Oh God Please don’t show me a way: Guest Talk by Dr. Achuthsankar S Nair

The effectiveness of a talk always depends on the content, the manner of delivery and the value it provides to the listeners. Dr Achuthsankar S. Nair’s (Director, Centre for Bioinformatics, University of Kerala) talk at TIM on 30th October was a realistic exemplification of this .Dr Nair kept the first year participants at the edge of their seats for three hours with his informal tone and the novelty of the topic He began the session by asking the audience, comprising of the students and faculty to experience the topic. By triggering the brain to find nearly forty uses of a pencil, Dr Nair challenged the thinking and thought process of the participants and stealthily invoked by saying – “Oh God Please don’t show me a way , Show me many ways .” Problems are a part of our lives and it is our endeavour to find reasonable solution / solutions to it. The human mind is conditioned to find the easiest and the nearest solution and held down by hidden assumptions which more often compels to pick the first option than look for multiple options that lies beyond the problems themselves. During the talk he highlighted that creativity evokes multiple responses when triggered. The uniqueness of the presentation was also evident in the very simple but charming slide designs drawn from ordinary life situations. The talk concluded with the speaker urging the participants to defocus and look at things from afar than looking closely and exhorting them to practice divergent thinking. The programme was conceived as an integrated club activity by TIM Staff Club. Dr. S Kevin, Director TIM felicitated the function.