In Hyderabad, the rain plays hide and seek, but for those of us attending an academic conference with social scientists at the Krishna Oberoi, it doesn't matter much _ no time has been set aside for a relaxing massage at the health club, or a couple of laps in the pool. In between serious discussions where phrases such as `displacement and diaspora', `being the Other' and `ICTs' (information and communication technology, in case you didn't know) choke the air, we have devised a method of passing notes to amuse ourselves.
Social scientists, it appears, lack a sense of humour, and the air bristles with antagonism when the very premise of the conference is questioned by some participants. Between various `fathers' of technology ("it means they're really old," one such note enlightens me) and `gurus' of culture ("stubborn," the same note points out), the icy temperature in the room isn't just due to the airconditioning.
The Dutch participants had got in a day earlier, on an Indian Airlines flight. From their inflight magazine they had torn off a page of a restaurant review that referred to `the ubiquitous meat'. Almost perversely, the buffet meals on the first two days feature none of this ubiquitousness. We have to make do with chicken and fish, and one of them considers writing a letter of protest to the editor of the magazine.
But before the rest of the social scientists gather, there is a quick trip to Film City. Loud sets and fake crocodiles fail to entertain them as much as a poster of a south Indian extra in cowboy hat with the message: `Wanted! Dead or alive. Alive or dead.'
Some of the stiffness of the first day's session lessens when, in the evening, over cocktails, the scientists choose to become simply social. With their defences down, it's still a long way before they will embrace each other, but raucous laughter they would have frowned upon in their classrooms, and off-colour jokes establish
