‘Manodharma’

Once Sri. K J Yesudas was asked in an interview, what is the difference between singing film songs and Carnatic music.  He said, ‘While singing film songs on a stage, even if I make small improvisations, people think I didn’t sing it correctly.  But while singing Carnatic music, the audience expect and appreciate improvisation of the original composition’.  Such improvisation in Carnatic music is known as ‘manodharma’.  The word ‘manodharma’ means ‘order of the mind’ in Sanskrit.  In music, it refers to on the spot improvisations arising out of the creativity of the artist.  However, while improvising, the artist has to strictly remain within the structure of the ‘raga’ and ‘tala’.  This requires vast experience and deep knowledge of music.  So, a typical music student starts by singing compositions exactly in the same way as was taught to him.  Once he achieves certain level of mastery over the ‘raga’, he tries experimenting with ‘manodharma’.  

Recently during a discussion on teaching with one of my friends, we touched upon ‘manodharma’ in teaching!  It may sound strange, but I have given a serious thought to the idea of ‘manodharma’ in teaching.  Let me explain.  Someone who is new to teaching would always start by teaching the concepts exactly the same way as was taught to him or learnt by him.  But, over the years as he gains mastery over the subject, he has to train his abilities to teach the same concept in different ways, without missing the core aspects of the concept.  This is possible only with experience.  But experience alone is not enough.  A teacher has to carefully and consciously develop the skill and ability of teaching the same concept in different ways. 

But in reality, many teachers fall into the trap of teaching the same concept exactly the same way every time they teach.  The modern technology tools such as Power Point, in a way, force the teachers to deliver the lectures exactly the same way repeatedly.  I consider a teacher to have mastery over the subject only when he/she is able to explain the subject to different audience in different styles.  For example, if I am teaching the basics of Finance to a set of engineering students, whose interest is just to know the concepts, I would teach in a certain way.  But when I teach the same concepts to students of MBA specializing in Finance, my style would be different.  Again, I may be teaching the same concepts in an executive development programme, but in a totally different manner.  Unless a teacher makes conscious efforts, he/she can not do this.  So, when someone claims to have 10 years of teaching experience, I jokingly ask, ‘is it 10 years of experience or the first year repeated 9 times?!’

I related the concept of ‘manodharma’ to teaching.  I am sure you can relate it to any profession you are in! 

Feedback (Feel bad)

When I joined IIM Ahmedabad as Academic Associate in September 1998, my first assignment was to assist the faculty in a course on Finance.  It was a first-year course, which was taught by two Professors.  One section was taught by a senior Professor of IIMA, and the other two sections were taught by a visiting faculty, who was also an alumnus of IIMA.  I was asked to assist both of them.  Since it was my first assignment, I had to put in lot of hard work.  I used to spend most of my time in the campus, learning new things, preparing for the course, grading the exam papers, helping students with their doubts etc.  Though hectic, I thoroughly enjoyed the work. 

Within few days, I realised that the senior professor of IIMA and the visiting professor were not in good terms with each other.  However, this did not affect my work in any way, because they both were highly professional in their dealings with me.  At the end of the course, when the last session of the term got over, the visiting professor summoned me to his room.  He seemed very upset and disturbed.  Without any provocation, he started scolding me, ‘You are an extremely incompetent academic associate.  I don’t know how you got selected for this job’.  Shocked, I did not know how to react.  I did not understand what my fault was.  Gathering courage, I asked him, ‘Sir, please tell me, what did I do?’.  He said, ‘You want me to tell you.  Please go, I don’t want to see you again’.  Quietly I walked out of his room.  I was feeling terrible.  I went back to my seat.  Seeing my fallen face, my friend Surya Krishna asked me what had happened.  I told everything to him.  He was senior to me by few months at IIMA.  He said, ‘come let’s have a cup of tea’.  We went to the tea shop near the main gate.  Surya told me, ‘Look, there is no fault of yours.  I came to know from reliable sources that there was a spat between the professors today morning regarding some issues related to the course.  The visiting faculty has probably felt that you are more loyal to the other professor since he is a senior professor at the institute.  You don’t take it seriously’.  Though Surya pacified me, the feeling of being hurt remained with me for few more days.

After a week, it was time to finalise the grades of the course.  The visiting professor had an office adjacent to his residence in the city.  The Chairman of my area asked me to go to his office to finalise the grades.  I was supposed to show him the details of grading that I had done, get his approval and get the grade sheets signed by him.  I was apprehensive. I didn’t know how he would react.  But I had no choice.  I called him over phone, got an appointment and went there with all the documents and supporting files.  When I reached his office, his secretary told me to wait.  I sat there with butterflies in my stomach.  After ten minutes, I was called inside.  I greeted him.  To my surprise, he greeted me back with a big smile on his face.  He made me sit, had a quick glance at the grade sheet and put his signature, without even looking at the details.  I asked him, ‘Sir, you don’t want to see how I have done the grading?’.  He said, ‘I know you would have done it correctly.  I trust you’.  By then, his secretary came in with tea and biscuits.  When I got up to leave, he said, ‘Thank you Ajoy.  You have been a wonderful support to me in the course, Best Wishes’.  I thanked him.  I was wondering is this the same person who called me ‘most incompetent’ a couple of days ago?!

I learnt an important lesson from this episode.  When someone shouts at you or scolds you, when there is no fault on your side, the problem doesn’t lie with you, it lies with the one who is shouting.  Probably, it is that person’s frustration and helplessness that is manifesting as anger towards you.  But what is important is ‘whether there is any fault on my side’ is a question that needs to be answered carefully, objectively, and rationally!