Initial impressions, tasting the bureaucracy and some notes on the residential population

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.

The year at IIT Madras - Recollections-1

June 11, 2007. I had wanted to maintain a web log during the entire course of our stay here in India, but somehow never got around to it until now. Hopefully, I will be able to recollect some of the salient aspects of my life and experiences in these last few months, and continue to record my thoughts during the rest of my stay in India, too.

I cannot believe that it is 5 months since Ramya, Rajani and I, with our aging husky-shepherd mix faithfully in tow arrived in Chennai, India. We were going to live in in India for the next 12 months at least! My feelings were one of apprehension, concern and resignation, filled with a mild element of curiosity. I had taken a leave of absence from my employer in the US, Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, CT. I was going to spend the year as a visiting professor of information systems at the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, located at Chennai.

The trip's mission? Ostensibly to be of assistance to my aging parents, to help them move to a newer house, and to see if India might figure in as the next stop in my, and Ramya's professionnal careers. Somewhere along, Ramya and I also thought that a year in India might be a good way to introduce Rajani to the land of her people, to her grand-parents, uncles and aunts.

In the posts that follow, I'll try to maintain a semblance of chronology in recounting and recording some of my experiences at IIT and Chennai, India. Till then, adios.