Being a person who's pursuing a masters degree in Science, I have attended my fair share of PhD viva-voce sessions. And I just realized that most of the people who present their thesis... have no idea what they're talking about.
And the people under my HOD (Head of the Department) seem to be the dumbest of the lot! The grad students were also called to attend the viva-voce of some bloke who was presneting is final thesis after quite the struggle. His topic was on X-Ray analysis on the various acridenedione samples and other hitherto unheard of compounds!
That was one of those few times when I was in the presence of a person who couldn't even read his own thesis topic without referring the slides! I mean... seeing the slides every now and then is fine. But this person was not looking away from his laptop - ever!
And to make matters worse, the expert panel had some really learned and experienced people that included his guide, my HOD. And they started grilling him with questions. I know it must sound ridiculous that a person who's spent a lot many years doing something doesn't have the answers for some of the simple questions in his supposed "Specialized" field. But guess what people.... that's exactly what was going on. He didn't even have the presence of mind to think on his feet; but then again... I shouldn't expect that from a person who doesn't even know his own thesis title by heart!
This is the second time I'm seeing someone who's done their research work under my HOD fumble so blatantly. But to give my HOD his due credit, he was helping the poor bloke as much as he could humanly do! When the questions got more and more basic and the answers still wouldn't come, he came up with the most brilliant of diversions! Samosa! He was almost about to stuff the snack that was served for everybody down the questioner's throat.
Quite some hospitality there, KSK! ;D
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