In Hyderabad—Second Day of Conference

Wednesday, October 11, 2018

Hyderabad

Second Day of Conference

Salaam Aleikum from Hyderabad!

Today was Day Two of our conference. It was another long, tiring and intellectually taxing day. I mean think about it: You are a captive audience expected to attend panel presentations and participate in discussions from 10.00am until 6.00 pm after which you are expected to attend poetry readings and cultural programs such as music demonstrations and performances. In the USA, conference organizers tell us at the beginning, during Orientation, to pace ourselves and not to feel obliged to attend everything. Here, in India, it appears you are expected to be superhuman—to attend everything. I was talking to some of the organizers who told me very proudly that the program was drawn up with the sole intention of making sure that participants are engaged every minute and that there is no opportunity for them to goof off!!!   

I awoke finally at 7.00 am after sleeping in fits and starts through the night and forcing myself at every stage to go back to sleep again. I washed, dressed and went out in search of breakfast at 8.00 am—cornflakes, an omelette sandwiched between two slices of toast and a cup of coffee (which I had to especially request as tea was made available for all delegates).

We piled into the shuttle bus at 9.00 and reached the venue at 9.15 am. Sessions were expected to begin at 10.00–I used the time to chat with some of the delegates and the students of the university who were very happy and excited to interact with an academic from New York. 

The rest of the day was a series of sessions—another plenary address was given by Monica Acciari, an Italian scholar of Indian cinema who is at De Montford University in Leicester, UK, but currently in Hyderabad doing research. Talking to fellow-academics here, whether they be Indian or from overseas, I realize how lucky I am to have a whole year off from NYU to enable me to take on the Fulbright award.  It appears that most universities will not permit their scholars to stay away from their teaching and administrative duties for a whole year and will demand that they return after a semester.  Indian scholars seem to be at the greatest disadvantage in this respect.

Monia’s talk on dubbing and subtitling of Indian cinema into European languages and the consequences of variations in language usage as evidenced there, made a very interesting talk. It set the tone for the rest of the presentations that followed on a vast variety of topics. It became increasingly clear to me that presenters totally disregard time limitations that are set in advance. They do not seem to understand that, at a conference, all you can do, if you are a presenter, is offer listeners a few germs of the ideas on which you are working to allow them to incubate in their minds. What they do is come with ambitious papers that go away beyond the 15 minute time limit.  What’s worse is that they totally disregard prompts from the Chairpersons when they are told that their time is up.  They say that they will “just conclude” and then go on speaking for the next ten minutes! In doing so, they cut into the time of presenters that are to follow or they leave no time for discussion—which is a real discourtesy to the audience that has taken the time out to listen to you. Rules of conference protocol do not seem to be followed here. Deborah Logan and I were amused initially, then angered, when this happened repeatedly. 

Lunch was served in the guest house dining hall which involved getting into the  shuttle bus again and taking it, once again, to get back. It was a delicious meal—pure vegetarian, but made up of some delicious gravy and brinjal bharta which is one of the great dishes of Hyderabadi cuisine. For dessert, we were served custard with pomegranate seeds which I thought was such a result of the colonial-Hyderabadi fusion cuisine of this state. I have not eaten custard as a dessert for a very long time. 

Back in the shuttle bus, we went through the afternoon sessions with breaks in-between for tea and biscuits. 

At the very end of the day, there was a lecture-demonstration of druppad music with which I am completely unfamiliar.  I stayed on,despite being very tired, because I thought I would acquaint myself with it. Sadly, it was far too monotonous and unappealing to my ears and I left after half an hour. I was later told that this is a highly acquired taste and that it is the most ancient form of vocal classical music in India and the origin of all Hindustani and Carnatic vocalization. There are very few practitioners of this musical form left in India as most singers opt for easy commercial success in the Bollywood genre. Although it did not appeal to me I was happy to have been introduced to it. I I thought I would have to walk back to my room (which I was quite prepared to do) but luckily, I ran into a Professor called Vijay who gave me a ride back. I was exhausted.

     I switched the geyser on (as I have realized that it takes about 20 minutes to heat up) and sat down to rehearse and go over my own presentation which is tomorrow, especially to time it.  The last thing I want to do is go over the time limit of 45 minutes that they have allotted me. When I was done, it was time for dinner.  I had a quick chat with Dad in Bombay to inquire if all was well with him and Russel and then I entered the dining hall for another simple vegetarian meal of rice, roti, dal, yoghurt, pickle and white pumpkin. 

Back in my room, I took a shower and got ready for bed.

Tomorrow will be an eventful day as I give my plenary address first thing in the morning. This will leave me free for the day. I have made plans to return to the Salar Jung Museum with another delegate named Ipshita who is more than happy to goof off with me. 

  Until tomorrow...