As I mentioned in my previous post, I am now wrapping up a semester long visit to North America. This has been a productive semester. I was glad to be able to talk to many people in my field. I was also glad to be able to focus completely on science and not deal with administrative work at N1.
I am refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to go back home now. My department has to take many important decisions in the coming weeks related to faculty hiring, supervising of grad students and course structure for our undergraduate and graduate programs. I am all set to jump right into it. While on my sabbatical, I had a chance to talk to some senior colleagues in North America, who have given me valuable advice about many of these matters. A few days ago, I was particularly fortunate to meet a British emeritus professor who started his career in the early sixties in one of the IITs. He spent four years there before returning to England. He generously shared his experiences with me. Much of what he mentioned is very similar to the current situation in N1. I felt very encouraged and inspired after talking to him.
While I was away, many important events have taken place at N1. Many labs have moved into our new, permanent campus. The students residence is also well underway and expected to be ready by the start of the next term. This makes me very happy because when I joined last year, the new campus was not much more than a deserted piece of flat land. I am very excited to see it quickly evolving into a proper institute campus!
The other things that I am eagerly looking forward to are home-made freshly baked chapatis, drinking tea in a Kulhar at our institute's tea shop, fresh milk and vegetables from local farms AND mangoes freshly plucked from trees within our campus :)
3 comments:
I have something of an odd question. I am thinking about going home and I am planning to start the applications. However, what is odd is that I am planning not just to leave North America, but essentially academia as well (in the sense of research, at least) and I only want to teach. So, my question is, given that Indian institutes have higher teaching loads, will I have enough time left after teaching to pursue politics as my (almost full time) occupation?
Moreover, excellent blog! This one is gonna be on my regular beat...
Hi Anon,
I am not sure I can answer this question adequately.
I think it depends on which institute you join. The teaching load at IITs is two courses a semester, which, I believe is similar to most universities in North America. If you join a new institute (whether is expects faculty to do research or not), you will be expected to devote a lot of time to administrative / capacity-building activities
Perhaps, this may not be the case in the established institutes.
The location also plays a very important factor. If you work in an institute which provides campus housing, it will automatically save you a few hours a day to pursue your other interests. OTOH, if you work in an institute which is far away from the main city and the institute does not provide campus housing, you will spend a lot of time and energy commuting. I can assure that spending a few hours on the roads in India everyday will leave you with very little energy or enthusiasm to do anything meaningful after you get home.
When you start visiting your prospective employers, it would certainly help you if you observe these factors. You can also ask faculty members at these places about their time management and how they view their quality of life. Usually, in India, people are very frank and happy to share their views about these things.
Oh, and thanks for your feedback. I am glad to know that this blog is useful to you.
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