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.
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.
7 comments:
Oh my god, Newprof, you really are very brave! I would've run away from the house as soon as I saw a snake.
Is "The Snake Charmer" a good read ?
Hiya! 'Asbestos' sheets? If you are safety conscious, surely you should run a mile from asbestos?
This post resonates just so much! I live in a campus too, though in one of the older institutes. The housing situation is awful for the new people...Many of the buildings are literally falling apart and the outside walls haven't been painted in a decade or so. The bungalows (for the likes of deans etc) get somewhat better treatment :)
It is not just the residential buildings that are in bad shape- visitors have been surprised to see how shabby many of the departments in such a well-known institute look (not to speak of the consruction rubbish piled everywhere). I have seen some pictures of the academic area in your new institute. I do think it is shaping up to be a nice place.
As far as snakes go, there are so many in our campus that the authoritis have stopped taking any notice. Any requests to clear the weeds/overgrowth around the residential buildings go unheeded. I am very glad that in your new institute people listen to requests and that you have a gem of a maid working for you :)
-AA
Hi Newprof,
I have been following this blog for the past couple of months. Thanks a lot for an insider's perspective on the workings of an Indian academic institute.
I hope you will excuse me for asking a question unrelated to the present post. Which one do you prefer most - teaching an advanced graduate level seminar course, or teaching a basic undergrad course? And how much freedom do you have at N1 for offering an advanced course of your own choice?
Thanks.
Sayan
Hi everyone,
Thanks for your comments.
Pramod, that's what I used to think before I saw a snake. After an encounter or two, the fear reduces considerably, especially once you realize that the snake is more afraid of you than you are of it.
Ravi, I haven't read the book, but from the excerpt, it seems to be a good read.
Wangdu, ha ha ha. By safety, I meant security- that is, preventing the entry of unauthorized human beings into my house :) especially because my house is in the remotest corner of the complex and almost all my neighbours go away during weekends. Anyhow, apparently, the roof is covered by fiber sheets and not asbestos. I don't know if that is any "safer" than asbestos in your sense of the word.
AA, thanks for sharing your experience. It seems that snakes are common in a lot of campuses in India.
Sayan, I enjoy teaching both kinds of courses, provided the students are interested in learning the subject matter and not just taking a course because they have to. At N1, there is plenty of scope to offer advanced courses. Usually, our MS students working on projects in the final year of their study and our new PhD students approach faculty members to teach advanced courses in a subject of their choice but which is not currently represented in the curriculum. Faculty members have full freedom to design these courses the way they want. I hope this answers your question.
Next time you meet folks from other institutes who have better housing, discuss the maid situation.
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