A 'Serif' existence!

2nd September 2026.  At 6.00pm in one of the IDC alumni WhatsApp groups I saw message informing that Prof Mohan Bhandari has passed away.  I don’t know if the word “shock” will do any justice to the feeling when we read that message.  The pain was beyond articulation. The silence was deafening.  I just sat there reading that message again and again.  One of the greatest academicians ever has been liberated. One great friend has vanished into thin air. The great philosopher has followed his favorite line “It is there but it is not there…..”  Prof Bhandari had told me once: “We are all guests on this earth, bubbles which can burst anytime…..”. I have never forgotten that line.  A flashback:  The year was 1990. I had just got admission to the Master’s programme in the Industrial Design Centre (now known as IDC School of Design) at IIT Bombay. At that time, the yearly intake was only 25, ten for MDes in Visual Communication and 15 for Product Design...

Vision Welcome to Design Dialogues – where great ideas meet great chai (or coffee, if that's your poison). We believe that the best ideas don’t come from staring at a blank screen but from conversations over a shared table, fuelled by caffeine and curiosity. Design is not just about pixels, grids, and typography; it’s about people. And people need to talk! We envision Design Dialogues as an informal, monthly rendezvous where UG, PG, and PhD students, along with faculty, break free from deadlines, discuss ideas, share crazy inspirations, and maybe—just maybe—create the next big thing in design (or at least have a laugh about the ones that didn’t work). This is about human-to-human interaction (yes, that thing that existed before Zoom calls). Think of it as an intellectual jam session—part TED Talk, part college canteen gossip, and part design therapy session. Mission Design Dialogues exists to: Encourage Cross-Pollination of Ideas – UG, PG, PhD students, and faculty members rarely s...

These are my most favourite talks in YouTube, which I feel all my friends, students and well wishers will benefit from. Treasures of knowledge... Special thanks to all the Gurus and speakers. Ten powerful Ideas from ancient India by Roopa Pai https://youtu.be/b9UvkK2xxr0 It's not a solution if it's not affordable : Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty at TEDxGateway 2013 https://youtu.be/C3CXhwJjnk4  India is not chaotic: Devdutt Pattanaik at TEDxYouth@DAIS https://youtu.be/xKOh9DfQBgU Significane of Gayatri Mantra Explained in Hindi by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar https://youtu.be/zJ6qSih27aU Wisdom of Gayatri Mantra - Pravrajika Divyanandaprana https://youtu.be/Gc4zYw11Emw   How To Understand Mythology, Vedas & Puranas? | Sri Sri Ravi Shankar https://youtu.be/A0ObSI0ULUs Time, Space and Mind - A Talk by Sri Sri Ravishankar https://youtu.be/6i298ZsmvO4   Use your brains | Khurshed Batliwala | TEDxSIUKirkee https://youtu.be/UkrhN...

Pranam. Prof. R.K. Joshi at the IDC-ICOGRADA design event, Feb 2007. Prof. R.K. Joshi at the IDC-ICOGRADA design event, Feb 2007. Prof. R.K. Joshi at the IDC-ICOGRADA design event, Feb 2007. Prof. R.K. Joshi during his Calligraphy Workshop at IDC. September, 2005. Prof. R.K. Joshi during his Calligraphy Workshop at IDC. September, 2005. Prof. R.K. Joshi during his Calligraphy Workshop at IDC. September, 2005. A Calligraphic expression by Prof. R.K. Joshi. Image courtesy: Biju Neyyan, Sr VC student, IDC. Image courtesy: Anand Bhandarkar, VC 1990-92 batch. My adaptation of Anand Bhandarkar's work. Image courtesy: Rajeev Prakash, VC 1988-1990 batch, IDC. Image courtesy: Mr. Pankaj Sapkal (1990-92 PD batch) Feb 14th, 2008. Prof. R.K. Joshi's last rites were performed at the Sion crematorium, Bombay. RK, as we called him, left this world on Feb 4th when he had gone to San Fransico for a seminar. RK was a Guru in every sense of the word. A great calligrapher, typographer, poet, teach...