Don’t you all wonder sometimes why we keep doing certain things? You might have been part of a school-fest which is still being organized. A “department fest” that continues to attract huge crowds. A Shaastra or a Saarang which has a combined footfall of more than a lakh. Amongst these crowd-pulling extravaganzas, this student-organized academic conference has continued to exist and thrive.
In 2010, when the Integrated M.A. programme at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences was only 4 years old, our seniors went ahead and organized the Department’s first Academic Conference which featured, among others, Nobel Laureate Robert Fogel, and Martha Nussbaum. The 6th edition is just a couple of months away.
We were fortunate enough to be part of, and later lead the team to organize the 2nd edition back in 2012. The preparatory work leading up to the conference is challenging, interesting, frustrating, and maddening. We (occasionally) fought with each other and others in the team when things were not moving as expected. However, when everything finally fell into place on the 3 days of conference, all the small inconveniences and ego-clashes were easily forgotten.
Chennai is a welcoming city, and our campus is as beautiful as it can get. Take a stroll at night. Ideate and argue with passion over a cup of tea at Ramu Tea Stall past midnight. Wake up next morning and rush to attend the lectures and paper presentations. We wish the organizers and participants the very best. It’s a time for networking – make new friends, and research collaborators. Most importantly, it’s a time for learning.
– By Arun Sudarsan and Chandni Chandran
Department Secretaries (2012-13)
Article 19 