CONFLUENCE 2009: A Pedagogue
Siddhant Anthony Johannes
The confluence was always said to be a learning experience with its own unique pedagogy, this year I learnt why and how. As first years we were quite involved in the Economics summit but only in a helping capacity. We sure did a lot of work but it was all given to us in the form of precise instructions and eloquent briefs. And oh yes we did grumble a lot… thinking that the seniors were just making us run around and themselves doing the better, more lucrative jobs…leaving only the very mechanical and boring work for us to do. So we actually found ourselves looking forward to this year’s economics summit- Confluence 2009. Being a member of the editorial board for the Eco Echoes (the departmental magazine), I was especially excited about the new responsibilities I would have to shoulder, moving away from the cliché of just being a help to being actually responsible for something.
We started quite early, right at the onset of the third semester, inviting contribution from all sections of the department and from the authorities. Though the recession had not affected India as badly as it had affected the US, Still perceptions cannot be given instant leverage and, people were still sceptical about the health of the economy. As such most were not in the mood for loosening their purse strings for things as “trivial” as advertisements. However we did a lot of running around…really a lot of running around, and, our efforts did pay off.
It so happened that the Durga Puja this year decided to arrive a little early. Our term begins in July and we conventionally had our summit in September, implying a preparation time of a little over two months. Realisation dawned a wee bit late that we were almost a month short of time of a total of two months! With half the time and double the workload, we had to “pull up our socks”. We had to hurry. This year’s confluence not only had to meet the high standards of the previous Summits, but also had to be bigger and better to fuel the continuous development and evolution of the Department of Economics of St. Xavier’s College. All these factors weighed down heavily on us and pushed to us work extra hard. Such adversity saw us coming together as a united body - students and faculty, and working towards a leviathan goal- Confluence 2009. It taught us the importance of team work.
Every day of this month used to begin and end in the departmental room with the first, second and third years going about their work with serious professional determination, having interactive planning sessions, brainstorming ideas and drawing conclusions. Being excused from classes to run about delivering invitations and letters, innumerable trips to the printer and various odd jobs was great fun but physically taxing at the same time. All this also implied that we no longer could be expected home before 7.00pm.
However, all this did pay off, and we did manage to get things on track and running smoothly. The magazine although in print for quite some time arrived only the night before D- day; with one of our classmates staying back till after midnight to receive the consignment. Only then did we realise how important it is to meet deadlines. Another aspect the department is very keen on is hospitality and many training and screening sessions were conducted to groom the students into perfect hosts.
We even had the opportunity of interacting extensively on an academic platform with our principal Reverend Father Dr. Felix Raj, who was very forthcoming in providing us with his valuable insights into current economic affairs. He was kind enough to take time off from his very busy schedule and patiently answer our questions. We will be ever thankful to him.
Coming back to the way it feels to be responsible…well we finally did realise that being in charge implied a lot of work, even delegating responsibilities is not as simple as it appeared a year ago. We understood how hard our seniors worked in the previous years. It wasn’t an easy task to perform. Presenting papers, participating in events, handling finances and helping our seniors helped us finally to become mature and built in us strong camaraderie.
The two days of the Summit kept all of us so busy that none of us even realised when it was over. For me the two days meant sitting in front of the stage and handling the slides of the teams from various colleges across West Bengal for the paper presentations. An activity which I thought would not be very exciting, but such was the quality of the papers and all the lucidity with which the teams presented their topics, that it actually turned out to be a great interactive learning experience; looking at similar issues through different perspectives and examining economic phenomena by many creative economic methods. One of my personal favourites of all the events of the confluence would be the panel discussions. These gave us the opportunity to draw from the rich repository of knowledge and skill of internationally acclaimed academicians.
Confluence 2009 in many ways was the ideal pedagogue which taught us many invaluable skills which cannot be learnt in any classroom
It taught us through the three E’s: example, experience and exposure.
BUILD UP TO THE SUMMIT
Bibaswan Chatterjee
“ You will have to ensure that this year’s conference is absolutely top notch. The
spotlight will be upon us and we must give our best, and perform fantastically. As the
first-years you have to show some serious commitment towards your department.” –
those were the words of Mahima Khanna, our co-ordinator in chief. She really used to
drive us insane, always shouting at us, trying to knock into our heads that we needed to
work a bit more and always assuring that we were not at all being serious. From the first
day in college when we got our routines, she put on that no nonsense face and impressed
important part of our stay in St. Xaviers’ college. Unfortunately, to us, people barely
acquainted with economics, the significance of the event was completely lost. But, only
for a month. Our head of the department, Professor Nag was explaining our class what
discipline and proper dedication meant to the study of Economics. He was talking about
the who’s who of Economics in Kolkata and abroad, who have blessed our Departmental
venture with their support, contributions and suggestions. Professor Nag was actually
trying to make us understand what the spirit of Confluence was. And we were awestruck
teenagers, trying to grasp the fact that our conference was actually a meeting point of
ideas, where great thoughts of the larger academia guide and inspire budding thoughts
of our department. Then we understood what our co-ordinator meant when she talked
about “serious commitment towards the department”.
It was not an simple job, even after instilling within us the
concept of Confluence. We were after all, supposed to understand consumer behaviour
and Keynesian models. It was not easy to find sponsorships for the unaccustomed
people that we were, as the youngest in the department, but we worked as a team, and
somehow finally we were able to succeed. Of course, this meant zero chatting after
college hours and dedicating totally to the cause. Just when we believed that we were
pretty much done and try to relax, some senior would come and explain how brilliant the
last summit was, and reminded us that we have to better it. We were given the challenge
to deliver and we did meet it exceptionally, proving what proper dedication meant.
But not for a second did we kid ourselves that all this was some
sort of a “function”. The academic part of Confluence was too exceptional to ignore. We
interacted with teachers and students all over the city, and these sessions always taught
us something new about the subject. Our seniors worked hard for the conference papers,
and we watched and learnt from them. It was a great experience learning the tricks from
Rahul-da, or Paridhi-di, who were always on the forefront of activities. Be it in class or
outside, the buzz in the air was about the summit, and we were completely excited and
always came up with new ideas.
One of the best things in the build up to the conference was our
interactive and planning sessions in the Department room. We would be briefed about
some aspects of the summit by our faculty, scolded by Professor Nag for not working
harder, and then scolded double by Co-ordinator in chief for some errand that we have
completely forgotten about. We churned our brains to solve some problem, decided on a
specific event and ran helter skelter to invite colleges and look for sponsorship. We
forged a brilliant partnership with our seniors, whose enthusiasm and interest worked as a
catalyst for us, when we were almost exhausted. It really was a tough job, for there was so
much to do, and we were always on our toes, working endlessly. It was sometimes a
twelve-hour work from eight in the morning to eight in the night when we would drag our
tired selves back home. And we willingly took all this exertion, knowing clearly that we
have to deliver the best, and nothing short of it would do. And in those late hours of
working, we were supported by Mahima Khanna, whose dedication was something to
learn from, and whose encouragement made many impossible things achievable. We
made mistakes, due to our inexperience and tripped on many loose ends but always
worked harder to cover them up. Guided by our professors, helped and supported by our
seniors and egged on by our will to better what we have achieved yesterday, we ensured
that we maximized our output despite several constraints. That, to us was a perfect
practical application of what we learnt in our textbooks.
On the two days of the summit, when we had an overflowing
auditorium, and one by one at each event the top academicians spoke about economics
we listened with rapt breath, drinking every word in absorbing the feel of the atmosphere,
imbibed with the warmth and sincerity that our department has to offer. There when the
students presented their ideas on stage with sound confidence, and we under direction
from our teachers ensured that everything went smoothly, from lunch to the debate to
the panel discussions, we achieved Confluence - the meeting of established and budding
ideas, the convergence of individual effort to arrange such a grand event and a binding
unity, that is a proof of the fact that one eighty students, six professors worked together
as one soul to create a memorable time which will remain etched in our minds for
years to come. This was our tradition, and our success in the third summit only laid the
groundwork on which we hope to improve and excel in our next venture.
