The National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai

 While in Mumbai for a day I was in the Colaba area and decided to peep into the National Gallery of Modern Art for a bit. I had missed this the last time and walked into the majestic Cowasji Jehangir Hall right across Regal theatre. I realised later that there were similar galleries in Delhi, Bengaluru and so on.

I enjoyed viewing the works of artists such as Avinash Chandra, Paramjit Singh, DP RoyChoudhury, SH Raza, Shyamal Datta Ray, Jehangir Sabavala, Lazman Shreshta, Bhupen Khakkar, KG Subramanya, MV Dhurandhar, Elizabeth Brunner and so on.

Most paintings had a quote by the artist over it as to how they perceive art. Very well presented. Loved it.

Reflections on the Indian Stage By Leading Women Practitioners - Edited by Mahesh Elkunchwar

 Mahesh Elkunchwar is an eminent figure in Modern Indian Theatre. He wrote 20 plays (Sultan, Wada Chirebandi), taught at the FTII and got this book about theatre from women practitioners - he gave them 20 questions as pointers (how did you begin your journey, your distinct theatre idiom, innovation, Indianness, minimalism)and edited the answers. It is a rich insight into the world of Indian theatre. This book was first published in Marathi and then translated into English. 

Some of the personalities he interviwed are Vijaya Mehta (Shrimant, Hayavadana, Pestonji), Anuradha Kapur (Gora, Umrao, Virasat), Neelam Mansingh (Yerma, Phaedra), Kirti Jain (Ashad ki ek Din, Holi, Ek Ruka Ha Faisla) , Amal Allana (Adhe Adhure, Himmat Mai, Begum Barve), Usha Ganguly (Rudali, Lok Katha), Gowri Ramnarayan ((Dark Horse, Night's End), Sanjna Kapoor (Prithvi Theatre), Keerti Shiledar (Saubhadra, Manapuram, Mrichakatika), Shanta Gokhale (theatre of Veenapani Chawla), Kanchan Sontakke (Children's theatre), Alaknanda Samarth  (Miss Julie, Band Darwaze) and Irawati Karnik (Goshta, Dharmaputra, E k Natakacha Mrutyu).

A ton of insight into the Indian theatre scene. Loved it.

Prince of Music - Lalitharam (Translated by V Ramnarayan)

This is a biography of the famous classical singer G N Balasubramaniam written by the multi-talented Mechanical Engineer Lalitharam (real name Ramachandran Mahadevan who also dabbled in documentary films, writing, music etc) in Tamil and then translated by another equally talented personality, V Ramnarayan, into English.  

Gudalur Narayanaswami Balasubramaniam was the eldest of eight children and the son of a school teacher and a housewife (who was a good singer as well and who taught him early on). The family moved to Chennai early on and as GNB's father was the Secretary of  Sri Parthasarathi Swami Sabha, Triplicane, he was exposed to musicians and music. Though many musicians praised young GNB's prowess his father was not convinced and told him to study his BA Honors at Madras Christian College and hopefully pursue Law later. GNB registered to study at the Annamalai University where he could learn music and also study. It was then that a concert of Musiri Subramania Iyer got cancelled at Tanjore and he got an opportunity to perform and made his mark.

With his film star looks GNB acted in films as well - Bhama Vijayam, Shakumtalai, Sati Anasuya etc. He sang for records where he was paid Rs. 10000 as an advance. Overall he recorded 20 records. While describing the way he approached a concert the author also educated me on how classical concerts go - start with a varnam, sing major, minor and mid level ragas, krithis, alapana, niraval, kalpana swaram, tanam, pallavi, kriti brigas etc.

Apart from being an accomplished singer GNB was also a composer and it is said that he composed 250 kritis while performing as a concert musican in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit languages. GNB was a rebel in many ways. His great appreciation of Bade Ghulam Ali after listening to his concert and prostrating to him drew criticism and some censure, maybe cost him a job even. Disillusioned with the crticism and consequences, GNB went to Trivandrum and joined the Swati Tirunal College of Music as its Principal vowing never to step in Madras again. 

As a person he enjoyed the fine things in life - houses, cars, clothes, always travelled first class, had his own signature perfume, was a connoisseur of good food, collected watches and pens. He had a large family and after taking the responsibility of settling his six sisters he also took care of his own family. GNB passed away at 55, singing even when he was not well.

I am so glad that I read this book. I would not have known about a great artiste like GNB otherwise. Thanks for sending me the book Ram. 

       

Focus - Daniel Goleman

The byline - 'The Hidden Driver of Excellence' drew me. Goleman, the Emotional Intelligence expert,  says that in a world full of distractions we need to sharpen our focus to thrive. We need three types of focus - Inner, Other and Outer - to help us prepare better, recover from setbacks, to have continued attention and to channel positive emotions. One needs self-awareness, empathy to be inner and other focused. Inner focus is about intuition, values. Other focus is about connections.Outer focus is about the larger world.What you focus on grows.

Attention and excellence are linked. Attention can be built by the right practices - meditation and avoiding distractions are two such. With reducing focus thanks to texts, videos, sleep deprivation and addictive behaviors, its harder to be present to oneself and to others.

The enemies of attention are emotional and sensory distractions - emotional distractions (blow ups, worry, distress etc) and sensory (sound, color, taste, smell, touch etc). The more our focus gets disrupted the more we get distracted. The better we focus, stronger our neural lock. We learn best with focused attention. For example deep reading demands sustaining a focused and full absorption in what we do which is called 'flow'. 

I liked how he explained the two mental systems of the brain - bottom up and top down. Bottom up system is the part that is intuitive, fast, impulsive, executive, habits and actions and manages the mental module. Its like one exuberant, spontaneous act. Top Down system is slower, effortful, voluntary, self control, new patterns and models. This requires will power and thought-out action. Voluntary attention, intentional choice are top down while reflexive attention, impulse and rote habit are bottom up. (According to Daniel Kahneman - the top down system is a supporting character who behaves like he is the hero.) Much of what Top Down believes it has chosen to focus on is actually dictated bottom up. Since the brain economises on energy, both Bottom Up and Top Down systems share tasks. Leave the job to motor circuitry - don't overthink. 

Goleman gives a valuable piece of advise for coaches - don't focus on what NOT to do. The stronger the emotion, the greater our fixation.  The idea is that while emotions can drive attention, we can also mange emotions with Top Down system. An active engagement of attention signifies Top Down - mindfulness is Top Down at work. 

In an experiment on mind wandering it was found that both brain systems were active. Creative insights flowed best when people had clear goals but also freedom on how to reach them and had protected time to think freely. While activities like exercising, talking and playing require focus, activities like using the Home PC, commuting etc do not require focus. Practice those activities that help focus. Interesting tidbit, we normally tend to think unpleasant thoughts when the mind wanders. Practicing meditation to be here and now is the best focus. 

The antidote to attention fatigue is rest. We get a flash of insight when we relax after long hours of work. Do Bottom Up activities - being in nature (not surfing the net) or any such immersive experience when attention is total yet passive. Be fully alive.

Self awareness represents an essential focus. Hear your inner voice. Be aware of your somatic markers, the body tugs. There are two major streams of self awareness - Me (builds narrative about our past and future) and I (brings us into the immediate present).

People who are not "other" focused get exposed in 360 degree evaluations. Self knowledge begins with self revelation. 'We don't know who we are until we hear ourselves speaking the story of our lives to someone we trust.  

Attention regulates emotion. Effortful control is focusing at will, ignoring distractions and inhibiting impulses. Will power is important - better the self control, better one succeeds in financial success and health. One must master how to delay gratification. 

The empathy triad is - Cognitive empathy (other people's perception - top down), emoitonal empathy (other person feeling - bottom up) and empathic concern (care about people).

The best curators don't just put data in a meaningful context - they know what questions to ask. The best intuition takes huge amounts of data harnessing our life experiences and filter it through the human brain. 

The 10000 hours rule  - you benefit by adjusting your execution over and over to get close to your goal. Its called deliberate practice. The difference between Amateurs and Experts is that Amateurs become Bottom Up at some point while Experts keep improving through Top Down activities, improving every time.

You need negative focus to survive, positive focus to thrive. Build the triple focus. Schools have introduced concepts such as Breathing Buddies or Stop Light. Mindfulness boosts the classic attention network. Check if you have trouble remembering what someone just told you, have no memory of your morning commute, cannot taste your food, pay attention to phone more than the person you are with,skimming while reading - you need to check yourself.

I put together a bunch of ideas as I read them in the book but the core idea is that we practice focus which is important in this day and age. The book however was not as focused as I would have liked it to be.       

The Anxious Generation - John Haidt

The by line is 'How the rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness' which catches your attention immediately. John Haidt (pronounced as Height) is a social psychologist and a Professor of Ethical Leadership in New Work University School of Business and has written books (like the Happiness Hypothesis I think).

According to Haidt, the Great Rewiring of childhood happened in 2010 with the advent of smart phones. Until then, relationships and social interactions had features such as - embodied (used bodies to communicate), synchronous (happened at the same time), one on one and one on several communications happened (only one interaction happened at one time) and had a high bar for entry and exit (people invested in relationships). Once smartphones entered, social interactions became disembodied, asynchronous, one to many communication and had a low entry and exit barrier. Basically it went from being focused to spraying all over.

Haidt says this switch from play based childhood to phone based childhoods led to decline of mental health. Smart phones are experience blockers. He advocates no smart phones before high school, no social media before 16, phone free schools and encourages unsupervised play. Haidt says that between 2010-15, unrestricted access to social media without any serious verification of age led to Generation Z being anxious, depressed, self harming and suicidal. This hit girls harder - even boys registered an increased rate of depression and anxiety and suicide.

Children need free play in their childhood for developing social skills like conflict resolution, physical skills . Through play children connect sync, take turns. Social media on the other hand inhibits attunement and leaves heavy users starving for social connection. Social learning occurs during a sensitive period of 9-15 years. 

Children can be in discover mode or defend mode. In discover mode they scan for opportunities, are like kids in a candy shop, think for themselves and grow. In defend mode they are constantly scanning for danger, have a scarcity mindset, cling to team and have a keep me safe attitude. Children are by nature anti-fragile and need exposure to setbacks, failures, stumbles to develop strength and self reliance. Risky play is important to master fears and develop competencies. Fearful parents make safety the most important thing which makes it hard for children to deal with risks, conflicts.Children thrive when they have a play-based childhood versus phone based one.

Haidt says that early puberty is a period of brain rewiring and we must not let strangers and algorithms choose them. Safetyism blocks experience - children need to overcome anxiety, manage risks and self govern. Smart phones pushes out all forms of non phone based experience which they need.

The great rewiring has four foundational harms - social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and addiction. Teens spend more than 7 hours on screens (not including school and homework) and the opportunity cost is heavy - like for example face to face settings have dropped from 122 minutes a day to 67 minutes a day. It affects quantity and quality of sleep which in turn causes depression, anxiety, irritability, cognitive deficit and poor learning, lower grades, more accidents and death from accidents. Staying focused is a sign of maturity and smart phones give 5-10 minutes before interrupting and interferes with development of executive functions. Heavy users develop insomnia and depression. The onset of fb, high speed internet affected mental health of girls more than boys and they prefer visually oriented platforms than text based ones. Two major motivations are agency (desire to stand out and leave an effect on the world) and communion (desire to connect and develop a sense of belonging). Boys chose more agency activities while girls chose more communion based activities. Boys suffered by withdrawing time and effort from the physical world, facing risk of failure to launch, shunning risk, moving social lives online etc.

Phone based life puts you down instead of uplifting you spiritually. Its changes the way we feel, judge and relate to others. when people move between profane and sacred we realise that the virtual world is entirely profane.

Some ways to achieve spiritual upliftment would be to create rituals such as eating together, practicing stillness meditation, practice self transcend-ency, non judgment, being in nature, finding that god shaped hole which years for spiritual meaning and elevation.

Haidt urges the government and tech companies to change priorities, correct under protection online and over protection off line, have better age verification procedures and encourage free play and recess. Schools can be phone-free, play-full, have let grow projects, have better recess and playgrounds. 

Parents can be gardeners, not carpenters and allow unsupervised free play, delay phone based childhood, encourage camps and such where they can take risks, increase mobility, exchange programs, have a free range childhood more likely to produce confident, competent young adults with less anxiety. Children between 18-24 months should have little or no screen time, between 5-9 years limited screen time, in mid school use parallel content, provide clear limits and no device zones and look out for signs of addiction.

I quite liked the ideas he shared in the book and think they make sense. For starters I need to get away from the phone and social media where I am barely present but can withdraw some more. For more info check out AnxiousGeneration.com

     

Heart Lamp - Banu Mushtaq

'Heart Lamp' is the Booker Prize winning book by Banu Mushtaq, activist, lawyer, writer. She was a writer within progressive protest literary circles in the 70s-80s and was critical of the caste system. She has six short story collections, a novel, essays, poetry and has won the Karnataka Sahitya Academy award and other awards. Deepa Bhasthi is a writer, translator based in Kodagu.

Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 stories, each so vivid that they remained in my mind long after I read them. 'Stones for Sahista Mahal' is about a husband who professes his love for his wife and wants to build her a Mahal but does not care enough for her health as she becomes pregnant again and again until she dies. In 'Fire Rain' there is a religious man, a Mutawalli of a mosque, who is sitting judgement over the whole community while his own family is suffering, until he is forced to open his eyes to the sufferings of his own family. 'Black Cobras' is about the  rights of a wife who has been neglected by her husband who has taken another wife - she is supposed to get equal treatment - and when the wife dies, he is cursed by everyone. In another story a wife is jealous of the love of her husband for his mother and forces him to get the mother married off - bringing upon herself a dire curse form her husband of similar treatment from her own children.

'Red Lungi' is unforgettable because of the symbolism - its about circumcision and how a rich family sponsors circumcision for a bunch of poor kids through a rather crude ritual conducted by a barber while their own kids get it done by a surgeon - surprisingly their own children suffer longest while the other kids recover fast. Faith, belief, who knows. 'Heart Lamp' is about a lady who suffers a straying husband and almost kills herself until she is stopped by her daughter who says she must live for them and not die for her husband. 'High Heeled Shoe' is a beautiful metaphor of how we can can enamored by things we don't need and almost kill ourselves - it climaxes beautifully.

'Soft Whisper' is a subtle story about a well off lady who meets a religious man and reminisces how when they were young, the mischievous boy had actually kissed her - but now he does not even dare to look at her. 'Taste of Heaven' is about an old help in the family who gets upset over some small slight and withdraws. Her only joy comes from Pepsi - which has been introduced by the children to her as a heavenly drink - and she lives out her life in this little joy. 'The Shroud' is about a rich woman who goers for the Haj and forgets to bring back a kafan for her maid who had paid her for it, and when asked returns her money and said she should go with any kafan - and pretty much dies of guilt after that. 'Arabic Teacher' is a story about a nitpicking Arabic teacher who has this craving for Gobi Manchurian which messes up his life at various stages. The book ends with a poignant story 'Be a Woman Once Oh God' - another story of a woman and her children left by her abusive husband for another woman.

Every story has so much insight into the life of the Muslim community especially from South of India and more from Karnataka. All characters are real and you feel for them. Unlike most short stories which I cannot understand - these are proper stories where characters move in real settings from point A to B and experience emotions I could identify with.

Loved it.           

  

Phantoms in the Brain - V.S.Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee

VS Ramachandran is a leading brain researcher. Sandra is an award winning New York Times Science writer. Together they put together some fascinating accounts of how our brains work with some interesting examples and stories. 

Some of the examples Dr Ramachandran has selected are about people who feel that their amputated limbs are real, someone who has a blind spot but who sees cartoon characters playing out some stuff in the blind spot, someone who says that her paralysed arm is not hers and someone else's, another who suddenly started laughing after a brain stroke and could not stop laughing until she died, one person who was normal in all respects after an accident except that he felt that his parents were impostors and so on. Each case being extremely complex which Dr Ramachandran tries to analyse and explain scientifically.

One interesting thing I realised which Dr Ramachandran explains is how different parts of the rbain seem to correspond to different parts of the body - for example the scratching sensation a person with an amputated limb felt was addressed by scratching on the relevant part of the face. For many the amputated limbs or the phantom limbs hurt. Dr Rama tried to use mirror boxes as a way to fool the brain which did work in certain cases.

Another discovery was that people who had lost certain functions like perhaps sight, would do certain complex activities like dropping a letter in a slot perfectly, leading to the conclusion that neural pathways develop between faculties and they seem to cope. Its also known that the mind completes information and images and draws a whole picture. One person would not accept that she has no hands and would insist that there was some issue which is why she was not able to move them. Dr Ram says that patients go through self deception - denial, repression, reaction, formation, humour and projection being some ways to deceive themselves. One another case of what they call Pseudocycsis where the patient develops all the symptoms physically, of being pregnant, except that she is not. Only when the doctor told her that the baby was stillborn her shape went back to normal - but she was back soon with her original physical condition saying that the doctor forgot to deliver the twin. Dr Rama discusses the concept of qualia or "subjective sensation" (meaning that only the person undergoing them experiences them) which is a fascinating concept.

Going deeper into what the self is Dr Rama and his colleagues figured there were many selves - the embodied self, the passionate self, the executive self, the mnemonic self, the unified self, the vigilant self and the conceptual self or the social self.

Fascinating reading for me as a layman to learn about the phantoms in the brain.    

Acts of Love - Little Girl and Her Dog

While on my walk the other day I noticed a very young girl, maybe 8-9 years old, walking her dog on the pavement next to a rather busy road. I could see the pride in her eyes of taking her dog out for a walk, the love for her dog, the courage at taking it out into the big bad world of people and other dogs by herself, and loved the thought at how beautiful the relationship was and what it will grow into.

Little girl and her dog

So many cherished moments as she grows up when she will have her little dog for a companion, someone who will not judge her, who will love her unconditionally and who will always snuggle up to her in distress, who will provide immense joy every time she comes back from school.

Just beautiful watching them. Have a great time little girl and your little friend.

   

Acts of Love - Staring at the Ocean

 Walking along the Promenade Beach in Pondicherry last week I saw this couple sitting in silence and staring at the ocean. So many things said, so many things unsaid, so many things hoped for, so many fears limiting them, and then so much peace within. Just being there, quietly next to each other, looking in the same direction. Together yet alone.

Beautiful.

Feedback Series - Arts Management at The Department of Dance 2024-25

This was an interesting year with a batch of 13 students - Samrat Kundu, Moumita, Srija Vaishnavi, Divya Sri, Aparna, Swetha, Sneha, Mathumitha, Gautam, Bhargavi, Vaishnavi, Akshara, Krithi.

Standing L to R: Samrat Kundu, Moumitha, Srija, Divya Sri, Me, Aparna, Swetha, Sneha, Mathumitha, Gautham

Sitting: Bhargavi, Vaishnavi, Akshara and Krithi

Samrat is a highly spiritual person from Bengal who wants to use his art to connect to the higher power. Moumita is from Bangladesh and is very clear about what she wants to do. Srija has a background in Sociology from Delhi University. Divya dabbles in a professional course and dance. Aparna is from Kerala and is clear about a corporate or a government job as her main focus and dance as a side stream. Swetha is from Kerala too and has aspirations in the field of dance and performance. Mathumitha is from Pondicherry and plans to join the University of Pondicherry as a Professor of Dance. Gautam is from Trivandrum and has a huge body of work and works hard at many jobs. Bhargavi is from Reva University in Bangalore and is now settling in Hyderabad - she worked in dance studios with Gautam. Vaishnavi is from Kalakshetra and has many interests such as marathon running, teaching Japanese and other skills. Akshara is from Thrissur and is part of a startup which would print hit dialogues from Malayalam films on T shirts and wants to turn entrepreneur. Krithi comes from a family with a long legacy in dance and has performed extensively - a professional. This is more or less what I remember from memory.

Aparna, Swetha, Mathumitha, Divya, Vaishnavi, Me, Sneha, Bhargavi, Srija, Moumitha

Kneeling: Samrat, Akshara, Krithi, Gautham

Gifting me a plant - lovely gesture

On our last class they decided to gift me a potted plant for me to nurture and Akshara would check on the plant every now and then so I really started to care about it. Classes were interspersed with acitvities which the students enjoyed such as the one below where they experience the power of using the energy they have by setting themselves high energy contexts.

Activity in class

Feedback from Students:

Vaishnavi Narasimhan

Dear sir,
This email is a small note of gratitude.
Sir, your sincerity and discipline towards your vision of crafting leaders, and your passion for teaching, has truly made me see you in high regard.
1. You have inspired us to dream much bigger
2. You have broken down key process-oriented concepts from N number of books into small digestible pieces. (which is no simple task!)
3. Your decision to stay with us and see through that we take responsibility, design a process for ourselves, and start taking action shows how responsible you are as a teacher, motivating me to follow your guidelines and to relook at my methods and duties as an aspiring educationist myself.
Personally, you have also helped me in bringing about a few changes in my life. Small changes that are sure to have a domino effect!
1. Taking responsibility for big decisions is something I have ALWAYS avoided. So much so, that I had never put down my dreams into writing. I always had them in the back of my head, but refused to write them down, I tried it before but gave myself excuses and avoided it. I tried to not make it too obvious, just so I would not feel bad about it. BUT you made it our first internal and I had no choice. Looking back I do not understand why I even had that block in my path. Regardless, taking the time to document it made me realise the seriousness of what I vision for, how badly I desire it, and the amount of responsibility and action that my dream demands of me. No more running away from it now!
2. Handling money -your session on money management was something I was waiting for! I knew that my knowledge on finances was zero , handling more than 4 monetary digits was completely out of my comfort zone, and deep down I also knew that if I didn't at the very least start to figure things out now, then I would not be able to step out into the world independently. There have been many decisions and actions that I have not taken due to my financial dependence on my parents and my lack of understanding on finance. The day you took the session; was the day I decided to make changes. And, I'd like to proudly say that, today was the day, that I made my very first investment (a very small one, as I'm still a bit scared and I need more knowledge on the subject matter) But the amount of courage that this first step has given me, I cannot put in words. I am very grateful to you for your teachings on this matter
3. My third take away is on people skill, network, and marketing. I have for the longest time wondered why my efforts were not yielding results and why I am not getting enough opportunities. While I worked hard in developing my skills, I have come to realise that I have neglected everything else. I realise that I have not put any effort at all in networking with the right people, marketing myself and what telling the world about the things I can offer. While the introverted side of me is still struggling to put myself out there, I have come to an understanding that I have no choice. I'm gonna go with "setting the good energy" that you taught us and I'm going to muster up all my courage and start networking, while this is soo out of my comfort zone, I am still going to go for it and I am going to fake it till I make it!
In the email, while I have only mentioned the 3 most important takeaways for me, your teachings go way beyond and have given me much more than just that. I'm truly grateful for all your time and effort (Respect!). Would love to update to you from time to time on my journey towards my dream. Hope we can keep in touch. And one day, when I set up my institute, I hope to have you there, interacting, inspiring, and guiding my students, just as you have with me.

Thank you very much sir
Yours sincerely
Vaishnavi N
Namaste


Feedback from Akshara

I am truly grateful for your insightful and engaging arts management classes. As an MBA grad, first class cricketer, speaker and author, brought a unique and refreshing perspective to our learning experience. I really enjoyed how you blended management principles with the artistic world, making the subject more practical and inspiring. Your lectures were well structured, interactive, filled with real world examples that made complex concepts easier to understand.

What I appreciate the most is your passion for teaching, mentoring and your openness to discussions. You always encouraged us to think critically and explore new possibilities in our respective artistic fields. Your guidance has truly broadened my understanding of arts management and its real world applications.

Thank you so much sir, for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us. It has been an absolute honor to learn from you!! (Sir, I disagree with one thing you said, MONEY DOES GIVE HAPPINESS sir!!!) 🙉

Sir, can you be my MENTOR? 🪴

Feedback form Mathumitha

Hi good afternoon sir
How are you sir? I hope you are doing well I'm so happy to share my thoughts about you sir you are such a inspiring person I met in my life , as a student we all have confusion in studies, career choice, and are we going in right path especially for art students extra stuff . You had cleared all stuff & given a clear path thank you so much sir, we miss you sir

...

As far as I remember this was the feedback I received which I could find on my mails. I'll add more if I find them.

Thank you all for teaching me so much - after all teaching is as much learning as sharing. It has been a truly wonderful year and I hope you all benefited from our sessions. Wishing you all the best of luck in future.   

Orientation Class at the Department of Dance

 As we do every year we had an orientation class titled 'Arts, Artists and Artistic Avenues' for the first year students who joined the Masters of Performing Arts course at the Department of Dance. It was a class of 14 students with one student from Thailand.

We discussed the need to set themselves a purpose, an artistic vision for their journey, why they are here and what their vision for their art is. Then we touched upon having goals for the two years in terms of learning and academics, the importance of feedback, the difference between learning and fixed mindset, the use of deliberate practice in improving skill, the importance of discussing craft with teachers and  peers and the importance of consistent habits.

The class was received well. The students shared that the class gave them some clarity on how to use their time and energy better during their course. I enjoyed the session. Thanks DoD, Prof Sivaraju and Prof Aruna Bhikshu for the opportunity.