“Learning for learning’s sake has been lost in the current competitive environment. Everyone is hankering after a degree or certificate in a marketable skill; the charm of engaging in ideas and topics with like-minded others is dwindling,” says Shreelata Rao Seshadri. Shreelata and Purnendu Kavoori, both academics, are the founders of Encounter Eclectic, a platform that encourages learning — even after one has graduated from an educational institution.
While Shreelata and Purnendu boast multidisciplinary research and fieldwork as their forte, Sachin Sachdeva with a background in management and institution building is a director with Encounter Eclectic.
“Encounter Eclectic is a platform that is trying to build a lifestyle of learning by offering different opportunities for people to engage in content via multi-dimensional methods,” says Shreelata.
She explains how any topic can elicit interest when presented using diverse points of view. “While talking, Purnendu and I realised how an architect, historian, naturalist, political scientist and urban designer could talk about a city in different ways.”
Incidentally, ‘Invisible Cities’ was their first topic. “Cities are invisible for the most part — we only see what transpires on the surface. Yet underneath it all, so much is constantly transpiring. Engaging with that diversity was part of our plan.”
There is a reason why ‘Relaxed Learning for a Curious Mind’ is one of their many mottos. Workshops, as well as long- and short-duration courses, have been curated by the team at Encounter Eclectic to spark a culture of dialogue.
“By providing a space where people can talk about ideas or topics and find others who are similarly interested, we hope to create a network of people who can engage in areas of inquiry,” says Shreelata, adding, “There are facilitators for live sessions so people can participate in an interactive session even though it is a virtual platform. We did away with pre-recorded sessions and a one-way delivery of information, so participants could co-create a learning experience from that interaction.”
All sessions are slotted over the weekends in multiple time slots. Log on to www.encountereclectic.com for more details.
