 Hi, I am Dilima Talwar, Nisak Sena. I am delighted to present the course titled, Understanding Creativity and Creative Writing. In this lecture, which is the introductory lecture to the course, I would like to start with some kind of an overview of the course in order to facilitate better understanding of what you can do with the four modules of this course. I would like to start with the genesis and approach to the course. The teaching and development of this course has been propelled by the desire to create greater space for creativity oriented discussions. In the rapidly changing world, creative challenges have multiplied and I feel that we need to address them in as many ways as possible. These issues I am quite aware, very sharply aware of the fact that these can be shaped in infinite number of ways. However, I have tried to shape this course in terms of my own background in literary studies and I would say that this course has meant that my choices as a scholar, writer and teacher have been yoked together in a new combination. The course is imbued, I feel with the zest and the creative tension of our plural cultural scenario. The focus of this course is firmly centered around the aspiring writer. Whatever the area of advance knowledge that the student may have opted for, be it literary studies, science, technology, design, anything else, the course content will be useful. Indeed, I have begun to feel that this disciplinary diversity can become a source of great strength because with deep knowledge of any kind coupled with experiential fervor, new forms and content can evolve. So, we are really looking towards the future in terms of what young writers can create. Let me explain the content in ways that helps you understand it in lucid terms. I would like to give you the course outline. The aim of this course is to analyze various approaches to generating creativity. Reading and writing work is undertaken to provoke fresh possibilities. To understand the creative writing process, the reading of writer's journals is emphasized. These will be examined with reference to selected literary work of the chosen author. The literary forms such as drama and short story will be studied and creative exercises will be generated with reference to form and content. The difference between drama as a performative form and short story as narrative form is meant to help the students work out a suitable form for their writing. And I would like to highlight something which is very, very important for the course and the spirit of the course. Contemporary issues of multilinguality, science, technology, humanities, interface, globalization, youth and crisis will be problematized. The course is divided as per the instructions of the NPTEL part 2 framework. It is divided into four modules. Ideally, we would like you to explore all the four modules as a single unit because you feel there is a kind of connection that you will begin to enjoy gradually. It will unfold gradually. Modules 3 and 4 are interwoven to show the fluidity of forms and again we would like you to treat these as a single unit. However, the four modules can also be de-linked if necessary as independent units. So, you can take a call and make your own choices if you want to de-link something. Let me describe each module through a very brief kind of summary so that you can also see the connection between the modules. Module 1 is titled, Understanding Creativity. This is, it contains 10 lectures and it is focused on variety of processes and insights that can help in understanding one's creative potential. So, generative exercises have been developed in the context of academic and social realms. The young aspiring writer is the focus of our attention although writers of any age can also dip into this in order to either enjoy the material or to also see if they can gain something from it because writers can begin to write at any age. So, you know we also feel that the reason the generative exercises are extremely important is because this will help the student or the writer discover the kind of writing that he or she would like to undertake and sustain with enjoyment that is very very important. Module 2 is titled to be a writer and this module is anchored in the writing process. As you know reading and writing are key ingredients of education and so we have really taken advantage of pre-existing educational models. The process of imagination and its crafting is assessed through the study of literary diaries and completed literary work of important writers. For the writing work the teacher and the students become participants in the search for themes, forms and voice. This is again another fresh element in this process because there is a kind of democratic process that unfolds where the teacher and the students are equally in search of themes, forms, voice. Module 3 is titled drama the performative mode and what we have done is to focus on the aesthetic vigor of drama in this module. Due to the physicality and concreteness of presentation the form gains multiple representational dimensions. Mime and monologues have been foregrounded for experiential exercises. Aristotelian discourse of drama fiction is juxtaposed with Bharat Muni's Naatishast to help the students explore experimental possibilities for their writing work. Indian as well as western examples are examined and eventually also the most interesting part of this course is the performative work that has been presented by the students. I am sure you will enjoy that a great deal. Module 4 is titled short story as a genre and again in this module what we have tried to do is to have a balance between the Indian modern short story and the tradition of short story writing in India and that in the west. So the Indian discourse revolving around the modern short story is contrasted with the experiments in the west. Tagore's recently translated short stories Balai and laboratory have been analyzed as there is significant issues regarding Tagore's world view and thereby important questions about the short story as a form. Special attention is given to the oral and folk tales and the growth of the modern short story with reference to women's creative spaces. We feel that Mahashwita Devi invigorates the short story scene and also the scene of women writing in an expansive framework through her stories of the subaltern. So these also have been analyzed. The demands and varieties of the western short story experiments are placed with focus on bourges. The module is animated again through independent student work. Now describing the content let us move towards the processes involved in material production. This was a very different kind of experience for us and therefore we need to talk about it in some detail. The lectures were recorded in the video lab and that too was a decision undertaken by the NPTEL team. But also by us because the recordings in the classroom had lot of acoustic limitations. So most of these lectures were recorded in the video lab and our production team looked after the technical and administrative aspects of video recording. So here is our technical team. The lectures in the video lab really in some ways were not all that limited an exercise because the students also shared their selected work in the lab and both in the classroom and in the lab we constantly had discussions in order to not only examine the content but also to try and understand how best to share it with the potential viewer. So this is again another kind of dynamics that unfolded and I do have to also point out that the material that was selected from the regular classroom the students had great deal of say in choosing that material. I also want to point out that the reason the presentations are not as spontaneous as you know the actual classroom work would be is related to the fact that in this format of the video presentation of the self is a charged activity and of course the students began to relish that a great deal. On a one-on-one basis therefore there was enormous amount of discussion after the classroom and before the video presentations and I like to share some moments of that edited process with you. In addition to my regular lectures in the classroom and the video studio guest speakers were invited to share their ideas. So here is again a glimpse of that process. See the detailed conversation with Richard Schechner in lecture 2. Being in the theatre I want to say what were the first plays I mean I was fully developed but there is a Greek myth that Venus is born fully grown from the head of Zeus. So these dramas are like great. So they may be very early but they don't in any sense seem primitive or unformed they seem like they are fabulous they are finished and they involve the whole community through the chorus but they also tell fabulous stories. This is almost all of them the story of Antigone who would rather die than see her brother dishonor who fights against the unjust king who in a sense loses Creod he loses his daughter-in-law he loses his own son or edifice who is such a just and good man but finds out and trying to do the job let's say of a policeman investigating who murdered the former king finds out it was he that murdered the former king I mean you just it still sends thrills up and down my spine to realize that I am guilty of the crime I am seeking to find the guilty one for. So in the recent past some efforts have been made by historians to try and understand how the Indian society tried to integrate the modern science along with their own sciences. So in this connection some study has been made with regard to the observations made by certain authors around 19th century wherein so they try to see how we will be able to sort of integrate the ideas that emerge from modern science with the ideas that have been represented in some of the ancient scriptures particularly scientific scriptures related to astronomy and mathematics. Thank you very much for organizing this I will just give a brief background to the play that you are Pooja and I are going to read out the name of the play is the scene Sakina Manzil it's very unlike the two plays you are studying one is the I think Idipis Rex is the play and Cherry Orchard so it's very very different from that kind of writing. Neha Chawli is a freelance writer today's session has been specially designed in order to respond to the suggestion that some of you have made in terms of your much more natural relationship as you put it to the fantasy genre, Tolkien and JK Rowling in particular. So I thought it would be appropriate to see how that relationship will shift now that you want to write. So being just readers and readers who want to be your writers in what way does that relationship change. So Neha did offer her views and after that you can pose questions to her why you don't raise your questions please raise your voice also because we don't have a very fit number of mics for you. So now Neha. Thank you ma'am. So this is basically what I was aiming at when I was telling you about making connections. Your writing process which you put at the centre the fantasy genre which is like this umbrella web in which you have all sorts of books from all historical periods all social contexts and then specifically the writing of Tolkien and Rowling in which we are because we are talking about it and placing it like that and to enhance and enrich your understanding of their writing bits about their lives, their biographical details. The best of the classroom exercises were selected for video recording based on the feedback from the students. Another aspect that is worth mentioning is this feeling that began to grow in me that the video lab had almost become an atelier because in the video lab we had special readings of my own selected writings and these were undertaken by post graduate student writers who are really not part of the regular elective. And what gave it the sense of the atelier is also the fact that they were interested in sharing and honing their own writing and therefore they also presented their work both in English and in Hindi to share the search for their voice, the right words, metaphors, the language of their choice. So again here are a few clips to catch up with that process. A feminist in pieces. I am a feminist in pieces with a thousand grains of life scattered over three continents. I have no real home nor a sense of belonging. The voices around me often say that I am living in three diasporas, breathing in three cultures, communicating in three distinct idioms. The video format was really an exploratory format for me. I tried to add to the textual content in terms of some of the fresh elements that I thought would add quality to the course. So the Hawaii landscapes were filmed for this purpose. In the preparation of this course, many questions persisted about the video format. No doubt that teaching thrives on dialogue and interaction. So how does one interact with the imagined audience? How does one imagine the audience for a video course? In the highly imagistic world, how does educational content play out against the raciness of films, television, advertising? The questions persisted and we improvised possibilities. The affirmation and participation of regular, real elective students made the process meaningful and participatory. Finally, I do have to point out that we also struggled with another issue pertaining to copyright. We followed the conventions for the internet in terms of copyright issues scrupulously. Since the illusions and references have been used for educational non-profit purpose, the notion of fair use applies. We have also sought copyright permissions wherever applicable. For the material generated in this course, NPTEL, IIT Bombay and I retain the copyright. Finally, I like to dedicate this work to my children Malvika and Siddharth and to my students. I like to end this session by acknowledging Neha's support in preparing the material and I really want to end the lecture by thanking her for her unabated participation. Thank you very much for watching.