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| Dr. Brian Mendonca in a relaxed moment during the zoom conference. |
For live video recording of the conference post the link below in your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-iVfDTATlQ
Still, I stayed home from work on Monday and used the two days to prepare my topic. It was rather grandly titled, 'Historicity and Literature.' I am all for interdisciplinary studies so I thought I'd give it a shot. But how do I hold an online audience for 60 minutes? At least that was the brief initially. Mercifully this got whetted down to 40 minutes when the final schedule rolled in.
I had the heebie-jeebies when there was a power shut down the day before on the 7th. In this scenario the internet does not work. What if the Electricity department shut down the lines on 8th as well, if the work was not completed? Since I was on leave, I would not even have the benefit of the other internet portals I would normally have access to in college. I heaved a sight of relief when power was restored earlier than the notified time on the 7th. So I trusted fate and stayed home on 8th keeping my fingers crossed. Thankfully all went smoothly.
I was very impressed by the way the organizers were handling it all. Without much fanfare, the Departments of English and the IQAC of Mahatma Gandhi Mahavidyalaya, Ahmedpur in Latur and Kholeshwar Mahavidyalaya, Ambajogai in Beed efficiently put things together. They handled publicity, technical matters, feedback forms, and the distribution of certificates. Two Whatsapp groups were created for the participants. The organizers also conducted a mock Zoom meet the day before. They left nothing to chance. And to top it all, they got it all recorded live on YouTube. This serves as a valuable resource for others.
My PPT started happening over the weekend. As I put each slide before the next I felt my confidence increase. The reading I did for one slide led me to another. As I worked on the PPT I kept posting the revised versions to Laxman who kept encouraging me. As Head, Department of English, KMA, Ambajogai, he was the right person to advise me.
The talk went well. Once I was ensconced in my corner in my room amid my familiar setting I relaxed. The lemony curtains swayed and suggested all would be well. I was thrilled to be able to do it since this was my first time. I felt I had breached a new frontier.
The fact that all my colleagues were joining in on Zoom for the conference was like a homecoming. It was a virtual reunion after four years. Our WhatsApp group - which I did not see till after the conference - had a rain of messages encouraging us even while we were speaking. Many took photos of us unasked for the record - one of which I have posted here.
Dr. Shilpa Chowdhary from Delhi and Professor Manjushree M from Bangalore - my colleagues at RC 2016 were the plenary speakers. Shilpa spoke on Bhakti poetry and Manjushree on colonialism and Dalit experience. Dr. Bibhishan Phad, Head, Department of English, MGM, Ahmedpur wittily remarked that Shilpa turned the virtual meet into a spiritual one.
The moment the conference ended there was a flurry of messages on the group with everyone congratulating us. It felt almost strange to be picking up the conversation so animatedly after four years. It shows how a WA group can be the site of positive energy and synergy if all are on the same page. COVID brought us all together. Never has Information and Communications Technology (ICT) been harnessed so widely in education as now.
What was hilarious was when one of the participants queried when he was to get his participation certificate as he had already filled the feedback form - for the conference which was yet to begin! It throws light on the attitude of some academicians towards conferences.
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Photo courtesy Bhaswati. Updated 18 September 2020.
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