CARDS - Comments

Serendipity is how I landed up in one of the completely different courses of EPGP! Being a placement committee member, I was in a meeting with CDS and when the meeting finished, I realized that I had kept my bag in the classroom. I came back only to find that the CARDS class had started. I wanted to quietly sneak-in, pick my bag up and sneak back out. With this intention, I sneaked in. But guess what, I could not find my bag where I left it, someone had shifted it. It looked odd to come in the middle of a class, rummage for the bag (and disturb the class in the process) and then leave. So, I decided to wait it out. For the first few minutes I started thinking about other things that had to be done. Then the professor’s enthusiasm and passion for what he was teaching got my attention. I was surprised when I realized that he was teaching how multiple dimensions are used in art, in images, in videos and how dimensions add complexity to what is being conveyed and in the process, reveal more information and inhibit the brain’s creativity and imagination! This was a completely new way to look at things! I was hooked – and I sat through the class, attended the next class as well and ended up taking the course.

Partha Sarathi Mukhopadhyay

EPGP 2013-14, IIMB

 

 

I always wanted to thank you once for such as wonderful journey through the CARDS course and wanted to jot down a few words regarding my experience in the CARDS classroom sessions and how I felt lot more enriched after this course.

 Creativity has always been an interesting component which excited me and this course made me feel immensely contended that I had made the right decision in choosing this course. It was amazing to see the meticulous planning from your side in identifying the right content for each classroom session based on your extensive research and expertise of more than 40 years. 

It has been a very refreshing journey for ALL of us in the class and it not only helped us understand the varied aspects of creativity across visual and aural domains but also helped appreciate the aspects such as how temporal contrast can be applied effectively to improve the impact of a situation or music, how sylvette can be leveraged to improve the contrast of a situation, how creativity can be embedded into humor in an unconventional manner, the bi-associations etc. In addition, I would not have, otherwise, realized the importance and impact that silence could have in various situations. The sessions around leveraging Escher’s art forms to draw metaphorical connections between music and drawings have been phenomenal.

I personally believe that but for your strong passion and eagerness to share your understanding with the class, this course could not have been so impressive and beneficial. Last but not the least, the Bose audio system you brought in for each class was simply superb and was a great complementary tool in the process.

With this enhanced understanding, we are now able to correlate many creative aspects around us be it in advertisements, music, songs, documentaries or movies.

There were multiple instances in which we (including other classmates) would make an observation or two on how you would have highlighted the nuances of silence, temporal contrast, silhouette, etc. on our observations !!!

Thank you Sir, once again. You definitely made a HUGE difference in the way we observe things around us.

Ramkumar JHS

EPGP 2013-14, IIMB

 

I was going through some of our class notes recently and could appreciate many good things we learned during the course of sessions.

 

I really liked the way you taught us to appreciate meanings and beauty in artistic creations by some great artists. Further, CARDS was not limited to only one or two streams of arts, but covers wide range of subjects from music to mathematics. Some of the songs you showed us during the classes must have been seen by me may be hundreds of times. But the way you identified the finer elements of lights, camera movements matching with music and rhythms, editing, etc.  showed the same songs in new light. My ability to enjoy such elements of arts has really gone up post your classes.

 

I could never imagine mathematics could be so interesting while going through routine boring algebraic equations and trigonometry. Your method of teaching coupled with personal passion, which reflects in the way you communicate, made us really look at creative elements in simple mathematical things like formula for calculating area of circle and sphere etc.

 

Finally, the learning didn’t stop at classes but continued through the exams as well. The piece of story you gave us in the exam, a masterpiece in itself, made me really enjoy my exam and also appreciate fineries in literature.

 

To put it in the least, I have developed a new way and paradigm of looking at music, films, paintings, etc. and thereby enhancing my pleasure quotient in enjoying these art forms multiple times.

 

So thank you once again sir.

Vishal Waikar

EPGP 1013-14

 

 

The course challenged me to inculcate an inclination to look beyond what is readily obvious, and out there to be seen and heard. It tested my conventional way of performing simple tasks e.g. listening to music, watching movies, reading literature, using products, and much more. In fact, it proved to be a test for almost all my senses!

There are many unique attributes to this course. The contents are beyond science and regular paradigms of management, so I felt that I was in for a treat to get this unique perspective from the professor.

It is more of a lifestyle change. The essence behind the course, if understood properly, can help create a lens in front of one’s eyes, which will give one a unique perspective into creativity and sensitize one to appreciate the good versus the bad, better versus the good, and the best versus the better of almost any and everything in life.

Puneet Arora

EPGP 2013-14

Most unique of all the courses I have studied and will probably study at IIMB - These are what my first words will be about CARDS. I will say I was blessed to study under Prof. Shekar. His excellent knowledge in the realms of music, filmography, photography, literature and other arts made the diffusion of knowledge from him to the class very easy. I can bet, no examination in the world test the real skills of your brain. Prof. Shekar's examination did. It took a lot of mind work to solve just half of the question paper.

I would recommend this course to all the students who are interested in learning something new in life that is exclusive to Prof. Shekar rather than learning things that can be easily taught through books. I wish I had more sessions to attend to.

Himanshu Joshi

EPGP 2011-12

The elective course CARDS offered by you to the EPGP 2010-11 batch has been a great learning experience. Even for someone with no background in music and other arts, this course was very relevant.

We got to learn important aspects of creativity in audio, video and literature.

As rightly said in one of the sessions...

"it's a very serious course and happens to be enjoyable as well"

I highly recommend this course to future batches as it is a unique course, not to be missed!

Priti Raj

EPGP 2010-11, IIMB

 

 

I really enjoyed the CARDS course. The concepts you taught were a real eye opener for me. It really helped me appreciate and enjoy the finer nuances in creativity. Now, I no longer listen to music or watch movies without looking for the creative aspects that you opened our eyes to. Whenever I hear a piece of music, I tend to look for those creative aspects and it is always a great experience discovering them. The course also made me think laterally, especially the design sessions. I strongly recommend the CARDS course for every student.
Vishnuprasad Gopinath Balu
EPGP-2011, IIMB