Prof Ananth

I keep listening to many people as a part of my job. I think public speaking in our country needs to be taught on a war footing, because many speakers manage to effortlessly put me to sleep. One exception was this week. Prof. Ananth, former director, IIT Madras. I heard him speak at an event TCS conducted called Sangam, an academia-industry interface. He was superb. He spoke about education- higher education- and its purpose. My IIMB classmate Sandhya who was head of the Research Park near IIT also figured in his talk, but that's incidental.

Here are a few gems from his talk.

On the futility of excessive exams

C. Rajagopalachari once visited us (he narrated), and asked during his talk, "I believe you have exams EVERY YEAR nowadays?,"  looking surprised at it.

On Repetition

The speaker visited the US and heard a pastor giving his sermon. He asked the pastor at the end, "Why did you repeat the same thing seven times?" The pastor told him, "Because, at any given time, only a seventh of your audience is listening." After narrating this, Prof Ananth quipped, "the rest of the time they sleep or do something else."

On Teaching

"Impart the joy for the subject that you feel to the students. They will learn on their own, or from friends etc.. Don't worry about them passing, or covering the syllabus. " I agree.

Intuition

We teach logical things. Intuition is very important too, but it can't be taught. We hope that students will be able to develop it.

On a Director's Role

Hire brilliant people, leave them alone, and PRAY.. that they will do good stuff. Of course, they may or may not :)

Dhanak- A Knockout Film by Kukunoor

Sometimes a film just hits you in the solar plexus. Because it's so unexpectedly beautiful. Dhanak is such a film. I did not know what to expect, and a decision to see it was based on a whim, and a vague memory of a positive comment about it on facebook by a friend (Thanks, anonymous friend).

From the opening shot to the last, the movie is a tale of how good cinema can captivate. Brilliant photography (Rajasthan never looked so beautiful), earthy dialogue, great acting, writing, editing. The story flows without any jarring interruptions, and you want the boy to get his eyesight back. Just as his sister does. And she writes to superstar Shah Rukh after seeing a poster of his endorsing Eye Donations. In the naive belief that he will pay for the surgery which they can't afford.

The brother and sister pair (Hetal and Krrish) are riveting, and you don't miss the presence of big actors for a moment. The supporting cast, each member, play their roles well, and fit in perfectly into the story, moving it forward, including a hippie from California trying to spread love around the world!

In one word, brilliant. Dhanak, by the way, means Rainbow. The film lives its title.

Burman Jalsa- A Musical Show

Had the good fortune last evening, to attend a marathon four-hour concert dedicated to SD Burman. He was RD Burman's father, who left the royal family of Tripura, because he was crazy about music. He established himself as a singer in Bengali, but we non-Bengalis know him because of his film songs in Hindi. And what a range of songs! From folksy to the sensual (Roop tera mastana, for instance), he has it all. Was also the mentor for Kishore Kumar Khandwewala, that great singer who gave us great delight with his superbly crazy singing.

The show in Pune brought forth the brilliance of his compositions, from films such as Jaal, Baazi, Kala Pani, Guide, Prem Pujari, Jewel Thief, Teen Deviyan, Lajwanti, Sujata, Pyaasa, Kagaz ke Phool, Sharmilee, Aradhana to name a few. The organisers also released a book on SD Burman in a Marathi translation.

My favourites from the show were Ga mere man ga, Paanch rupiah barah aana, Dil ka bhanwar kare pukar, Khwab ho tum ya koi haqeeqat, Are yaar meri tum bhi ho ghazab, Suno gajar kya gaaye, Rangeela re, Jalte hain jiske liye, and the one in his own voice, Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jaayega kahan, dum lele ghadi bhar, yeh chhaiyyan paayega kahan.....immortal.

The musicians, especially the flute and tabla players, were outstanding. Out of the four singers, I liked Vibhavari the best, followed by Jitendra. A wonderful surprise was the presence of Enoch Daniels, who released the book on Burman. He is a well-known accordionist and arranger, who has done instrumental versions of most good Hindi film songs. He mentioned that he got his first break as a musician with SD Burman.

Convocation of IIM Indore

This was a Brilliant convocation. It was held at a convention centre called Brilliant, and the venue was perfect for the number of guests that came. And despite diplomas being awarded to close to 600 people, it was done super-efficiently in about 2 hours!

Nirmalya Kumar, the Chief Guest, spoke about a global mindset to succeed in branding and selling products made in emerging markets. The Chairman, KV Kamath, spoke of this again being a good time to launch oneself into the corporate world because of radical reforms being pursued by various arms of the government.

In general, the students appeared to be in a  celebratory mood, despite the strain of getting ready and rehearsing through most of the morning, and patiently sitting through the afternoon function.

So curtains came down on another eventful year at the institute. We look forward eagerly to the next, while wishing all outgoing students-now alumni- the best in their Second Life.