Thursday, 3 October 2019

The farce of ‘in absentia’ certificates!

Conferences | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Say ‘No’ to In-Absentia Certificates!

Boycott Conferences that Target your Wallet!!

Well, when organizers of seminars/ conferences share with us their colossal burden on paper presenters bunking their presentations and indulging in obtaining for themselves in absentia certificates, me thought it is time to step into the breach and spell out this despicable act of having on them such cheap, manipulated in absentia certificates!

In the interests of good research, me thought of sharing with y’all a few thoughts here below, on this kutty little post!

First of all, remember that a paper that you present at a conference is a rare-o-rare, one-of-its-kind opportunity knocking at your door, offering you exclusively on a platter, a wonderful chance of a lifetime, to prove your mettle at presenting your vibrant thoughts on your ‘eureka moment’ or your ‘something new’ moment that you’ve painstakingly researched and got for yourself, over a prolonged, patient period of time!

Secondly, it would do well to bear in mind that, presenting a paper gives you a chance to stand before an august audience, all geared up, with boldness and with guts, with a refined air of confidence, and thereby experiencing for yourself what it really is, to stand gentle and bold, cool and calm, in front of a gathering without the shivers or the quivers!

Thirdly, presenting a paper is added chance to get your thoughts and ideas legitimized, validated and approved, with added inputs, suggestions, questions, critiques and clarifications coming your way from unexpected good Samaritans in all directions!

So yesss! if you have received any in absentia certificates thus far, in your academic sojourn, basic courtesy and basic etiquette demands of you that, you better burn them to ashes, at the nearest hearth, at the quickest possible time, after having torn them off into a thousand plus pieces!

It’s a huge scam and a hugeyyy sham of the highest order, to sport an in absentia certificate on you anytime in your life.

Please for heaven’s sake, burn to ashes such sham of an in absentia certificate right away!

Now moving on to the all-important clarification that awaits you on - 

Choosing a Conference to attend - 

Well, as regards participating in conferences, and choosing for yourself a good Seminar or Conference to attend/ or to present your paper, there are a few salients that you need to watch out for! 

And yesss! watch out for these salients below with a keen nuanced and critical eye!

First and foremost, the speakers! Are they experts in their subjects? Have they published books, and/or presented papers, published their papers in renowned journals, and proved their integrity in academia over the years?

Secondly, does the conference take the initiative to come out with a publication of the papers presented, and dispatch the book/journal to you in a reasonable time-frame?

Thirdly, is the Department a full-fledged Literature department that has a BA and an MA programme in English Literature?

Fourthly, are the chairpersons capable enough to sit on their chairs and devote considerable time to focus on the paper presenter without any distractions? Or do they act the chairperson for namesake, checking their latest whatsapp messages while the presenters are making a presentation of their painstaking, original research?

Is the chairperson capable of asking at least five solid questions to every paper presenter who comes forward to present a paper?

Does the chairperson encourage questions from the audience also?

Finally, is the conference priced to a minimum?

On this be convinced please! Always check out on the pricing of the ‘conference fee’!!!

If the conference fee runs to thousands, please for heaven’s sake it’s better you stay back at home, and take a chartered trip to the Anna Centenary Library or any other good library, and do some real good reading and add some more inputs to your research, waiting in the meanwhile for genuine researcher-friendly conferences to come up!

As Tagore beautifully says in his Gitanjali,


‘Where the mind is without fear, And the head is held high, Where knowledge is free…!’

Indeed, if knowledge should be accessed by everyone, it should not be priced at a whopping premium on sky high mode! Rather, it should be offered at the minimum workable costs possible, Ain’t it?

In this regard, Jidduji, elucidating on the topic of ‘Right kind of Education’,  adds to say that, the true, noble teachers, ‘they long for an opportunity of service as a hungry man longs for food, and they are always watching for it. Their hearts are so full of the divine Love that it must be always overflowing in love for those around them. Only such are fit to be teachers - those to whom teaching is not only a holy and imperative duty, but also the greatest of pleasures!’

People like my librarian Dr. Jesudoss Manalan come under those rare few noble hearts!

Just imagine a situation where knowledge is priced at a huge premium! 

Can the lay researcher ever get the chance or the opportunity or the bhagyam to access this elitist knowledge? Nayver!

Do they long for an opportunity of service as a hungry man longs for food as Jidduji says, or do they long for an opportunity to make a fast buck on unsuspecting research scholars!???

Our munnorgal (our ancestors) made sure that knowledge was accessible by all and sundry! Chiefly by the lay! 

And that’s one reason we are here, as teachers and organizers of International Seminars/Conferences! 

Let’s not forget to remember our low estate too!

If Conferences price their events at such an exorbitant price, at an unreachable Mt. Everesty skyhigh cost, they literally convey the news to you that their event is not for real, genuine, original research or for the noblest kind of peer interactions!

On the other hand, they are just dubious means and methods to fill up their own coffers to buy for themselves additional bungalows or limousines every other year!

Of such conferences beware! Stay away! Stay far far awayyy!

You better wait your turn for another lovely ‘knowledge is free’ confy to come your way!

And it will!

The DRBCCC Hindu College, Chennai has set a wonderful trend in this regard! They are hosting a conference on 05 October 2019.

And pray guess the conference fee?

A decent Rs. 100/- for every presenter, which is inclusive of a lovely folder, a pen, a notepad, wonderful working lunch and a cuppa coffee!

I could visualize the noble Nobel Laureate Tagore himself blessing the conference with his rich showers of blessings!

May your tribe richly increase, dear Hindu College! May knowledge always be free! Forever be free!

May your love for research, may your love for real, serious, vibrant, thought-provoking interactions set the tone and the trend for all the greedy goblins to emulate by the dozens!

Hats off to you Hindu College, Chennai! Giving y'all the invite! If possible participate and be blessed! 


Way to go!

To sum it all up, a passionate researcher will never ever sell themselves to petty, cheap and nasty in absentia certificates! Neither will they step into the high-fee confy zones ever!

If you want to know what it is to be passionate about doing research, get a crash course on the basics of being passionate about research from Dr. V. K. Vasudevan! You can access him at our blog post HERE. His passion for research literally brought tears to our eyes! And almost all of us seated in the little hall, gave a standing ovation to this gentleman! He should be 80 years now!

Dr. Vasudevan is a retired RBI officer, who is so so so passionate about literature. Hence, after he retired as an officer with the Reserve Bank of India, he started on his research when he was well over 65 years, and after four illustrious years of painstaking research, at the tender young age of 69, he presented his spell-binding, electrifying defence of a viva voce, to an august gathering of attentive and enthralled minds which had a host of his grandkids lined up in the audience too, here at MCC!

After reading more on Dr. V. K. Vasudevan at this post HERE, chances are that, you will make a huge bonfire for sure of all your crappy, sloppy, in absentia certificates, at the nearest available hearth and burn instead, with passion and zeal for doing real, rigorous research in all its splendor and charm!

Best wishes to you!

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