Dear Mainak – an open letter

I hope this becomes a fitting reply to the concerns expressed in your open letter.

1. You were never punished. Neither can you expect rewards. We were always getting at lensing and lighting. There is a route to reach to that.  Day 1 is not the day when you talk about the lights you have in the studio or the lenses. As a group of 10 students, not everyone is on the same page. What Tanmay Sir did was to get us on the same page.

2. The same page: In a completely divided direction batch, we were completely caught up with our own ego clashes. We sought for a different type of respect which we didn’t at all deserve. The process could have been completely mechanical or purely organic.. Sir intended to go through the better option – the second option. He didn’t humiliate the ones who taught were ahead of the class. He showed them that they were not a level to lead yet.

3. Unfolding: As the days unfolded you might feel  only a little was covered. We never arrived at lighting and lensing. But the ones who wanted to unfold the chapter for themselves were observing light if they wanted to. He made us realize to see and then believe. A lot of transformation was happening. He had identified the shortcomings of the batch. The SWOT analysis was underway. A blog unfolds a lot of character and he was interested in the transformation process. Otherwise he could have just come to the point directly. The egos would have remained and we would have just consumed something to spit it out the very next moment.

4. What’s happening to you then? You are not being humiliated. You are not being asked to commit to a task. He wants you to see the bigger picture. From today onwards we will get to the point – the point of the workshop if you are looking for it so specifically. He never tried to be authoriative. Instead he wanted to understand where we stand and swim in troubled waters. We are inept. He showed us that.

5. Your open letter mentions picking stones completely mechanically. You shouldn’t have done it then. You could have just excused yourself for a nice walk where you could have adjusted your ideas and thoughts. You could have sorted yourself and join us.

6. Sir is not a spiritual guru. He is an academician who has just a beautiful process you need to understand before he eventually teaches. Following him blindly was never an option. He never wanted you to follow him – he wanted you to learn and understand to be humble, to kill your ego and take a stand for the whole group. You didn’t lose any self respect. I had always respected you but this open letter has really made me think otherwise.

I feel you didn’t just get it. I hope one fine day you would. Don’t think that is late. Getting it is never late.