Watching movies, well personally for me (except the horror movie session in which I was too scared to open my eyes), was not just a pastime as we learnt the various techniques behind their making and learnt to appreciate the creative genius of some of the best directors and cameramen. Equally wonderful and insightful were the sessions on understanding humor and identifying that it is, indeed, one of the toughest forms of art to master as well as the sessions on appreciating literature. Analyzing a cartoon film bit by bit showed us how much effort goes in, as planning as well as execution, to make people laugh and enjoy for even a few seconds. Mathematics when seen through a different lens was exciting, more so to the engineers among us who had been used to proving theorems using traditional means only.

Overall, the course has been a thoroughly enjoyable one- one that involved a lot of open-minded thinking and insightful discussions that made us take a step towards understanding the gargantuan field of arts. And, yes, who would ever say no to a course where studying for quizzes would entail watching songs on YouTube, downloading movies and reading storybooks? :)

Shilpa Suresh
PGP 2011-13, IIMB

 

CARTS, when I look back after finishing all the courses at IIMB, is one of the best courses that is being offered at IIMB. I recommend the course for two reasons a) for the unique course content and b) for the professor B. Shekar. The Course is definitely one of its kind which looks at creativity in different spheres of life.

The course begins with an Introduction to the genesis of creativity.  The recommended reading for this course is a book on creativity by David Bohm which has in-depth and very profound perspectives on creativity; it got us started with the course. I vividly remember the first question that the professor asked, “Why TV is called an Idiot Box?” and the course unfolded with a lot of questions and answers on creativity. After the introduction the professor spent few weeks on looking at creativity in Aural and Visual Media. To me, this part was the most enjoyable. Every lecture would have video clips and audio clips, and the professor would critically analyse minute details of the clips explaining the intra and inter domain metaphors and creative ingenuity of the creators and composers. After attending these lectures, watching a movie or listening to an opera was a new experience. I could appreciate the nuances of the creations much better than I could before I attended the lectures. We got introduced to the beautiful classics from Bollywood which we would not have gotten introduced to otherwise. Many clips from old Hollywood classics and animation movies are also part of the lecture. This made missing a class impossible. After studying creativity in Audio and video forms, focus shifted to drawings and paintings. Escher art was analysed from various perspectives and so were other sketches and paintings. Next in line was creativity in the realm of literature. Absorbing prose of Hugo, the eloquent writing style of Tolstoy and Chekov, and different aspects of humor were discussed in the class.

The topics handled in this course are so diverse that the final part of the course was dedicated to recognizing and appreciating creativity in Mathematics and Natural Science.

 

The big take away from this course - it broadens your perspective and makes you appreciate even the minute elements born out of a creative mind. The course introduces you to a plethora of subjects and analyses the creativity element in each of them. I found the analysis by the professor never to be superficial; it had always been in-depth and a little subjective.

 

About the professor, he is one of the friendliest professors on campus. He encourages discussion even outside classroom. His viewpoints on the various topics of creativity are unique and makes one think deeper.

Why I liked the course:

1. Entertainment + Learning 

2. Exposure to old classics in Bollywood and Hollywood

3. Introduction to creativity in numerous domains (Literature, Humour, Math, Science)

4. Exams that had audio and video clips with questions based on them.

5. The unique contents of the course

6. Professor’s Dynamism

 

Overall the course is unique and enjoyable.

Kalai Selvam KM
PGP 2011-13, IIMB

 

Truly speaking CARTS was one of the two subjects that I really enjoyed thoroughly, right from the beginning till the end of the course. The four broad areas that were touched upon were movies, music, paintings and literature; and all four had influenced me at some point in my life. Hence the course proved very interesting and on a different plane provided me with certain tools and techniques to appreciate their beauty.

The collection of music used to exemplify each aspect of the creativity was simply superb, especially the Hindi and Malayalam numbers. Though I knew a bit about painting before attending the lectures, the classes proved interesting because of the discussions with regard to the Impressionist paintings and Escher’s works. Inspired by this, I later went on to explore Impressionists’ work in depth, at Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Though familiar with Indian movies, I hadn't seen many English movies. The classes introduced me to the world of English movies, especially many of the classics by Hitchcock and his likes. 

To list down a  few value-adds: 1) the course provided me with a clearer picture of things that attract me - when listening to a song or watching a video. By spotting some of these elements while experiencing a creative work helps you enjoy it better. 2) An exercise which I really enjoyed was "imagining the flow of the story of a movie" by trying to predict the next scene. Listing the possibilities often helped me to think beyond the set flow of things. 3)Trying to fill a song's music (at a blank portion) was a very challenging as well as interesting exercise. 4) Learning about film editing -  linear and non-linear was a great experience. Later, this helped me enjoy a movie better.

Abraham Praveen
PGP 2011-13, IIMB

In his first lecture Prof. Shekar urged us to come to the class with an open mind devoid of any skepticism. A reflective mind is indeed a critical requirement to learn the finer aspects of this course aptly titled as Creativity in Arts and Science. Many students believe that this course is different from the regular MBA courses and focuses on creativity in Music, literature and science, which is correct but only partially. The course is certainly unique because Professor Shekar has chosen a creative way to teach us about the finer aspects of creativity but it’s no different from any other MBA courses. There is tremendous amount of learning in this course which could be applied in fields like marketing, design and communication. The only requirement is as professor suggests; keep your minds open and learn to look beyond the obvious and if you do follow this advice you will find that CARTS is actually a multi-disciplinary course which covers, though subtly, areas of Marketing, design, and communication.

 

I liked the examination pattern and it was totally in line with what the course stands for. As rightly said at the begining, this course is not for cynics. Which is quite right because cynicism blocks your mind and it does not allow you to appreciate the subtleness and intricacies of creative people’s work.  Before joining this course I was very much interested in looking at the art work of people like Eduard Manet, Salvadore Dali but could never decipher the meaning behind their work and certainly I never thought that one could also draw a metaphorical correspondence between music and Image- the two seemingly different things. The exam helped me realize that there is one harmony which is binding every creative work, ever done in any field. I am really thankful for bringing a paradigm shift in my perspective on creativity.

I would strongly recommend this course to those who find it difficult to appreciate the underlying beauty in music, films and paintings and to those who wish to learn non-traditional business concepts free of 2x2 matrices and questionnaires and to those who want to gain the super human capability of watching and enjoying any film on the planet because watching anything the ‘CARTS Way’ can make it an ultimate experience in itself.

Rahul KM
PGP 2011-13, IIMB

 

It is the only course which does not fall in line with the usual management subjects like marketing or finance. The content of the course allowed me to reflect on creativity, especially in Indian cinema, where with limited resources, the movie makers of a bygone era made maximum use of these resources to instil life in a movie.

Even the pedagogy, where half – completed paintings were shown to bring our imagination to life is worth mention here because usually most courses have a certain structure and direction where one’s application of imagination is limited. From Escher’s woodwork to JMW Turner paintings – the course has covered many aspects on creativity.

Even though I do listen to music, it is the course that has enabled me to discern the minute tones that are incorporated in a piece of music – the effects of shadowing of musical instruments is entirely new for me.

I could go on and on, but I consider the above mentioned points as being most important takeaways from the course. I sincerely request to keep the course in the curriculum for many years to come so that more students can be benefited from the course.

Larry Cooper Banks 

PGP 2011-13, IIMB

 

Creativity in arts and science course which was offered to us in Term – 4 was a unique and enriching elective for students.

Coming from primarily engineering background, we tend to have a very analytical mindset. Although it is good, but not enough to be successful in corporate world. Increasingly there is growing demand to have a creative approach in whatever we do. In such a scenario, CARTS plays a key role in broadening our perspective and introducing the concepts and application of creativity in various fields. Apart from stimulating the right half of the brain, the course also helped us to absorb the concepts and think through where and how they can be potentially leveraged in real life situation.

 

Eternal classic songs, memorable videos, rich literature and knowledgeable-cum-helpful professor, made the course a complete enriching and lively experience.

P Supreet Kumar

PGP 2011-13, IIMB

To be frank when I bid for CARTS, I bid for a subject which would be very minimal in terms of workload. Also I did not expect to learn anything out of it. But I was amazed at the amount of knowledge I gained by just sitting in the class with an open mind. Getting an opportunity to analyze the patterns, the effects and various other techniques which were used in various art forms which helped them make the masterpiece that they have become today was truly an unforgettable experience. Getting a chance to learn this course from Prof.Shekar, whose enthusiasm and energy levels still boggles me, is an added bonus . Nobody could have done justice for this course apart from Prof.Shekar whose never ending thirst for knowledge just adds life to this course and has helped CARTS grow by leaps and bounds over the past few years. I can confidently say that among the several courses which I have taken over the past 2 years in IIMB, CARTS is among the select few which will forever remain in my mind.

Sashank Naik

PGP 2011-13, IIMB

Creativity in Arts and Sciences in my opinion, is probably the most unique course that one can expect to study as part of formal MBA education. Keeping in mind that most students come from technical backgrounds, the course offers an opportunity to look at things with a very different and novel lens. It exposes the students to various nuances of creativity and associated techniques, ranging from aural to visual, and is a fascinating experience. Every student’s take away from the elective is very personal and inimitable but everyone is bound to learn and appreciate some of the more simple yet subtle aspects around us.

Shobhit Agrawal
PGP 2011-13, IIMB

As soon as we entered in B-School, creativity became a buzz word. Creativity in management, decision making, problem solving were the typical words I heard but never got an opportunity to experience creativity in reality. But then I came across CARTS course in Term 4. For the first time in my management studies, I came across a subject that gave me  great insights about creative elements in music, cinematography and mathematics, which I had never acknowledged before. It provided new perspective to experience the subtlety hidden in every form and the big difference it creates in transforming a piece of object into a creative master piece. My biggest take away from this course for my management career is ‘Creativity is not a rocket science. It’s an approach to mould the situation to explore new meaningful outcomes.’

Shirish Ashok Gaikwad
PGP 2011-13, IIMB

Though the course is titled Creativity in Arts and Science, this is not a course that teaches you creativity. One would not be wise to think that creativity can be taught in a classroom. This is a course that teaches you how to appreciate creativity. This course teaches you about finer nuances of art in its various forms - painting, sculpture, music, theater, dance - that many a time goes under-appreciated. This course gives you an insight into the thought process that goes through the creator's mind while coming up with something new. Such a perspective is essential to understand the wider purpose of art - as a means of expression. The course then further, albeit superficially touches upon the relevance of creativity in the world of science and how important it is to be creative and appreciative of creativity to enhance and enjoy human knowledge.
Noufal Mohamed Basheer

PGP 2011-13, IIMB
 

I loved the concept and the idea behind the course. I strongly believe the need for management executives to be creative and this course does very well to stimulate and encourage creativity in students. I loved the classes and thought you did an excellent job describing the creative aspects of some great masterpieces. I believe the course does very well in helping us see aspects in art works which otherwise just skipped our eyes and ears (the concepts of shadows/silhouettes for instance). So overall, I felt very positive about the course content and pedagogy.

Saurabh Bansal
PGP 2011-13, IIMB
 

I think it is a welcome difference to the usual courses offered and offers something to test and tap the creativity in us. Though I am not a connoisseur of music or art, I was able to appreciate the subtleties in art forms and thoroughly enjoyed the course. The course material has good content which provides scope for us to explore creativity in different forms of arts and science. There are seldom exams that students enjoy taking and CARTS assessment tests were very different and creative and well received by the students.

Karthik Manivannan

PGP 2011-13, IIMB

Attending CARTs sessions were a joy as we not only got an opportunity to listen to some of the most beautiful songs and art of yesteryears but we also got expert commentary through our professor post the viewing. It increased our sensitivity to creative elements in the fields covered as part of the course. I also started noticing and appreciating creativity in everyday life.

Before the course, I thought creativity was the encumbrance of certain domains like arts, music, and design; but the presentations which the groups made throughout the course highlighted my ignorance and made me realize how less attractive and interesting life would be without the pervasiveness of creativity. We keep hearing about critically-acclaimed movies, documentaries, etc.; but I feel creativity would've been central for anything to obtain acclaim. In summary, I feel the course provided the much needed intellectual boosters for my education to take off.

Prakash P

PGP 2011-13, IIMB