Job is where the house is?

Today, I am in a mood to dwell upon a non-academic factor that I considered while applying to positions in India, namely, housing.

I wanted to be in a place that could offer on-campus housing.  I associated on-campus housing with safety and freedom from worries about commuting[1].  Of course, campus life at N1 cannot offer the facilities that the older campuses can offer (like a gym, grocery stores etc), but still, it is good to be located in the interior of a gated campus, away from the "thoroughfare" and the noise generated by heavy trucks at night.

At the time of my interview, I came to know that although N1 was not offering leased housing to its members, it had acquired a small number of some very old houses close to the academic buildings and renovated them.  Those of us who really wanted to live inside campus opted for it, even though it is a somewhat awkward arrangement.  My house is a mini-version of the kind of houses our grandparents lived in: it has two rooms, an open porch that doubles up as a dining space with a tiny kitchen and (here comes the best part) a courtyard (surrounded by walls but open at the top) with the bathroom across the courtyard[2].  The main entrance and the door that separates the courtyard from the dining space are both grilled doors.  Before moving in, I got the courtyard covered with asbestos sheets [3] and the grilled doors covered by nets.

To put it mildly, it is not the kind of house I would ideally choose to live in, but at that time, it was a better option than having to look for a house outside, given that I do not speak the local language.  Moreover, as I mentioned before, my excitement at joining N1 overcame all other concerns.  My father, a retired military officer, also told me stories of the kind of dwellings he had lived in and assured me that my house was a luxury.  He said, "you will grow to like it so much that you will not vacate it even when the house in the permanent campus is ready."

The house offers many advantages.  It has been renovated from an old house, is located in the remotest part of this housing complex and is surrounded by trees and greenery on all sides.  The advantages, therefore, are that childhood memories of my grandparents make me happy, there is absolutely no noise (not even that of neighbours watching TV), I have a beautiful view from my window, especially of the rising sun, and what's more, I enjoy mangoes fresh from trees in the summer and have a lot of space for cultivating a garden.

The disadvantage, however, is that precisely because of the location, I am occasionally welcomed back in the evening by rats, frogs and therefore (gasp) snakes.  After my first (and so far, only) encounter with a snake at home, the administration immediately arranged for night lights around the house and regular grass cutting.  The encounter itself was very funny.  It was a huge snake, about six feet long and was sitting in a corner.  I screamed and called the security guards. After they entered the house and assured me that it was non-poisonous, I started taking pictures and videos of it.

(My other encounters with snakes have been in the academic buildings.  Recently, we discovered a banded krait behind my office.  Our socially responsible and humane students promptly picked it up and released it in an isolated marsh.)

Ever since then, my house help spends a considerable portion of time everyday safeguarding the house from snakes, for example, by sprinkling carbolic acid in the courtyard.   Thanks to her diligence, my house has survived an entire monsoon season without a visit by snakes.

Although I don't foresee my father's prediction coming true, with generous help from our civil engineer and also because of the other advantages like easy commuting, I have been fairly comfortable in this house.  I have even made peace with the bathroom-in-the courtyard  issue.  Since I am happy professionally at N1, the house seems to add to my overall well being.

However, my feeling of contentment has been severely put to test by some recent developments.  Yesterday, N1 hosted a consortium, which had representatives from all the new-ones [4].  While socializing with the other representatives, I came to know about housing arrangements at their institutes. It turns out that while one of them has already moved to their permanent campus, including the faculty quarters, the others have arranged leased housing in complexes nearby.  From what I could understand, these are spacious and very comfortable houses (apparently, with three bedrooms) and not too far from their campuses.  After I heard this, I was too embarrassed to mention the housing situation at N1.  It did not help that when I entered my house that evening, I was greeted by a swarm of wasps.

Tired and sore and extremely upset, I started questioning my decision to join N1.
"Can I really stay here? Why am I torturing myself?"   I dozed off for the night thinking on these lines.

I was much calmer when I woke up today morning.  I enjoyed the sound of birds, the beautiful sunrise, fresh home-made parathas [5] and a pleasant bike ride to my office.  I am still aware of the housing disparities between N1 and the other new ones, but am certainly not entertaining any ideas of moving just on account of that!!  Sometimes, one tends to take matters more seriously than one should, I guess.  I mean, who changes jobs just to get a better house?

For now, I will turn to values that our grandparents taught us: contentment, patience and of course fearlessness (which will come in handy if that banded krait makes its way into my house).


 




[1] Comment overheard from a colleague: "it is hard to go to bed not knowing how you are going to get to campus the next morning."
[2] Before you squeal in horror, let me assure you that the bathrooms are themselves proper rooms and not open corners!
[3] I am a bit obsessed with safety issues.
[4] Yes, yes, I know that you know what I am talking about. But, I have now started enjoying the "new" names.  So, let's just stick with them, shall we?
[5] especially because they were made by someone else, my house help, one of the most special people in my life at N1.

Sporting spirit

I just played badminton with my PhD student and two other colleagues.  It was fun!
N1 does not have much by way of sports facilities yet (although there is a plan for a good sports complex in the permanent campus).  Last year, some colleagues took initiative and got the administration to build a badminton court in front of our office complex.  But, it fell into disuse during the scorching summer and monsoon.  Soon after monsoon ended, my student initiated the procedure of getting the ground cleared up for a badminton court as well as a cricket ground.  Thanks to his initiative, we all enjoy a little bit of sports in the evening and get to interact with students in a more informal setting.

This post is inspired by the student's resourcefulness and sporting spirit.  When he joined, he faced some initial difficulties in adjusting to the new set up.  He had trouble finding a place to live, had to overcome language difficulties and soon fell sick because of the cuisine in our canteens, which did not agree with his stomach.
At that time, I was away for a semester.  He spent the semester doing coursework and was comfortably settled down by the time I returned.  He now shares an apartment with a fellow grad student with a functional kitchen and these two have hired someone to cook their meals!  He often tells me amusing stories about his first few days on campus, but never complains.

A few days ago, I had an honest conversation with him to find out how he is doing and if he has any issues or problems at N1.  The student assured me that he was doing well.  His only request was that apart from a departmental seminar and our weekly meetings, we have a regular seminar in our subfield.    So, we have started a weekly seminar with just three members at present, the third being my Master's student.  The three of us take turns to talk in this seminar.  He has also been instrumental in procuring the necessary equipment and getting a virtual seminar going, in which we invite scientists outside N1 to give web talks.

His other non-academic request has been for a departmental picnic to a beautiful town nearby (this might be possible at the end of our winter school).

Recently, due to some problem in our accounts section, the monthly fellowships of our PhD students were held up for a few days.  Some of them immediately wrote up a riot letter about the problems they are facing and emailed it to all staff members and faculty, including the director.  (Although the letter was supposed to be a rude wake-up call to us about everything that is wrong with the establishment, at least from the point of view of students, most of us actually enjoyed it because it reminded us of our not-too-distant rebellious student days.  Nonetheless, the email had the desired effect of students getting their fellowships on time).  On reading this email, I asked him if he needed any money.  I was assured that he was okay because he "likes to save for a rainy day."

All in all, I am really happy and relieved that he has made himself at home at N1 and that he is such a sport!

Some sources of delight

Taking a U-turn from my last couple of posts, I thought I will write in today about some small but very positive developments at N1 that have brought back my happiness quotient to its normal level.

1) We are going to follow up Dr Rock Star's successful visit to our campus last year by yet another winter school around his upcoming visit.  We have already received several applications by students interested in participating in this school.  What's more, other than Dr Rock Star, yet another scientist, Dr Rock-Star-In-Making will also visit us at the same time and deliver lectures.  RSIM was my colleague in my first postdoc university and has done some excellent and path-breaking work since then.  He is also known to be a very good teacher and his visit will motivate our students a lot.  Our department is going to rock this winter!!

2) My teaching this semester has been going well.  I am teaching this course for the second time and feel that this semester, I am doing a much better job at it than last year.  Although the students in both batches were very good, this particular batch is extremely motivated and enthusiastic.  This year, I have also been typing up course notes for it and intend to continue with this practice.  Two weeks of classes are still left and I have already covered more material than I could cover in the entire semester last time.  Students have not burnt out yet and are still participating in class eagerly.

3) In a recent shuffling of job allocations for admin staff, the staff members responsible for the functioning of those units which are related to my non-academic duties have changed.  These staff members are very efficient and have made the work smooth.

4) Our department is organizing an institute outreach activity in a town near by, which will be held in January.  In this connection, some members of our department and one of our deans had a meeting with some people from a local council.  As it happened, I was the only person in this meeting who does not speak the language of N1- state.  The dean requested everyone to speak in English.  The council people did not pay heed and continued to talk in their local language.  But, my departmental colleagues and the dean spoke only in English and one colleague also kept translating to me what the locals were saying.  I truly appreciate their thoughtfulness in ensuring that I did not feel isolated or cornered in the meeting.

5) Finally, I totally love the current weather and the greenery around our current location.  If I feel like taking a break, I take a small walk or go for a joy ride on my bicycle.  In general, the ride between my home and department is very pleasant.  In addition, I have explored some paths which are fun to go on- while one goes through a mini forest around a river, the other path goes straight to a nearby government organization with its own residential complex.  My domestic help has sternly warned me against going on the first path alone, not that I listen to her.  While going on the second path, I like to imagine the future (I don't know whether near or distant) when N1 will have its own fully built campus.