My stay at IISER Pune has been going very well. Last week in particular was very exciting. Members of the Mathematics group moved to the permanent campus.
IISER P is building an integrated academic building, which will house all the sciences in different but connected wings. The construction of this building is well underway. However, for the time being, we have been moved to another building in the permanent campus, which has the guest house and conference facilities. The management has very generously converted some rooms into single-occupant offices and provided them to us until the academic building is ready.
I am happy about this move for various reasons. To start with, for the first time in my life, I have my own office. It is very spacious - the kind of office in which groups of students can drop by and sit comfortably while I show them something on the board. We can have animated discussions without disturbing any office mate! The cafeteria is on the ground floor of the same building - so, no more commutes to have lunch. I teach my course in a classroom on the same floor. So, all in all, the management has made a very comfortable arrangement for us, even though it is temporary.
I also like being in the permanent campus of my institute for some emotional reasons. Somehow, it gives me the uninhibited feeling of being in my own space. I enjoy being able to walk around the gardens adjoining the building. I can also enjoy the excitement of observing the progress in the construction of the academic building right next door. Recently, our registrar and the co-ordinator of Mathematics took some of us for a short trip to this upcoming building. We went to the floor designated for our group. My colleagues and I were so happy that we even started self-allocating our offices-to-be (although I am sure we will have forgotten this by the time the building is ready to be occupied).
