Tuesday, March 25, 2014

CARTS 2013 - Comments


Somewhere in the mad rush, I realized that I had stopped observing keenly and so wanted to take up a subject that provides me the opportunity to reflect.  It was a pleasure exploring CARTS as a subject and I loved attending the classes.

I would have never noticed the technical intricacies that go behind an work of art, in spite of being an artist myself. The way you explained the thought process behind each artwork, with utmost patience, guided the mind to pay attention in that direction.  

CARTS helped me particularly in being more conscious of my surrounding and being mindful.
Amrapali Bhowmik
PGP 2012-14, IIMB
 



I am glad that I got a chance to be part of CARTS, a well designed course that will stimulate you to think beyond what you see. It makes you more conscious of our surroundings and explore the plethora of different variables related to creativity in both arts and science. There are moments when you'll be awestruck and there will be moments when you'll suddenly feel a sense of joy and excitement as there is  sense of accomplishment in being able to appreciate creativity and beauty like never before. It's like a journey where you develop deeper intimacy and connection with the beauty around you. An experience that will make you believe there is more life than what you are currently experiencing. The course is a compilation of fascinating literature, music and videos that will help you to release your creative power, which was blocked consciously or unconsciously as we grew up and let it flow naturally once again.
Harshita Mehton
PGP 2012-14, IIMB
 



CARTS is that one subject in which I was on a roller coaster learning ride in each of the class. I went to every class with an enthusiasm that I now rarely associate with classes. It opened a world of interpretation and understanding of things which till now I had taken for granted. Yes, I watch movies and listen to songs. I enjoy books and laugh at jokes but then it was all very superficial. I did learn appreciating text and poems as a part of literature courses in school but never thought that the application of those ideas extend far beyond the boundaries of literary material. The unifying themes of beauty and art and how these themes transcend all boundaries is something that made the CARTS subject a wonder to behold for me. It is very interesting to note how the same themes, either as it is or with small modifications, are present across variety of artistic material and how despite these similarities the effect conjured by these art forms is so different. No one really does compare a piece of music to a joke or a beautiful picture to a cartoon. Some would even consider it a sacrilege to do so. But then is that really the case? This is what I learned to question and the answers provided by CARTS are mesmerizing. The thread of commonality that runs through these seemingly disconnected topics is that human mind responds to certain features and aspects in a positive way irrespective of how they are camouflaged & this opens up a world of opportunities for anyone looking to interact or affect another person.

Time and again, friends around me questioned the importance of such a subject in a management course. And to be frank, so did I. How is it that a music appreciation lecture will ever help me in solving a management crisis? After attending the sessions, I know that this perhaps was one of the most insightful lectures that I will ever attend. If I map each lecture to learning, most of the lecture was all about how human’s respond to different stimuli and how most of these responses or stimuli are actually well designed forms of the same underlying brain wiring that we all have. The implications can be mapped to how a product will be perceived, how an ad campaign will be received and what the consumer actually appreciates and needs.

Things like introduction of percussion in a music piece or the importance of snatches of flute in a piece teaches me that how every little part is what makes the whole so great. It taught me how little things around me are so full of beauty and it taught me the power of appreciation. In addition, the idea that with minute changes a day to day object can become a rare artifice is worth pursuing and gives us the incentive to work a little extra in making the things what they have potential to be.Most importantly I believe it has helped me in viewing surroundings and art form in my day to day life with much more respect and credence than I ever associated with these. On a philosophical level, the exercises on imagining the contents of a blurred image helped me understand that this is how life too unfolds. Things in future remain hazy but it is our present view of these blurred images that will shape them in reality.

Things that I enjoyed the most:

1. The professor’s enthusiasm was the highlight of the entire course for me because had it not been for that, I would have gone through it without being inspired myself.

2. I really enjoyed the classes on humor, because to understand how humor also has underlying science was something very new to me.

3. The essays by Tolstoy were also a great read.

Thank You Sir for a great experience!! J
Vidhi Agarwal
PGP 2012-14, IIMB



I have truly enjoyed the CARTS course as it is very different from the regular MBA curriculum. It provides you a break from the monotonous schedule and gives you a platform to appreciate the depth and creativity in different art forms. You get to know the kind of hard work an artist puts in while making a song, movie, cartoon or even a sketch. At the back end, this course might help you in subtle ways if you are interested in marketing. For example, in designing marketing campaigns, advertisements, etc. On the whole, I would say that it adds a new flavor/dimension to life, especially for someone like me, belonging to a typical engineering background. 
Samita Bansal
PGP 2012-14, IIMB
 




I was one of your students in the CARTS course last term and I found the experience very good. I learned a lot about the nuances of understanding the finer details behind music, movies and literature. I was already a fan of old Hindi music, and now I feel listening to them an even more enriching experience. Never before have exams been more fun- especially the screening of the scene from Psycho, which enabled me to view it in a whole new light with the understanding of the course. I also found all the literature based classes very interesting, as well as the readings associated with them- especially the one on comedy and the excerpts from Les Miserables. I really appreciate the effort you put into the course, and count myself lucky that I got to be a part of it.
Smita Singh
PGP 2012-14, IIMB
 




I would like to share my comments on the CARTS course that I had taken during my term 4.  Initially, before taking the course I had my apprehensions regarding the course since I was not well versed with any form of music but only very interested in music and other art forms. However, you made sure within 2 or 3 classes that my apprehensions were removed from the picture. 

According to me, CARTS is an excellent platform for honing one's observation skills. Before that, I never would have paid attention to the nuances that exist. All the more surprising and interesting was the theory behind those nuances which proved the enormous amount of efforts that go into making a piece right. CARTS has made me appreciate art much more than before. Without attributing a success to serendipity, I now try to understand the process behind it and how creatively a creator has used the different elements in different styles consciously. The classroom sessions were very interesting and the readings in the course were also very intriguing and different, and helped us think about art and the relationship it holds with science from different perspectives. I loved the piece by Tolstoy in particular.

 At the end of the term, the course gave me closure of having done something good for myself and was a sure shot relief from the other usual courses  :)
Abhinaya Sivanandham
PGP 2012-14, IIMB
 

 
 

In an environment where everybody is trying to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to create a niche for themselves in the industry, an opportunity to enroll oneself in a course like CARTS in itself is a wonder. For a someone who appreciates art like I do, it adds multiple dimensions to view, understand and recreate the art. For the aficionados of creativity, it helps in understanding the nuances of the various creations that we have grown up appreciating. Finally, the followers of science would uncover that there is a method to the madness.
Binoy Subba
PGP 2012-14, IIMB
 
  
 

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