Institute activities - 4 (More interaction with students)

I have been very busy for the last couple of weeks with the admission procedure at N1.  Last year, my only contribution to student admission was to proctor the entrance exams.  This year, in addition to that, my responsibilities included counseling students applying here, checking their documents and helping the first years with moving into and settling down on campus.  Till a month ago, I was a well meaning but scatter brained prof, who cared about students at N1, but did not have any hard facts about them!
Now, even if you wake me up at midnight, I will be able to rattle off data about the number of students in each program and each year, in which residence each student is staying, the academic performance of the older students and (!!) even the order in which our new students have registered.
I must admit that it is an absolute pleasure to interact with the fresh batch.  Since all these students have seen me throughout the whole admission procedure, many of them approach me freely with their questions and concerns.  N1 is in a position to offer them many facilities and resources that we could not offer to the students who joined before and I enjoy giving this good news to students and seeing their faces light up with joy.  On the other hand, we still cannot offer the facilities that students at old institutions take for granted.
One night, I showed up unannounced in one of the student hostels to check how the new occupants were doing.  I was mentally prepared to encounter unhappy, demanding students, staying away from home for the first time, who would complain about N1 not matching their expectations.  To my surprise, these students were mostly cheerful and excited.  They raised some concerns, which, fortunately, I was in a position to address quickly and to their satisfaction.  After that, we had a friendly chat about student life, science and course work.  I was surprised to hear first years asking me questions about where I did my PhD from, why I chose that particular university and how I prepared for GRE.  These were not the questions I had as a 17 year old staying away from home for the first time!
Nonetheless, there have been crazy moments as well.  The craziest days were the four days immediately after the registration.  My phone was continuously ringing for all kinds of reasons (some genuine, mostly silly).  Recently, I was in touch with a friend to whom I described one such evening of phone calls.  She was very amused- so, I thought I would share it on this blog:

5 pm - Call from a student who is lost in the campus and does not know how to get back to her hostel. I had to bike to her location and guide her back.
6 pm - Call from a student who is upset that her room is a few steps away from that of her classmates. She wants to be in the adjacent room!
6.30 pm - Call from a student who has been alloted Hostel  A which is next to a boys hostel. Her parents do not want her to live next to a boys hostel. [This girl is in Physics! I told her to convince her parents because she is going to be surrounded by men all her life! Eventually, they got convinced]
7.15 pm - call from the same student that her parents are convinced.
9 pm - call from a student who wants a vehicle the next morning to go to class!
11 pm - earlier in the evening, a student had discovered a lizard in her food.  Being a sensible person, instead of calling me, she called up the medical unit and was immediately taken to the hospital.  But, the nurse called to tell me about this.

The worst is over now.  Now that the classes have started, students are too busy struggling with their course work to call me! I too can now focus on my real jobs, research and teaching, which is what I thought I had signed up for!

Institute activities-3 (Supervision of students)

Last two weeks at N1 have been crazy.  Our new students have recently joined and being involved in many administrative procedures related to students, I have had very little peace of mind and time to blog!  At some point in the future, I should write about this experience too, but today's entry is about something that I had not immediately anticipated on joining, namely supervision of students.
When I joined N1, I was very excited about teaching courses that I had never before taught, but had wanted to teach for a long time.  With respect to supervision of students, I did not feel that I was ready to take PhD students straightaway.  I was more inclined to start with supervising Masters theses in my first few years.

But, there were some unexpected surprises waiting for me!

On my very first day, I came to know that one member of the department, who works in a field with a little bit of an overlap with mine, was moving to another institute.  This ex-colleague had a PhD student  at N1 and although all arrangements were made for the student to move with the advisor, the student expressed his unwillingness to move.  I was asked on joining if I would be willing to supervise this student.  It seems that neither of my other department members were willing to take this responsibility. I too refused.  Firstly, I was not ready to advise a PhD student so early in my career.  Secondly, he had already started work on his dissertation topic and I have no expertise in this area.  This student, indirectly tried to bully me into supervising him by asking his PhD grandfather, a very big shot in my STEM field in India, to talk to me.  When this did not work, he even expressed a willingness to change topics, but by now, I had lost whatever little sympathy I had for him [1].  He has now moved to a local university for his PhD.  So, this problem was diffused.
There was some pressure from the administration to our department to increase its intake of PhD students.  This might be true for all N1-type institutes.  Although our flagship program is our undergraduate program, these institutes do not want to lag behind in terms of research productivity.
Towards the end of my first semester, we interviewed potential PhD students [2].  I was on the interview panel.  We ended up shortlisting 3 students based on their performance in the interview.  The research interests of the second and third candidates matched those of faculty members who wanted to take students.  The first student, however, indicated that he wants to work with me! This created a difficult situation for the department because on on the one hand, we could not offer admission to second and third students without also offering admission to the first and on the other hand, I was not ready to supervise him.  The chairperson asked me to rethink.
I thought about the whole situation carefully.  I had no doubts about the ability of the candidate: he had a good academic record, had done well in the interview and had strong letters.  He came across as a positive and sincere person.   My primary concern was if I was the right supervisor for him.  I consulted my academic mentors.  To my surprise, they all encouraged me to supervise this student and were positive that I would be able to do it!  Largely motivated by their positive feedback and also impressed with the student's ability and sincerity, I decided to step up to the challenge!
In his first semester here, he took some core courses, while I was away on a sabbatical.  His course requirements are technically over, but he is taking some more courses in the coming semester which would be useful to him.
Meanwhile, we have started meeting regularly.  I have started with giving him some simple problems, hoping to gradually build up to the main theme of investigation.
One quality that I appreciate very much in him is that if he doesn't understand something, he says it up front[3].
My personal interaction with him has been interesting and hilarious at times.  He is extremely polite and chivalrous!  Whenever he sees me carrying heavy bags or taking my bicycle down the steps, he rushes to help me.  I have told him in no uncertain terms not to do that, but to no avail[4].
Also, like most grad students, he is a late night person.  I, on the other hand, am an early morning person.  I am in the department by 8 am[5].  Last month, after I rejoined N1, I noticed that he too would be here at 8 am working diligently in his cubicle.  After some time, however, I started noticing that he would be fast asleep.  I had a frank conversation with him one day and assured him that I do not expect him to match my timings.  He can come in later if he likes, since we meet in the afternoon.
He also seems to have become popular among the undergrad students in my department.  Much to my amusement, my summer students were also taking his help in doing the assignments I gave them.
I do hope very sincerely that he will get a strong academic training at N1!


[1] It is interesting to note that while all this was going on, the student did not make any effort to talk to me directly.  Leave alone talking to me, he would look the other way if we ran into each other in the hallway! He would only convey messages to me through the chairperson.

[2] N1 admits new PhD students twice a year.
[3] I, unfortunately, did not practice this policy as a student.  I was very scared of asking questions because I did not want to look stupid.  If I was not sure about something my supervisor said, I would note it down and look at it in my office.  I now realize that this is not the best policy! When in doubt, speak out!!  I certainly don't think that he is stupid when he asks questions.

[4] My Indian readers might recall some episodes in Jaspal Bhatti's satirical TV show called "Flop Show" from the 1990s, in which PhD students would be shown to do grocery shopping for their supervisors and even clean up their houses! Given the reputation that some old universities in India have,  this might not have been an exaggeration!  I certainly do not want to turn into that kind of supervisor.

[5] Normal office life at N1 starts at 10 am.

Institute activities - 2 (Interactions with students)

A month after joining N1, as I started to settle in and know the place better, I was given some responsibilities which involved dealing and interacting with students.  I must admit that I initially tried to excuse myself from these duties.  While I love to teach and academically interact with students in classrooms, I am pretty clueless about how to deal with them personally.[1]
Students at N1 are fairly intelligent and independent.  They certainly do not expect their professors to babysit them.  After preliminary investigations, I found that most of them are also fairly responsible and do not need monitoring.  So, in the first few months, my policy was to keep my office doors open for them whenever they had an issue, but not necessarily to reach out to them on my own because I did not want them to feel that I was intruding into their space.  In that sense, I was passively but not actively engaged in these duties.  In this connection, I had some strange conversations with students, which made me wonder if I had spent all those years preparing to be a research scientist to go through this! Here are some examples:
[A] A student approached me one day and complained about rats in her residence room.  I spoke to the local cleaning staff, who took measures for preventing this problem.  A few days later, the persistent rat returned and this time, I was angrily accosted by this student on my way to a class.  Exasperated, I asked, "Do you want me to go to the room and personally chase away the rat?"  The student immediately apologized and now either chases the rat away herself or talks to the cleaning staff directly.
[B] Another student complained to me that she was eve-teased by some local person when she was out at night.  "As a faculty member at N1, it is your responsibility to ensure that women students are not harassed," she said.  I spoke to security personnel and instructed them to accompany women students at any time of the day or night [2] if they ask for protection.  Since there is considerable distance between the students residence and academic buildings, the institute also arranged for door to door pick up and drop off at certain times.  This student has never availed herself of either of these facilities, nor have many others.  A (male) faculty colleague, also involved with students,  has suggested that "in keeping with Indian culture," women students should be back to their residence by 9 pm.  But, this rule need not be applied to men students!!  Fortunately, the highest authorities at N1 disagree with this discriminatory practice and rules are the same for all students, irrespective of gender.
The next incident was the most shocking:
[C] A student walked into my office visibly upset with his academic performance.  This third year student is not exactly a favorite at N1.  He routinely misses his classes and has been caught playing cricket during a class test which counted towards his grade.  In my course, I had a lot of trouble getting him to submit assignments on time.  He poured out all his woes and mentioned how his first year courses  were taught poorly.  This, according to him, has "weakened his foundations".  I first went over the several remedial measures he could go through to address his weaknesses.  I also encouraged him to approach his instructors with his difficulties and to make use of tutorial sessions.  He refused on the grounds that "professors here only care for their research and not for teaching" (a very unfair allegation, if you ask me).  I made several attempts to convince him to seek help from instructors like his other classmates and also told him that he must take responsibility for his performance instead of blaming others.  Not only did he not listen to me, he also started to make personal attacks against specific instructors.  I lost all patience when he asked, "Can you return the precious years of my life that I have wasted in this god-forbidden place?"  My reply was, "No, I cannot. Now please get out." He was surprised, but obeyed and has not used me as a punching bag ever since.
After completing a semester at N1, I went on a five-month sabbatical to North America.  I was visiting one of the top universities in the world.  While observing the student facilities over there and comparing them with the one at N1, it suddenly hit me how brave the students at N1 have been in choosing a new institute and a new course of study despite family pressure and lack of precedent.  I resolved that on my return, I will take a more active interest in student well being.
After returning, one day, during a conversation with the director, I was surprised to note that he knew each and every student at N1 by name and in which program they were registered.  He was also aware of the problems that many were struggling with and suggested practical solutions.  This further motivated me to be more involved with students, while respecting their personal space.  I now directly approach students from time to time and ask them how things are going and what they like to study, etc.  This has, to my surprise, has provided me with very positive and useful inputs.  For example, I mentioned in my last post how I had avoided a student for a long time, perceiving her to be reclusive.  When I did talk to her, she was touched by the gesture and opened up and made me realize how much she wanted to reach out and fit in!
I would like to come across to students as a friendly, approachable faculty member, who cares for their well-being and is not just here to impose institute rules [3] on them.  I am also catching up with the director in learning more about students.


Epilogue: As I was writing this post, one of my summer students walked in to say good bye.  She gave me a card addressing me as "her sweetest teacher".  I also received an email from another student saying that apart from great science, he has also learnt "teaching and other humanly values from my pleasant personality".
I think I might be going too far in my new approachability policy. [4]





[1] My brother, just a few years my junior, often complains that I "belong to a different generation".
[2] Of course, there are limitations to this step.  Security personnel are employed to safeguard the campus and cannot accompany people outside the campus.  I don't think that we can fully ensure her safety outside the campus.  This, unfortunately, is the reality that many Indian women live with.
[3] although this too has to be done, sometimes with severity!
[4] This, incidentally, is the Messiah guy from a previous post.

Colleagues: In league/out of league?

After arriving at N1, my next step was to meet my colleagues.  I had already met some of them during my job interview and had gone back with an overall positive impression.  My job visit coincided with Republic Day, which was celebrated at N1 with flag hoisting, followed  by a countryside picnic and a cricket match between faculty and students.  It was good to meet future colleagues in these informal surroundings.  I did not hesitate to approach them and ask them frankly what they thought of N1 and how they were getting along there.  Many of them equally frankly answered all my questions and their answers presented both the advantages and disadvantages of starting a position at N1.  "Wow," I thought, "these people are so candid and not the phony/politically correct* types."
After joining, however, I realized that this had changed.  Many of the same colleagues were surprisingly very formal, unlike their previous avatars.
The chairperson was very warm and welcoming** and after signing my joining report, explained the administrative protocol in detail.
The day after I joined, there was an institute faculty meeting, attended by members from all departments at N1.  This was the first faculty meeting of my life and despite reading FSP's take on faculty meetings, I was very excited.  All new people, who had joined recently, were introduced by the director at the beginning of the meeting.
As I looked around, I was pleasantly surprised to see a much higher number of women than I had ever seen in STEM fields in North America.  True, we were all young, but so were almost all the male faculty members.  I suppose this is an advantage of joining a new place.  When you are building something from scratch and actively looking for talent, gender discrimination takes a back seat.  I discovered later, in the course of the meeting, that N1 also provides on-campus day care facilities for the children of its employees.
Impressed with this, I whispered to a (new female) colleague sitting on my right about the above average female representation in our faculty.  While my colleague did not share the same enthusiasm as me (or at least pretended not to), the director, on my left, overheard this and pointed out to me that the phrase "female faculty" was not polite language.  "Women faculty members" or "lady faculty members" are more acceptable terms of reference. I smiled thinking about FSP and how she or other North American FSPs would react on being called "lady faculty".
But, it was a good lesson in cultural differences on the use of language. Interestingly, the two-body problem, in Indian academic circles is usually called the "dual career" problem.
Strangely enough, after the meeting, I did not get a chance to talk to many people.
I was puzzled when I found myself standing all alone trying to look for familiar faces.
My handful of departmental colleagues greeted me, but moved on to talk to others.
There was some confusion about how we will all get back to our offices, which was far away from the meeting venue.  At this point, the director asked if anyone wanted a ride with him.  I wanted to discuss something with him and thought this would be a good time. As we drove back, I mentioned to him that I would like to organize a winter school for undergraduate students during the winter vacation.  He promptly approved this plan.  He also invited me and my father to join him for dinner that evening.  Needless to say, I was excited to be working under such a friendly and approachable director.  But I was a bit worried about my future relations with my fellow academic colleagues as they did not come across as particularly friendly that day.  In my second postdoc position, I had hardly made any friends and felt isolated***.  I was upset at the prospect of this happening again.
I had grown up in a culture where as soon as you arrive at a new place, your neighbors assume an easy familiarity, come over to welcome you and generously provide you all the help and information that you need.   But, that was different from what I now encountered.  I did not need any help from anyone, but it would have been good if people could smile and talk to me for a few seconds.
Next morning, I woke up with the thought that it was too early to jump to conclusions.  Perhaps, the parameters of social interaction were different at N1 and I would just have to get used to it.
For example, it seems that at N1, walking up to someone and introducing yourself is not common practice!  It only makes the other person confused about what to say.  A more acceptable form of interaction is to be introduced by a third person.
For that whole month, I found myself on my own.  Of course, there were more important things to take care of, like preparatory paperwork, setting up home etc.
Besides, I was too busy basking in the glory of a new found "real" faculty position to complain about feeling isolated.  My domestic help was my only social life in those days :) She gave me a tour of the local markets where I could buy groceries etc and told me a lot about the history of the place and life in the locality.
Just before the teaching semester started, many of my department colleagues returned from their summer travels and it felt good to be part of a big group.  We had a couple of departmental meetings to design our course syllabi and plan out the graduate program, which would soon start.  One remarkable thing that I have noticed at N1 is that all kinds of meetings are conducted very well.  Everyone gets a chance to talk and put their views across.  I am a member of several committees, but so far, no colleague, senior and junior, has ever attacked me, stopped me from expressing my opinions or treated me like a secretary.  It was during those meetings and the tea after the meetings that I got to know my colleagues better.
They were more friendly now and much more approachable.  Gradually, they also started opening up more and did not weigh their words as carefully as they seemed to do before.
To summarize, overall, I am happy with the way my professional relationship with colleagues has turned out.  We are helpful and work as a team.  In my department or in other committees of which I am a member, so far, nothing has happened to cause any deep divisions or resentments.  By the time the institute is old enough for such things to happen, I suppose I too will be old and robust enough to deal with them.
My social interaction with colleagues on a personal level, however, has been very limited.  I don't feel too bad about it because I am happy that we talk to each other amicably and now, somewhat freely, in the institute.  There's no hurry to make friends.  If I feel the need for reaching out personally to someone, I contact my immediate family or grad school and postdoc friends from North America with whom I am still in touch.  Or I blog :-)
As always, I welcome feedback from readers about their experience in adjusting socially to new places.
My next post will be about getting involved in institute activities.





*: At that time, I thought that being phony and being politically correct go with each other.  Now, with a few months of experience, I realize that while being phony is someone's personal choice, being politically correct is necessary for survival!
**: This pleasantly surprised me because he was very formal and aloof during my job visit, although certainly not rude or condescending.
***: In retrospect, a lot of this isolation was self-imposed.

Setting up home

Those of you who read Giridharmadras's blog are aware of his pinned post giving detailed information to newly arrived faculty at IISc.  Most of the instructions, especially the ones on this page, apply to most other institutes in India, the only difference being that if you are at a new institute, paper work is not as cumbersome.  Registrar's office, finance section, PRO's office etc are most likely located in the same building and the preparatory work gets done within a day or two.
In some ways, I had started the groundwork for my arrival long before I arrived.
During my interview visit, I requested to be shown the campus apartment that was likely to be alloted to me* in the event of my joining.  The PRO, a thorough gentleman, himself escorted me to my future apartment.  There were a few empty ones and I took my pick!
This, of course, is not possible always.  In most places, an arriving faculty member will be given temporary accommodation in the institute guest house  and will be moved to the first apartment that is available.  In fact, even at N1, which was going through a big hiring boom at that time, there weren't any available apartments by the time I joined in July**.
One often hears ex-NRIs complaining how difficult the first few days are and how one gets a rude culture shock upon returning to chaos and disorder.  I had almost started believing this cliched concept, when my very wise postdoc mentor (also from a developing country) asked me how one could possibly have more difficulty adjusting to a country where one grew up than to a country which was entirely new.
I found her point valid.  So, in the months between accepting the offer and landing there, I tried to just take things as they come and concentrate more on the positives.
As it turned out, my first few days were a breeze.  I arrived in N1 with a lot of enthusiasm and my super-excited father*** to replenish my enthusiasm levels in case they dipped.  On my first day, he accompanied me to the institute, and a lot of people assumed that I am a new student.  Lesson learnt! After that he stayed back at the guest house and supervised all the repair work of my apartment (a task that I was very happy to delegate to him), while I spent quality time at N1 doing what I wanted to do: meeting my new colleagues and figuring out how things work in my department.
For the next couple of days, we did all the shopping for setting up home.  The furniture stores in this part of the country are not exactly like Ikea - so my father's help was sought (and generously supplied) in talking and bargaining with carpenters.  It was almost two months before I got all my furniture- till then, the institute provided me the basic things like bed, table, chairs etc.
I did have a bit of trouble in getting a gas connection.  I submitted the application on my first day itself and to the credit of the gas agency, they were ready to supply me the cylinder within a week of the application.  Unfortunately, they also insisted that we buy a gas stove**** along with the cylinder, to which I objected, because I already had one.   There was a verbal duel and the person at the counter refused to release the cylinder ! Later, our PRO solved this problem through his own methods (though even he could not prevent them from selling me the extra gas stove).  My kitchen was ready to function on Day 10 of my arrival.
Around this time,  a lady approached me asking if I needed domestic help.  This was truly a luxury after a decade in North America.
She asked for a certain salary.  In contrast to prevailing policy, I offered her more than what she was asking and since then, we both have been very happy with each other.  Believe it or not, till date, she has only been absent for one day and that too after giving me advance notice!  I suspect that she is one of the main reasons why I am so happy at N1 :)
On Day 15, my father returned home.  After this, I got completely engrossed in institute activities.  I never really experienced the "culture shock" people talk about, except for some awkward but hilarious conversations with colleagues described in this post!
As I look back, the only troublesome experiences I had were all related to government agencies: the gas agency, the customs and port authorities described in my previous post and finally, the police, which has still not sent my police verification report to my institute!  But, what cannot be cured must be endured!!

My next post will be about meeting colleagues at N1 and forming new connections.




* In India, apartments are called quarters or flats. 
** These apartments have been renovated from older houses because we are still in our transit campus.  The real faculty quarters are under construction.  But, the first priority of the institute, of course, is to provide accommodation to its ever growing student community.
*** I make no apologies for the fact that since my return to India, I have changed from a rebellious youth into a  "daddy's little girl":)  The funny thing is that another female colleague, who joined soon after me also showed up with a relative.  Some colleagues later joked,"Hire one. Get one free"!
**** Gas cylinders are subsidized by the government.  So, the only way these agencies can make profit is by selling other accessories that come with it, including gas stoves, Ghee (clarified butter) to cook with and even hand wash!.  I was not aware that this is standard procedure!

Moving bag and baggage to India

In the early February of 2010, it was confirmed that I will be moving to N1 city in India.  After the initial euphoria, it was time to plan the move.
The main component of the planning was, of course, how to get all my stuff back to India in one piece.  On the face of it, it did not look like a tough job.  I am not exactly the kind of person who owns Persian carpets or mink coats (even if I were, my postdoc salary could not buy me those things).  I was also not planning to transport any electronics (except my laptop and iPod, which would be carried by me on person).  My furniture was worth less than what it would have cost to move it.  So, books/notes, music, clothes and some kitchen things (like my ever-helpful pressure cooker) were all I needed to take back.  But, the volume turned out to be larger than I imagined.
The three options were
1) Send them in small batches through post.  This would be unnecessarily expensive and full of hassles to me (although it is a great idea for those wise people who have not accumulated excessive baggage and have just a box or two to send).
2) Hire a moving company that would ship the boxes from port to port.  Getting the boxes from home to the departure port and from the arrival port to N1 city would be my responsibility.
3) Hire a moving company that does door to door shipping.  This company also takes care of the customs formalities- you just have to hand them your passport for a few days after the shipment arrives at the port of entry.

Option 3 was more expensive than Option 2, but I went for it because I did not want to deal with customs authorities in India, nor did I want to hire yet another moving company in India to get the boxes to my house.
After that, I spent about a month researching different moving companies.  The price difference between companies was huge, but I also read several poor reviews about the cheaper ones which mentioned hidden costs and unethical practices (for example, demanding a higher amount than what was mentioned before and not releasing the goods till the extra amount is paid up or even threatening to destroy the goods).  Finally, I chose a company which had received mostly good reviews and whose head office was in the city from which I was moving.  They were more expensive, but at the end of the day, I was very happy with their services.
The second job was the packing.  Sometime in mid April, I started packing.  For customs purposes and also to be able to unpack smoothly, it is a good idea to write in detail the contents of each box.  The company also asks for the value of the goods in each box for insurance.  They also ask for total values of each category of products like books, CDs, clothes etc.  So, packing and recording every detail, though cumbersome, is essential.  The problem gets entirely eliminated if you also allow the moving company to pack for you (at an extra price of course), who will do the packing and listing for you in a couple of hours.  But, this was going beyond my budget.*
My initial phase of packing went very well, but I lost my regularity and motivation after a while.  A huge chunk of my packing was done in the last week before I left, thereby creating unnecessary stress.
Finally, I had to get rid of the furniture.  I advertised on Craigslist and Freecycle groups in my area and these items went away very quickly.
The last two days were very stressful because the boxes had to be moved, furniture disposed and apartment cleaned one after the other.  I was also very annoyed at the amount of things that I had to throw out just before leaving.  These had been lying around in my apartment for days without being used.  I resolved never to accumulate unnecessary things again and I am glad that my tiny apartment at N1 ensures that I follow my resolution.
Receiving my shipment at N1 city was quiet an experience.  I was told that I will receive it within 4 - 6 weeks.  After accounting for "Indian Standard Time", I put down the time to 8 weeks.  The goods arrived at N1 exactly 14 weeks after I saw them last!  Apparently, I had miscalculated Indian Standard Time!
My shipment arrived at the destination port city two months after departing from North America.  I was required to go to the customs office in the port city where they verified my passport, visa etc in person.  I was also quizzed about the value of my music CDs and a box which was supposed to have "fragile shrine items".  They were concerned that I was importing gold statues without declaring them!  An agent from the Indian partner of the moving company was with me.  He instructed me to play dumb and let him do all the talking (which I did happily)- I suspect that he was handling their subtle demands for bribes, but am not sure because I do not understand the local language.  The agent followed a "don't ask don't tell" policy with me.  One point that created some trouble was that my passport had a North American address and the authorities would not accept my house allotment letter at N1.  So, we had to go out and get an affidavit made.
It was a tiring day, but that was the end of my involvement with this whole business.
I had to give my passport and residency card to the company agent.  After that, the company dealt with the port authorities and delivered my goods- this took a total of six more weeks.  It was not exactly a pleasant experience to be left without my passport for six weeks.


Lessons for future academic movers:
1) Start getting rid of excess stuff in your apartment right away.
2) While packing, precisely list the values of all items.  Start packing in advance and pack as regularly as you can.
3) Words like shrine items, stuffed animals in the inventory list can cause trouble with customs.
4) If you are moving any electronics, make sure you have the purchasing bills ready.
5) Do not put your school and college certificates in the shipment.  These should be carried with you.  If you are joining a central government institute, you will be asked to produce these certificates as soon as you join.
6) Delegate the job of dealing with port authorities to the moving company - you really don't want to deal with those guys.  The company agents know exactly how to deal with them- I suspect that at the lower level, there is also a working partnership.
7) Wait patiently for the goods to be delivered and for your passport to be handed back to you.  There's not much else you can do.  So, just chill!!
8)With respect to moving companies, you get what you pay for.
9) If you know in advance what course you will teach on joining, keep the notes and materials related to this course with you and don't ship them.  By the time your shipment arrives, it may be the middle of the semester!

My next post will be about administrative matters you need to take care of once you are back in India.



*IIX institutes reimburse travel expenses up to Rs 90,000 for faculty members moving back from abroad.  This includes everything - shipping expenses and tickets for you and your family.  Depending on the institute, you might also be required to travel by Air India.  

Happy N1-iversary

Today, I have completed my first year at N1.
I did not even realize it till some time in the afternoon when a security guard pointed it out to me!! He was the first person to receive me here when I reported on duty.  My father was accompanying me at that time  (to help me settle down in a new place and also to take a break from his job at the quiet and green campus of N1).  This guard thought that my father is the new faculty member and I am just following the dad around!  So did a few colleagues at the faculty club later that day!
In spite of my excitement while accepting N1's offer,  I was apprehensive and nervous while first moving here.  But, the generous welcome and support extended by the administration made the transition pleasant.
There have been some tough times, but everything has resolved itself beautifully.
I am grateful to have great colleagues in my department, encouraging mentors, good facilities to work (much more than one would expect in a new set up) and enthusiastic students*.  I am also grateful to be back in India among my own people and close to my family.
Tonight, I will celebrate by spending a quiet evening at home and reading Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge", a book I have been meaning to read for a long time.
My next few posts will be about my move here, in the hope that some reader planning to move back to India can benefit from them.
Stay tuned.

* I am also grateful that our campus is guarded by security men with sharp eyes and memories :-)