While the National Institute of Design (NID) faced protests from students activists after a former student of the institute alleged that one of the faculty of the institute was indulging in excessive stress on sex, the students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), who also underwent regular courses of the professor, are raising their voices against the allegation.
Disagreeing with the allegations, a graduate of PGPX at IIMA, Pratik Shah said: "I don't think the professor would do anything so silly. The professor is a very sincere and unassuming person. The concept of his course is that we all are bound by many things like the norms of society, fear of different things and so on. If we want to be creative in the work that we do, we need to free ourselves from this binding which will enable us to think out of the box."
Appreciating the professor's course of 20 sessions as one of the best courses, Shah also said that though there was some talk on nudity and activities where the students were exposed to fear factors, it was limited and controlled.
"There was a session in which each student was asked to walk alone in the night in 'pitch dark' of a jungle without a torch. This was absolutely scary. Talks on nudity were engendered so as to expand the limits of our 'comfort zone'. There was also a session on 'who would strip' just to challenge the need for conformance to societal norms, but when somebody dared to do so, the professor stopped them. We were made to sign the so called Non Disclosure Agreement — but the idea behind it was to impart seriousness to what we were doing and keeping the mystery level high. And to push students further into the 'uncomfortable zone'. All the above sessions were, however, controlled. There was no obscenity at all. All the sessions were controlled. We also had meditation sessions designed to increase right brain ability."
Talking about how some people could misinterpret the entire sessions, Shah said: "Students who are not mature enough to understand the concept, might have problems in participating in it."
Another student of PGPX, Manish, said: "The course has been receiving the best ratings for many years. His method of teaching is one of the best I have ever experienced and I completely disagree with the allegations against him. "
Another student of IIMA, Manoj R said: "From what I have read in the reported stories and my experience with the professor, I can say that the allegation is fabricated. I have found the professor to be very academic."
