Home sweet home

After a very hectic month, I am home for five days to get some rest and usher in the new year with my family.

I recently heard that a very dear friend from grad school has found a position of her choice.  This friend  had been planning to move back to her country for a very long time, but was not able to do so because academic jobs in her country are very hard to come by.  A couple of months ago, she decided to move back, with or without a job, because it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to overcome cultural and emotional isolation in her postdoc country.  Back home, she was on the verge of quitting academia, when a university that she had applied to invited her for an interview and made her an offer on the Friday before Christmas!  She is absolutely thrilled and excited right now.  This is a research and teaching position at a well known university which has a strong group in her specialization.  So, it seems that her wait was long, but worthwhile.

I must admit that I was very surprised when she quit her postdoc two months ago to move back to her country.  She was about to start the second year of a three year position at a big school, was working with a good scientist who was very happy with her work and had been making progress in her research programme.  However, every time we talked, she would mention that she was home sick and was not sure how long she could sustain it.  When I reminded her how beautifully she had adjusted to PhD city despite initial language problems, she mentioned that postdoc city was not half as friendly and welcoming to immigrants as PhD city.  But, I never thought that this would be a reason to quit a perfectly good job and exchange it for the uncertainty of finding a position in her native country.  In her position, I would have probably roughed it out and waited until I had found a new position/avenue.  I am not sure if I would have quit a job midway without a clear idea of what I am going to do next.  I am also not sure if I would have felt comfortable moving back with my family without a job.

Nonetheless, not having lived at her postdoc city myself, I also cannot comprehend the isolation that she was dealing with.  My PhD city as well as both postdoc cities were very good places to live in.  In my second postdoc city, I did not socialize very much and mostly kept to myself.  But, this was not because the people there were unfriendly or unwelcoming.  Rather, much of this isolation was self-imposed because I had started to worry a lot about my future, whether I was "good enough" to pursue a research career and whether I would ever find a suitable position (and that too in a job market that seemed to be going through a big slump).  Somehow, I ended up wanting to be by myself while all this uncertainty was going on.

Fortunately for me (and a lot of Indians in my age group), the science job situation in India improved a lot in those very years and many of us were were able to return with exciting jobs in hand.  However, unlike my friend, the feeling of home sickness had no role in my returning.  I was never home sick in the west.  I used to visit my family in India every year and had a lot of fun, but never really missed home while I was away.  In fact, I would be very surprised when some of my Indian friends would complain that they missed celebrating festivals with their families and missed the "colour and variety" of life in India.  "What's the big deal - these people just enjoy complaining," I would think [1].

Things went off (mostly) very smoothly after I joined my new position in India.  As time went by, I started appreciating the fact that my family is just two hours away (no more 20 hour flights - yay), a visit to them can be planned at short notice during long weekends and that my father does not have to apply for a visa to come and visit me.  After celebrating Diwali with my family after a gap of 11 years, I also sympathise more with those Indian friends in the west who miss all this [2].

What surprises me most of all is how much I look forward to my brief family visits nowadays.  These visits are very relaxing and refreshing.  Truly, there's no place like home.  But, would I have felt the same if I were living with them, especially without a job?

Nonetheless, I am really happy that things have worked out so well for my friend.

[1] I remember a conversation with a colleague during my postdoc years, who had just arrived from India and told me tearfully that she missed her parents.  "How old are you?" was my retort.
[2] The colleague mentioned above is also back in India - she returned before me.  I recently met her at a conference and apologized to her for being so insensitive.  We both had a good laugh about it.  

Feeling the pulse - I

Last weekend, I started reading TT Ram Mohan's book "Brick by red brick" on the making of IIM Ahmedabad.  I am enjoying this book very much.  I am not exactly good at book reviewing, nor am I an expert in the technicalities of institute building and institute policies, but what I like most about the book is that the author manages to convey his excitement in exploring how IIMA took shape.  In the four chapters that I have read so far, he spends a considerable time explaining what went on in the first five-ten years (with the first full time director at the centre stage) and strongly emphasizes that the institutional culture in these initial days played a very important role in what IIMA is today.

While I continue to read the book, I can't help but relate the history of the initial days of IIMA to what is happening at N1 right now [1].  Thus, since the last few days, I have been trying to "feel the pulse" of N1, with respect to the academic/professional culture as well as non-academic life.  Perhaps, it is too premature to do so, given that N1 is "under construction"and so is my own academic career!  But, I spend almost all my time here and want to understand the place better.  So, I suppose there is no harm in contemplating upon these matters over a couple of posts.

I am unable to pin down a word or phrase that would adequately describe the prevailing culture at N1.  But, I did realize that there are a few aspects in the functioning of this institute which we now take for granted and which have made a very positive impact on my life here [2].  One of these is the approachability of our top administration, including the director, registrar and the deans.  We are allowed to walk into their offices any time we need to [3] and we unhesitatingly email them if they are out of station.  I am of course not implying that everything we ask for gets approved.  But, at least, we have the freedom to ask and ask directly.  Also, if they agree with us or if we are able to convince them, the implementation of the approval is fairly quick.  I also like the fact that it is usually enough to forward the concerned authority's email with approval to the concerned office assistant instead of running from office to office, getting paper applications signed from all parties concerned.

My only concerns are the following:

1) Since approaching the authorities directly saves a lot of time, I tend to do this very frequently and then, forward the approval to the concerned office assistant.  Am I alienating the office staff by doing this?  

2) As the institute grows rapidly, the authorities cannot possibly continue to be so flexible and approachable.  After enjoying the current favourable circumstances, how will we adjust to longer procedures and the more elaborate hierarchy (which is inevitable as the institute becomes older)?  

The reader's feedback about these concerns is most welcome.

I would also like to hear back from you about what part of the daily culture of your institute/university you enjoy the most.  

I will try to write more about N1 culture in the next few posts.  I suspect that what is going on here might be very similar to the situation in a lot of other institutes, especially the new ones.

[1] For this reason and also for the positivity exuded by the author, I highly recommend it to all young faculty members in India.

[2] and which also make it much easier to deal with things which are not-so-good.

[3] with just exceptions of course.  In order to not interrupt important meetings in the director's office, we first call up his secretary to check if he is free.