आज दादांचा वाढदिवस. त्यांना आवडणाऱ्या क्रिकेटच्या भाषेत सांगायचं तर:
सुहास सहस्रबुद्धे: ७९ नॉट आऊट!
माझ्या नातेवाईकांना आणि त्यांच्या आप्तस्वकियांना त्यांचे बरेच गुण माहिती आहेत परंतु त्यांची एक वैशिष्ट्यपूर्ण आवड म्हणजे एक एप्रिल रोजी त्यांच्यातला बहुरूपी जागा होतो आणि दरवेळी नवीन व्यक्तींना त्याचा प्रसाद मिळतो! मी काही वर्षांपूर्वी त्यांच्या ह्या आवडीबद्दल काही महिन्यांपूर्वी फेसबुक वर एक लेख लिहिला होता. आज त्यांच्या वाढदिवस निमित्त तो लेख इथे देतोय:
For the non-marathi friends:
My father: Suhas Sahasrabudhe, has been using make up in addition to some acting, to have some fun on the April fools day! It is a harmless and fun event he repeats year after year!.
Almost a month in advance, he decides his character, the theme, and spots a ‘bakra’. As April 1 approaches, he plants various clues and references around the theme. Finally, on the D-Day, he gets his make-up man friend, slips in to the role, and visits the Bakra!!!
Many a times it turns at least as an initial shock, and sometimes it may fail too! However, since it is not very serious and the intention being ‘fun’, no body feels offended! All of them have a round of chai, a photo session, and the episode ends there (until the March of next year, when he starts planning for another theme for yet another ‘bakra’).
Nowadays, the grandchildren too love this one day wonder of slipping in characters, and accompany him!
This April, a Marathi newspaper in Aurangabad covered this interesting and harmless ‘Bahurupi: My father!
This morning I woke up with a text message. The message was from my classmate Kamalakar Rao.
“Sameer do you remember what is the importance of today’s date?”
I was unable to recall anything related to 14th March however I realised that it could be about the only interesting and significant event that we share between both of us. I replied “Marathi Crorepati?”.
“Exactly! It’s been 10 years!!”.
I have been enough cryptic therefore let me tell you the full story.
Kamlakar Rao is my classmate from the fine arts college. He came from Solapur and was carrying forward The legacy office father and a well known artist Prabhakar Rao. Kamlakar or as we normally called him Rao was always a very disciplined and simple person!
After our graduation we parted ways since he went to Mumbai in search of an advertising career and I went to Pune for the same.
Kamlakar Rao is affectionately called as just Rao in our group. After he went to Mumbai he realised that the overall professional work in the domain of advertising had moved to digital. He had mastery over two difficult skills one was air brush and other one was calligraphy. However the digital revolution brought these two skills with just a couple of clicks of mouse and most importantly a possibility of ‘undo’ which was not possible in the hand work.
This digital revolution was the reason for many artists who did not catch up on the computer band wagon. Unfortunately Rao was one of them. He did catch up by joining a course by CDAC and focusing on digital media creation however it was probably too little and too late. I was getting updates about how he struggled a bit too long to get on his feet.
We all were concerned about him and other friends who were cut up into this wave, but we could do little to actually help them out.
In one such conversation I suggested that he applies his flash animation skills to create educational animations for one of the projects at IIT Bombay. This freelance work required him to come and stay on campus for few weeks which heated. This was also the time when we could have longer discussions about life careers choices etc. In one of these discussions Rao told me about his plan to apply for the Kaun Banega Crorepati – Marathi version which had begun recently. There was a special season for pairs and he wanted to apply with his younger brother Anand. I was a bit surprised that Rao wanted to attempt KBC out of the blue but I did not pay too much attention when he had said this. It was until a few months later when he called up and said, “Sameer, Anand and I have got into the ‘Fastest Finger First (FFF) selection round’ of KBC and we have decided to nominate you as part of the list of people in ‘Phone a Friend’ lifeline.
Now that was getting serious! I asked him about his preparation, and he was confident of his brother and him as a pair! More than confident, I think he was determined!
So, finally the day arrived, 14th March 2014, when Anand and Kamalakar both were at the studios for the shoot. I was informed by the crew that I can expect a call only when they clear the FFF round and make it to the hot seats. I got another call around 12 noon that they have made it to the hot seats, and we will let you know if they opt for the Phone a friend Lifeline! Stay put till then, and don’t accept any (long) phone calls! I waited and around 4 pm, I got a call..
At my home in IIT Bombay, Savani (12 year old then) was super excited about this.. she was around me all the time to witness this unique moment! Click on the image at the END of this post (or this link), to watch the video of the winning moment!!
I never knew what exactly happened after that.. because after I answered the phone got disconnected and I was in a state of cliffhanger, until Rao called me late that evening! He exclaimed, “Samya, we won 25L! Thanks to you!”
It was a fulfilling moment when I realized how important it was for him to win. No doubt the amount was a factor, but more importantly, he made a statement to the world that he is a fighter.. who could achieve!
Over the last 10 years, every time I get a chance to visit Bangalore, he and Sandhya (his wife) makes it a point to invite me over! We have a nice chat and authentic Andhra meals!! I spend time with his family! Finally, Rao and I pull our mattresses in the living room, and keep talking about life, our student days, his career, his daughters careers.. staring at the ceiling of ‘his’ house, till early morning!
My visits are totally customary. I remember one particular trip! I was put up in a Bengaluru hotel for 2 days, and was supposed to leave by a 630 am flight. I sneaked out of the hotel after the official work got over and called Rao. He gave me his address.. which was quite far from the hotel.. but somewhat nearer to the airport. I sneaked out of the hotel, by checking out at 630pm, and got a taxi to reach his house. It seemed like all the Bangalore traffic had come on the streets to see me go to his house.. which I finally reached by 930 pm. That too after multiple wrong turns and U-turns!! I reached home.. had dinner, and a nice chat with his daughters!! As usual we laid out the mattresses and kept on talking till 330 AM, when I needed to start for the airport.. Another round of guiding the cab driver for the address was a utter failure, and finally Rao dropped me on his CD100, (with my luggage) to a nearest spot where the cabbie was waiting!
Sight of their house from the pillion seat, when Rao is cracking his PJs while riding the motorcycle at 345 AM is the best memory I have of ‘their’ house!! 14th March every year is just a date!
२०२३ या वर्षांमध्ये अनेक प्रसन्नदायक आनंददायी घटना घडल्या तरीही त्यातली एक घटना मात्र लक्षात राहण्यासारखी होती. तुम्ही जेव्हा एखाद्या विद्यालयात किंवा विद्यापीठात प्रवेश घेता त्याच वेळी तुम्ही त्या विद्यालयाचे किंवा विद्यापीठाचे माजी विद्यार्थी होणार हे जवळजवळ नक्की झालेलं असतं… (याला अपवाद म्हणजे तुम्ही तुमच्या ‘कर्तुत्वाने’ नापास होऊन अभ्यासक्रम अर्धवट सोडून दिला तरच).
यावर्षी मला काही कामानिमित्त यशवंतराव चव्हाण महाराष्ट्र मुक्त विद्यापीठ इथे जाण्याचा योग आला. हे विद्यापीठ माझ्या आयुष्यात अनन्य साधारण महत्व असणारं विद्यापीठ आहे. ह्याचं कारण म्हणजे त्यांनी मला पीएचडी करण्यासाठी दिलेला प्रवेश. मी माझ्या PhD ला प्रवेश घेण्यासाठी धडपडत होतो त्यावेळी इतर अनेक विद्यापीठांच्या नकार घंटेच्या तुलनेमध्ये मुक्त विद्यापीठाने मला प्रवेश देऊ केला. त्यानंतर मी माझी PhD पूर्ण करून माझ्या आवडीच्या म्हणजे शिक्षण क्षेत्रात काम करू शकतो आहे याचं पूर्ण श्रेय मुक्त विद्यापीठाच्या मुक्त विचारसरणीला जातं.
तर मागच्या महिन्यात मुक्त विद्यापीठात कामानिमित्त गेलो असताना तिथे पूर्वीचे अनेक मित्र भेटले. त्यातच एक म्हणजे संतोष साबळे. सध्या ते मुक्त विद्यापीठाचा माजी विद्यार्थी संपर्क कक्ष बघतात. त्यांनी मला अगत्याने माजी विद्यार्थी संपर्क कक्ष दाखवला आणि तिथे सुरू असलेलं काम ही दाखवलं. मुक्त विद्यापीठाचा पसारा एवढा मोठा आहे की त्यांचे माजी विद्यार्थी हजारोंच्या संख्येने आहेत त्यामुळे त्याचं संपर्क क्षेत्र तयार करणे हे एक खरोखरीच शिवधनुष्यच आहे. पण मुक्त विद्यापीठ आता त्या बाबतीत सतर्क आणि सुनियोजित पद्धतीने वाटचाल करत आहे. मी लगेचच माजी विद्यार्थी सदस्यत्वाचा फॉर्म भरून सदस्यत्व घेतलं.
त्यानंतर एक महिनाभराच्या आत विद्यापीठाचा वार्षिक पदवीदान समारंभ होता. या समारंभाच्या निमित्ताने विद्यापीठाने माजी विद्यार्थ्यांमधून काही विशेष कामगिरी करणाऱ्यांबद्दलची माहिती कार्यक्रम स्थळी प्रदर्शित करण्याचा निर्णय घेतला. त्याप्रमाणे मला साबळे यांचा फोन आला आणि मग मी माझा फोटो आणि दोन-चार ओळी ची माहिती पाठवून दिली.
प्रत्यक्ष पदवीदान समारंभाच्या कार्यक्रमाच्या दिवशी जेव्हा माझ्या हातात त्याचे फोटो आले तेव्हा मला आनंदाचा सुखद धक्का बसला. मुक्त विद्यापीठाच्या अनेक सुप्रसिद्ध आणि यशस्वी पदवीधारकांमध्ये मला मानाचे स्थान मिळालं होतं. महाराष्ट्राचे विद्यमान मुख्यमंत्री मा. श्री. एकनाथ शिंदे, यशवंतराव चव्हाण महाराष्ट्र मुक्त विद्यापीठाचे विद्यमान कुलगुरू डॉ. संजीव सोनवणे, महाराष्ट्राची सुप्रसिद्ध धावपटू कविता राऊत अशा अनेक दिग्गज लोकांच्या मांदियाळीत माझा फोटो आणि माहिती बघून हे वर्ष अतिशय सुंदर अनुभवाने सुरु झालं!!!
माझ्यावर संस्कार करणाऱ्या सर्व लोकांचे, सर्व गुरूंचे आशीर्वाद, मला सतत चांगलं काम करण्यासाठी प्रोत्साहन करणारे माझे सहकारी आणि विद्यार्थी यांच्या शुभेच्छांमुळेच हे शक्य आहे याची मला पूर्ण जाणीव आहे!
डिसेंबर महिन्याच्या अगदी शेवटच्या आठवड्यात घडलेल्या या प्रसंगामुळे वर्षा अखेर जे थोडं निराशेचं, हुरहुर लावणारं वातावरण असतं ते कुठल्या कुठे पळून गेलं. ही भैरवी उत्तम रंगली!!
नवीन वर्ष सुरू झालंय आणि अनेक उपक्रमांना सामोरे जाण्यासाठी या घटनेने मनाला नवीन उभारी दिली आहे!! लोभ आहेच तो वृद्धिंगत व्हावा ही ईश्वरचरणी प्रार्थना!!
माझे सासरे प्रा कुमार पांडे त्यांचं या नववर्षाच्या दुसऱ्या दिवशी निधन झालं. माझ्या लग्नाला वीस वर्ष झाली असली तरीही त्यांचा सहवास मला त्या मानाने कमीच लाभला. एकतर माझं काम आणि मुंबई-नागपूर अंतर दोन्हीही खूप असल्यामुळे माझ्या फेऱ्या कमी व्हायच्या आणि ते ही मुंबईला क्वचित यायचे. त्यामुळे अर्थातच आमच्या भेटी तश्या कमी होत्या.
ह्या कमी काळात जेवढे ते मला समजले किंवा उमजले त्याबद्दल मी कृतज्ञता काही शब्दात व्यक्त करू बघतो आहे.
कालांतराने माझ्या असं लक्षात आलं की बाबांना मंद सुरातील संगीत ऐकायला फार आवडतं. त्यांना फार जोरात लावलेलं आणि चमत्कृतीपूर्ण किंवा तालाशी झटापट केलेलं संगीत त्यांना फारसं रुचत नाही. एक संथ प्रकारचं तरीही मनाची पकड घेणारे आणि अतिशय सौम्य संगीत त्यांना मनापासून आवडायचं.
वयानुरूप जाणवणाऱ्या व्याधींपैकी श्रवण शक्ती कमी होणे ह्याचा त्यांना कधीही त्रास न झाल्यामुळे त्यांना गाणं ऐकणं आवडायचं आणि चालायचं. ही त्यांची सवय मला कळल्यापासून मी जवळ जवळ प्रत्येक भेटीमध्ये त्यांच्याजवळ असेल तेवढा वेळ कुठलंतरी संगीत माझ्या मोबाईलवर लावून त्यांच्याजवळ ठेवायचो.
त्यातलीच एक लक्षात राहण्यासारखी आठवण. बायपास सर्जरी झाल्यानंतर एक रात्र त्यांना सोबत म्हणून राहायला गेलो होतो. ते अजूनही ग्लानीत होते. रात्री मी सौम्य स्वरात मालिनी राजूरकर यांचे गाणे माझ्या मोबाईलवर लावले. आवाज अगदी कमी होता. पण ते लावल्यावर त्यांचे बोट तालावरती हालताना मला लगेच दिसलं.
आज त्यांच्या निधनानंतर जेव्हा घरी गेलो त्यावेळी त्यांचा देह खोलीत ठेवला होता आणि ती शांतता मला अतिशय भीषण वाटत होती.
काही वर्षांपूर्वी (२०१६) ज्येष्ठ नृत्यांगना मृणालिनी साराभाई यांचं निधन झाल्यावर त्यांची कन्या मल्लिका साराभाई हिने त्यांच्या मृतदेहासमोर एक नृत्य करून त्यांना अखेरची मानवंदना दिली होती! तिच्या त्या हृदयस्पर्शी कृतीची मला आठवण झाली आणि त्या मागचा तिचा विचार आणि आशय कळला.
ह्या संगीताच्या अस्सल उपासकाचे अंतिम क्षण इतके कोरे, रिकामे, आणि शांत असावेत हे मला पटत नव्हतं.. आणि म्हणून माझ्या मोबाईलवर त्यांच्या आवडीचं कुमार गंधर्व यांचे भजन लावून मी तो मोबाईल त्यांच्या उशाशी अगदी मंद आवाजात सुरू करून ठेवून दिला. अविरत स्वर साधनेत लीन असलेल्या व्यक्तीची अखेरची यात्रा स्वरयुक्तच असायला हवी!! नाही का?
आज कौमुदीचा वाढदिवस. त्यातून आज पन्नासावा असल्यामुळे विशेष महत्त्वाचा. पण काही केल्या कुठल्याही पद्धतीचा विशेष कार्यक्रम काही ठरत नव्हता आणि तिच्यासाठी विशेष भेटवस्तूही आणणं होत नव्हतं!
एकच चांगली गोष्ट होती की शनिवार आल्यामुळे आज मला कार्यालयात जायची घाई नव्हती. मग वाढदिवसाचे नेमकं काय करायचं हा प्रश्न शेवटी तिनेच सोडवला. “आपण एखाद्या ठिकाणी मस्त लँडस्केपिंगला जाऊ आणि दिवसाची आणि सुवर्ण महोत्सवाची एक रंगीत सुरुवात करू” असा सुंदर पर्याय कौमुदी ने काल सुचवला आणि आम्ही त्याप्रमाणे सकाळीच आयआयटी गांधीनगर मधल्या एका निसर्गरम्य ठिकाणी जाऊन पेंटिंग सुरू केलं.
Today is Kaumudi’s birthday. It is especially important because today is her fiftieth. However, I could neither plan a special program nor special gifts for her!
The only good thing was that I was in no hurry to go to office today as it was Saturday. Kaimudi finally solved the question of what to do on the birthday. Kaumudi suggested a beautiful option yesterday, “Let’s go for some nice landscaping and start the day and the Golden Jubilee in a colorful way”. We got up in the morning, and went to a scenic spot in IIT Gandhinagar in the morning and started painting.
ते पेंटिंग पूर्ण करून घरी आलो आणि लगेच तयार होऊन आम्ही एका छानशा रेस्टॉरंट मध्ये जेवायला गेलो. अगदी वेगळा मेनू असलेलं सिलांत्रो (म्हणजे मराठीत कोथिंबीर!) ह्या नावाचं एक नवीनच सुरू झालेलं गांधीनगर मधल्या एक सुरेख रेस्टॉरंट चा आज शोध लागला.
After finishing the painting, we came home and immediately got ready to go to a nice restaurant for lunch. We discovered a new fine dine restaurant in Gandhinagar called Cilantro.
जेवण झाल्यावर आम्ही आमची गाडी इथल्या इंद्रोडा ह्या उद्यानाकडे वळवली. इथे विविध पक्षी प्राणी आणि उत्तम प्रकारे निगा राखलेलं जंगल आहे.
इथे गेल्यावरही पुन्हा एकदा तिथल्या जागा बघून लँडस्केपिंगची उर्मी काही स्वस्थ बसू देईना म्हणून मग अजून एक एक लँडस्केप केलं!!!
After having our meal we drove our car towards Indroda park. The park has a variety of bird life and a well-maintained forest. After reaching here, seeing the places we could not hold ourselves, and got into landscaping once again!!!
घरी आल्यावर सावनी ने बनवलेला वेगळ्या प्रकारचा ‘शाही तुकडा’ हे पक्वान्न आमची वाटच बघत होतं!
दुर्दैवाने आज मला ऑफिसच्या एका महत्त्वाच्या कामासाठी जेवायला बाहेर जायचं आहे पण मायलेकींनी पाणीपुरीचा बेत आखून त्याला तोडीस तोड पर्याय घरी तयार केला आहे!!
When we got home, a different kind of ‘shahi tukda’ made by Savani was waiting for us!
Unfortunately today I have an important official dinner but the Mom and Daughter duo has planned for the panipuri to beat the competition!!
It was awesome feeling to see a 6 digit number in the views when I opened the blog today. Just going by the launch date, the journey started in 2014. For first 2 years I wrote 15 posts but could not garner even 500 views. It was in 2016 that I started publishing seriously and also established a viewership… thanks to my online courses. Subsequently I learnt the trick of connecting the social media in such a way that my showrooms at Facebook and LinkedIn will draw the views to the godown which was this wordpress blog!
As a result from 2016, I started off with a decent 10 views per day. This kept on increasing to 30 views and 40 views per day till 2019. In 2020, during the pandemic because the entire world was glued to the internet, I recorded a steep rise in the views which went up to 80 views a day. It got slightly lesser in 2021 and 2022, as I wasn’t publishing much. In fact the post/s which got maximum views were not blogposts.. but technically they were a career update.. which got a lot of attention!!
This is also a good time to check some interesting data points! For example.. in this period of 8 years I have written 200+ posts.. which means that on an average, I publish a post every 2 weeks!! I can see that I have penned 78,980 words to write these posts!! This makes each post ~350 words!!
My point is, these numbers are NOT at all overwhelming! As researchers / communicators / teachers / storytellers, we can easily write 350 words every fortnight! It is just the perseverance and the sincere urge to write that matters. I can also quote a figure of 41 posts… lying incomplete in my DRAFTS folder! This is almost 1/5th of the total published posts, which underlines my procrastination!
All in all, I feel it is not too much of an achievement, but worth something to look back!! I think I can do better.. and with the kind of response I receive, I feel more and more charged up to write and share my experiences! Thanks to 48000+ visitors who have visited my blog at least twice.. to make this landmark number of views!!!
If you want to know my secret recipe of writing, comment below, and I will share it!!
When Kaumudi and I journeyed to Hyderabad in 1995 to embark on our animation studies, anticipation filled the air as we awaited the arrival of a Russian instructors. This foreign educators had ignited our curiosity, and since that initial encounter, these teachers from afar became a regular presence in our educational journey.
Before we met them in person, during the interview process, they seemed like enigmatic figures. However, the moment we stepped into the college, they revealed their true identities. What immediately struck us was their modern and stylish attire. Inspired by the prospect of studying animation, many of us in the class had already slipped into newer fashion choices—quirky t-shirts, jeans, caps, unique hairstyles, tattoos, and more. Little did we know, our expectations would be upended upon our introduction to Alexander Sir and Victor Sir, who appeared nothing like the animators we had envisioned. Both were dressed formally with white shirts, grey suits, and a red tie.
Following our initial introductions, we entered the classroom, where Alexander Sir made his entrance, speaking softly yet with incredible expressiveness. As his interpreter conveyed his words, we learned that Alexander Dvydov hailed from Soyuz Multi Film, a renowned animation studio in Moscow. Alexander, a family man who had also served in the Russian military, had pivoted to animation due to his passion for the art, honing his skills through diligent study and practice. As he spoke, he casually removed his coat, draped it over a chair, and neatly folded the cuffs of his crisp white shirt before grasping a pencil.
With swift and confident strokes, he began sketching vivid images with bold pencil lines, instantly gaining our unwavering trust. He skillfully illustrated the importance of precise drawings in the intricate process of animation, repeatedly emphasizing how nuanced observations were key to capturing the essence of a picture.
Our class was fortunate enough to venture into a nearby field one day, cameras in tow, under Alexander’s guidance. There, we captured images of various animals, documenting their every move. To our amusement, Alexander even playfully mimicked a sprinter, evoking hearty laughter from us. On our way back, we realized we had spent the entire day conversing and laughing with him, even if we hadn’t comprehended every word he said.
Victor Sir, on the other hand, was the complete antithesis of Alexander Sir. While Alexander Sir had neatly combed-back hair and a clean shave, Victor Sir had long, braided blonde hair and a Bulganin-style mustache and beard. He was teaching Kaumudi’s class.. and therefore I had little chance to observe him… However, we used to peep from the windows, whenever he used to be in their class.. roaming around and checking the animation frames.
Victor Arsentive Sir delivered forceful and assertive speeches. His passionate gestures were aptly mirrored by his interpreter. His strict rules governed the arrangement of our workspace, our preparation rituals, and the precise placement of items while drawing the animation frames. If he happened upon our desks or if we beckoned him with a question, he would often spend the first ten minutes meticulously organizing the cluttered workspace. With a continuous scolding going on… he would carefully adjust items on the table.
First on his checklist was our pencil box. If he spotted just one pencil, a stern rebuke was sure to follow. “You are an artist,” he would admonish, “and breaking the tip of a pencil in the middle of a drawing will disrupt your creativity. Keep three to four pencils, impeccably sharpened and ready at all times.” Another issue that he used to be annoyed with was an eraser… A small eraser fragment not to be found under the heap of papers was unacceptable. To ensure that the eraser is always accessible, and secured within reach, Sir used to tie it with a string. Blank sheets of paper were to be readily accessible in their designated compartments. The lamp’s placement had to be just right, casting its glow precisely where needed. Chair height adjustments and other ergonomic considerations were meticulously observed to prevent any physical fatigue during work.
Once all these preparations were in order, he would begin his artistic process. While working on a new sequence of how a hen walks, he would provide a running commentary, using gestures and expressions to illustrate how a hen raises its tail or tilts its beak when walking, all the while expertly utilizing the animator’s table mirror to capture the perfect expressions.
Our hearts sank when it was time for these esteemed teachers to return to Russia at the end of our three-year term. Throughout those years, they had been our guiding lights, bestowing upon us a “vision” or “Drishti” that would resonate with us for a lifetime.
Many of the faculty members who interact with me ask me TWO questions. The first one is ‘How to get an opportunity to create a course for SWAYAM or similar platforms?’ And the second question is ‘What should be done in order to create a course having a reasonable production value?’ The first question has an administrative answer which has many layers. The second question is relatively easy to answer because I come from e-Learning content creation domain.
Tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. I am hosting a panel where faculty members from Sri Balaji University, Pune, will share their experience of MOOC creation… right from attending a workshop on creating learner centric MOOCs to the point where the course actually made it up on the SWAYAM portal.
It is a collective effort of the workshop instructors (Daisy Wadhwa, Ajita Deshmukh, and Ganesh Lokhande) and the faculty members at the University who have diligently done their jobs. It is heartening to see the seed growing into a plant. When we did the two day workshop on designing learners centric MOOCs… we had enthusiastic participation from the faculty members. Later, the management and the faculty team was determined to go ahead with the MOOC creation.
Subsequently, the university appointed Ganesh Lokhande who is an accomplished instructional designer (and my PhD student!!), to help them with the script writing. His younger brother Nitin Lokhande (who is a fine arts graduate from my college!) contributed to the visual design and video editing.
Join in to witness this exciting journey where the faculty members share their excitement of developing an online course from script to screen!
When I confirmed my participation for an important meeting at the Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi I never realised that I would be travelling during the Chandrayaan touch down moments. My flight was scheduled at 6:35 and I was simply astonished to see almost everyone around me at the airport watching the YouTube live on their mobile phones irrespective of the fact that some screens were showing it. As the boarding announcement was done at 6 o’clock. I was pleasantly surprised to see the mobile screen in every hand as I walked towards my seat number 26 far away from the entry gate. In the middle of the walk there was a huge roar, cheer, and claps all over because the Chandrayaan had landed on the moon.
Lot of organisations, institutions, and even small private groups had planned to come together and witness this amazing moment on a biggest possible screen. However I was lucky to see this moment on multiple screens as I walked through the alley of the aircraft.
Further I realised that I was fortunate to have a window seat today because even the Sun and clouds were determined to put up a spectacle as fascinating as the Chandrayaan touch down moment. Here are few glimpses of the pictures that I clicked during the flight.
Today happens to be the 21st birthday of our daughter Savani. Kaumudi would agree with me that it is also our birthday as parents.
One thing was quite sure from the beginning that both of us were completely aware of the excellent parenting we received from our parents. We got all the freedom not only to choose our academic career, professional career, our life partners, and even the decisions about parenthood!! As an independent member of the family Kaumudi and I were extremely fortunate to decide on a career in fine arts, supported for the specialisation in animation, my professional career in academic research, or Kaumudi’s choice of becoming a freelance artist etc. Our families have been an excellent support in all these phases of our life.
Naturally when we were in their positions we decided to follow the same pattern for our daughter. Savani always loved to follow arts but her inclination was always towards Kathak dance which is a performing art. She used to jokingly mention that we already have more than enough fine arts people in the house therefore let me not follow the same. Instead she is interested in craft and follows many forms such as origami, quilling, painting… And also enjoys making craft items such as rakhis, or other interesting looking items from crochet!!! In a nutshell she has her hobbies which she follows passionately.
So for the 21st birthday we were not sure about a suitable gift and therefore we came up with this idea of painting to be displayed in her practice room. We quickly got the required Canvas and the colours last month when she wasn’t around and created this group of three paintings to represent one of the most common phrases in Kathak dance form which is the TaKit Dha.
Have a look at the painting and let us know your views about the same. We have the following questions as options and you can let us know what would look good for the paintings:
1. Should we add wooden borders to the frames?
2. Should we attach a series of real ghungroos at the bottom of each painting?
Sameer S Sahasrabudhe 