Last here I was surprisingly glad to attend and participate to the IIGRS conference. The rationale behind it is to give younger researchers the chance to present their papers in a scientific environment, but the result was by far much better than that: In fact, the first IIGRS (International Indological Graduate Seminar) was a big success and we all enjoyed coming together and discussing for hours before and after every paper.
In most cases, the too vague label "Indology" did not hinder fruitful discussions and, on the other hand, the age-group (within 5 years since the end of one's PhD) was well-cut in order to select people who are (still? :( ) desirous to exchange ideas, develop new trends of research, welcome challenges and engage in new approaches. Now, last year's participants have grown up and are probably even busier with their own projects and I wonder whether they'll be able to participate (I myself am struggling with deadlines). Why is it so difficult to keep oneself open towards this kind of chances? Why do we increasingly tend to close ourselves into our own studies –only to complain about our isolation later?
(This year, the seminar will be hosted in Cambridge, September the 23rd-24th 2010.)
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