Indexing, the art of: Experience of the first webinar presentation

8 November 2020

 

Was it interesting? Intriguing? Enriching?

Initial days of Corona. Vivek (ICF personified) moots the idea of Sunday webinars – Forty 40-minute ones. Several topics are lined up.

He messages, ‘one on indexing?’

‘Okay. But need time. PPT to be reduced from 90 to 40 minutes.’

‘Will June be okay?’

‘Yes.’

A few days later, ‘No need to rework, can be split into two sessions.’

Oh! Wonderful. No amputation of PPT’s hands and legs.

Later, ‘Postponed to July’.

Okay again. In fact, better.

Yet another postponement to November. Even better.

Sometime later the 40-minute restriction vanishes.

Wow! All the time in the world.

Could not attend all the webinars. Tried to do it on phone, didn’t work. The desktop loses consciousness (old age problem). Daughter(in-law)’s laptop rescues me.

Attend a few webinars. Very attentive, very interactive, very informed, very professional audience.

Nervousness begins to set in. Never before was such an audience in (virtual) front of me.

Rehearse a few times, anticipate possible queries, prepare responses, insert a few extra examples, refer to CMos (and yet miss a few points), and invoke Lord Ganesha, the remover of all obstacles.

Vivek reassures, ‘It’ll be fine’.

November 8.

10:30. Switch on the laptop. Try to enter the meeting room, it’s locked. ‘Wait’, says the note. I wait.

10:45. Suddenly the door opens, Murugaraj says, ‘Hello, Mr Jayanthan, come in.’

First webinar presentation. 

Murugaraj instructs how to go about sharing the screen, and other nitty-gritties. Am a very slow learner, and basically lazy. I resort to the easier way. I call my son, who sets the system and the stage right. So far so good.

Vivek joins.

11:00. Murugaraj opens the flood gate and friends rush in.

None has face, only name.

Vivek introduces me: a ‘senior’ editor (yes, indeed, 66 years!) and an indexing ‘wizard’ (Oh! God! Where is my broomstick?)

Anticipatory bail request for unclear pronunciation, etc.

Request to interrupt when needed.

Start presentation.

Murugaraj goes off screen, and so does Vivek.

Are they in the next, or the next screen?

Start presenting to the only face on the screen: mine.

The hope: On the other end people are listening.

When somebody enters, Zoom informs 26, 27 and so on.

That’s good, above expectation.

Rather intriguing: talking to your own image on the screen! No reactions from anybody.

The first interaction by Yateen (Oh! God! Yateen is attending this, too. Am honoured, indeed!) was like a rain in the summer. At last a voice other than my own!

Yateen has nothing to learn from me. He, as always, wants to guide, teach, and help me. And he did just that. (We [he, the teacher and I, the student] worked together in TERI for several years.)

I resume the conversation to myself.

Later a few more voices, of Venkat and others.

Good. Feel better.

12:23. Presentation over.

Stop sharing screen to see some faces. Much better. A few faces, but several choose to stay behind.

Questions and responses for half an hour.

1:00. Thank you.