Some of the finest thespians of the Indian theatre helped the students, not just to find newer perspectives to their classroom problems, but also to also go beyond the realms of modern day management and explore the rhythms of human interactions as a whole.

Says IIMC student Saunak Basu, “The Nandikar workshop gave us insight into management from an entirely different perspective; we got to identify with every man as an individual – what makes him tick, how he responds in different situations – and to realize how important and effective trust, empathy, body language and emotions are for us to actually understand and communicate with each other.”

The workshop explored various facets of human interactions, by means of specially designed exercises on trust, teambuilding, group development and role-playing; exercises which demonstrated the use of music and dance as threads to bind people together; and exercises on communication, which taught how to hold the entire audience rapt with attention during monologues and soliloquies.

Rohan Moitra, a student in the first year, says that “The most amazing part is that these professionals – teachers, actors, performers, musicians and intellectuals all rolled into one – showed us human behavior from a standpoint very different from a routine management chore.

“Not only are we richer now as theatricians, but as people too, and we had great fun doing it” – is the unilateral response of the participants of the workshop.

The Nandikar Theatre Group, headquartered in Kolkata, is one of India’s foremost theatre groups. Under the guidance of Mr. Rudrapasad Sengpta, they have played a proactive role in spreading and developing theatrical activities throughout India for over close to half a century.