Solicited advice

A former summer student has written to me seeking advice with respect to the situation described below.  Since many readers of this blog are engineers pursuing research, I would truly appreciate some feedback on this matter:

I was recently offered an internship in Country X. It is sponsored by the Indian Government and only very few students have been selected from all over the country. I am in a great predicament. I realise that this a wonderful opportunity but feel that the quality of research is much better in India. I have decided to do an MS after my B.Tech. So I want to do a good internship which can help in getting an admit to a good university [1].

I am speaking to people and trying to get their opinion on the same. I am confident of getting a good internship in India (results aren't yet out). I am unaware of how much foreign exposure will matter in getting admission to a good MS programme. The university where I have been offered the internship isn't very well known. I have always wanted to do an internship in the area in which I am planning to pursue my higher studies. I am definitely not going to take up the topic in which I have been offered this internship for my higher studies. I mainly want to know the criteria on which I should be selecting an internship and things that will matter in getting an admission offer from a university.






[1]: She is probably referring to universities in USA.

Feeling the pulse - II

In a previous post, I started writing about my attempts to "feel the pulse" of N1.  In the last couple of months, N1 seems to be making the transition from a small school where everyone knows each other and a lot of things work informally to one where a system is evolving for all academic activities and administrative procedures.

In my previous post, I had expressed some concern that as the system becomes more formal, our senior administrative functionaries (both academic and non-academic) may not be as approachable anymore.  I now realize that my fear was unfounded.  Once a proper system is in place, the approachability of the seniors does not diminish- what diminishes is the need to approach the senior administration for every small thing.

Let me give you a very amusing example.  A few days after I joined N1, our department invited a senior professor for delivering a seminar talk.  The professor requested for transport arrangements between his residence and N1.  When I requested our transport in charge for arranging a vehicle, he told me that in principle, the honorarium to our speakers includes their transportation expenses.  If I want transport arranged for any speaker from the institute's side, I should take permission from the director.  I was very surprised and it took me a lot of courage to write to the director for such a trivial matter.  The director sent a one word email saying "approved", but I realized later that the transport IC could have definitely arranged this (without my writing to the head of the institute).  But, unlike his predecessors at this job, he was unwilling to take any action on his own in the absence of any written framework.  So, he cleverly deflected the job to another new and clueless person (me) who also did not know what was the right thing to do.

Soon after this, a form and instructions for requesting transport were uploaded on our intranet page.  If we need vehicles for any speaker/visitor, we simply fill up this form and submit it to the transport section, which then takes care of getting the necessary approvals etc.

Evolution of a proper system does not necessarily mean longer procedures and more hierarchy.  It simply means that every individual in the system is aware of his or her role in getting any job done, clearly understands how the job is to be done and that everything does not land up on the table of the director!! A proper system means that if you submit a requisition for something, the office assistant knows precisely what to do with it (or can readily refer to a handbook if unaware of the procedure) and will not toss back the requisition saying "I cannot do anything unless you get it approved from the authorities."
Such a system balances the job allocation among all members of the institute and also makes everyone accountable.

However, it also means that some requests cannot be entertained overnight.  Every so often, there is a clash between those who want something immediately and those who have to ensure that the request/suggestion is forwarded through the right channels.  Very frequently, there are also differences of opinions between those who like to have every little thing put down on paper and those who would instead like to move forward with the essentials.  This occasionally leads to frayed tempers during committee meetings or even informal discussions between people.

But, it is great if people debate and discuss these issues with an open mind and not overkill the issue by making it a "bureaucracy versus academic freedom" fight.

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.

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.