Even before we landed in Chennai, I had contacted the Head of the Department of Management Studies at IIT Madras to see if we could be provided with faculty accommodation within the idyllic IIT campus (more on the campus later). Very soon I got definite indications that there was a housing shortage at the IIT campus, and I should not hope for much by way of housing.
So, on the day we arrived in Chennai (December 29th), I called the Estate Officer at IIT, and was asked to come to the campus to inspect a single-bedroom apartment. This was what was termed as the "D-1" type apartment alloted to junior faculty and staff. Ramya, Rajani and I went, saw the place - a crumbling, aging, unpainted characterless apartment set right on the street. The 'view' from the porch was a clothesline belonging to the apartment across, and some stagnant pools of water. It wasn't too difficult to dismiss this house. The interesting thing was that this apartment's rent was as high as the much fancier, 3+ bedroom apartments occupied by senior, seasoned faculty at IIT. Apparently, these were always occupied, and nobody ever vacated them. The result was an acute shortage of accommodations for incoming faculty, especially visiting faculty. It did not matter that I was a 'full professor' and was thus a 'senior' member. Visiting professors were fairly low on IIT's totem pole! Later I heard from some faculty that the prevailing sentiment at IIT was that being given a visiting faculty position was a big deal, and was often considered a favor to the visitors... and thus, small things such as accommodation was not to be expected! Interestingly, all the apartments were rented out for the same INR 9000 (approximately $225) per month, regardless of whether you were 'allotted' a single-bedroom or a 3+ bedroom apartment!
How's that for an egalitarian, social-system of housing?! The type of apartment you got was strictly based on your rank, and not your ability to pay. Thus, even if you were willing to pay, you were simply not eligible for certain types of accommodation, based on your rank. The 'rank,' again, was computed by your title, the number of years spent at IIT, and whatever else. I later heard that the apartments were all maintained by a government engineering department, which operated on its own schedule (i.e maintenance was spotty and even tardy at times). But without fail, all the professors I spoke to were happy to stay within the campus, with easy access to the departments. There are shopping centers inside the campus, and the woods that make up much of the campus certainly provide an idyllic, academic setting, what with its wildlife such as monkeys, deer, etc.). Given the general chaos that pervades much of Chennai outside the campus, I guess I couldn't blame them for putting up with some inconveniences in order to stay on campus.
The IIT campus is thus almost fully residential, for faculty, staff and students. About 6000 students atudy at IIT, from fields ranging from engineering to sciences and humanities. There are about 400 faculty members, and probably about 15,000 staff members who make life easier for the students and faculty. Almost all the students live on campus, and thus are available to the faculty at any time. This makes for some strange course schedules - such as having a class meeting at 7:00am on a Saturday, or having an exam scheduled between 10:00pm and midnight, on a Sunday night! This, in essence, seemed to be based on the ancient Indian system of Gurukula, where students pretty much took up accommodations with their teacher, usually a sage, and was at his beck and call at any time of the day. Combine this old notion with the modern, high-tech concept of a wired campus, mobile phones and SMS-based communications, and a professor could schedule a 'gurukula-style' class at any time of the daya and night, with barely an hour's notice! This definitely won't happen in the U.S., I thought.
