Jitu

Last year more students got admitted to IISc than the capacity allowed. So the E-Block that was marked for demolition and partly F-Block got reactivated and some single rooms in those blocks got converted into double rooms. I even heard that the director said during the welcome ceremony that he was thankful that some students dropped out.

This year the situation is worse. The hostel administration booked even guest houses to accommodate the new students. However they still fall short of around 200 beds (150 boys, 50 girls). Again zero learn effect and always others are blamed. This time it is the government and its raised quota. However a quota is given in percentage. To explain the mathematical effect, I will give an example:

Let’s say, the current quota is 0% (i.e. non-existent) and 1000 students get admitted. Now a quota of 30% is introduced. So 700 students that do not belong to the quota and 300 students to whom the quota applies get admitted. But the number is the same. This would be too simple and would not raise the number of admissions in total which is the effect the institute is aiming for. However in a bucket that can hold 10 liters of water, no one would get even the idea to put 12 liters of water inside.

Now in the despair, the administration asks for volunteers who are willing to share their single room with a newly arriving student. If someone does so, his hostel rent of Rs.4000 is waived, but the guest pays double the original fee. So here no losses are made for the hostel office. In addition since an additional table, chair and/or cod is not provided, they expect the volunteer to share a single bed with an unknown person. Honestly, the cods are not king sized and not everybody is slim. Oh, choosing the candidate is also not an option, since the allotment is based on lottery. As an alternative, two seniors can share a room and the free room is then alloted to new students. If you do not believe it, what I am saying here, have a look at these notes from the notice board.

Honestly, who is willing to give up one of the last places where someone can have some privacy (the bathroom is the other place) for Rs.4000? So there are some questions that came up intro my mind:

• How will the situation improve over one semester only? How many students are expected to pass out? More than 200? The early batches are not THAT strong. So next year the situation worsens even more.
• Why do not the members of the faculty (allow the students to be admitted) nor the administration (allow the faculty to do so) take some of the new students into their big houses/apartments?
• I expect that tents will come up (already suggested) or that the 2 big rooms above the A and B messes get converted into dormitories. One for boys and one for girls. Rudimentary sinks and toilets are already available.

Welcome to IISc! See, not even arrived and already in trouble. Let’s have some tasty marshmallows grilled over a cosy camp fire, located between tents, and let’s sing some old country songs.

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A nice cycle tour from Bangalore to T.G. Halli. We went on Magadi Road which was very bad with heavy traffic in the beginning. However once we crossed the toll road, the quality of the road increased and the traffic decreased significantly. Between T.G. Halli and Manchanabele Reservoir is a trail next to a river. The trail can be quite narrow and at one point in time the cycles need to be carried for about 20m over loose rocks. Otherwise it is manageable, but not recommended for road bikes. Carrying puncture kits or spare tubes is also a good idea.

From Manchanabele Reservoir we went to the Big Banyan Tree. After having lunch at a hotel near the Tree we continued to cycle back to Bangalore by using side roads through the villages to avoid the heavy traffic and pollution of Mysore Road (SH-17). The roads through the villages are excellent most of the times. For long stretches the pavement got renewed. If not, then it was not as bad as the trail between T.G. Halli and Manchanabele Reservoir.

Distance of the tour: 85km

GPX files

• Bangalore-TGHalli-Manchanabene-BigBanyanTree

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From Bangalore there are basically 2 routes to reach Nandi Hills which are something like 55km each: from Bangalore to Hebbal from there on NH7 and SH104 to Nandi Hills or from Bangalore to Yelahanka and from there on Doddaballapur Road and SH74 to Nandi Hills. However while the traffic density on the State Highways (SH) is fairly less, it is much worse on NH7 and the Doddaballapur Road which makes the ride not a pleasant one. So one day an expedition started to find another route trying to avoid the heavily used highways.

To shorten the time to find a new way, we used a bike. The found route is not recommended for road cycles at all. Taking along a puncture kit, reserve tube, air pump etc. is a must.

A short description

We went from NH7 to MVIT educational college (north of Yelahanka airfield). There we turned right to the north to go straight to Nandi Hills. The road was awesome. Twice as wide as IISc roads with excellent pavement. But after the Stonehill International School the road degraded rapidly. It became narrow and many parts of the pavement were missing. After a while the road became invisible and was only a path or better trail through the woods (photos are included below). Although this road is marked like a yellow highway in Google Maps, it is hardly visible and 30cm wide. After a while the path ended in a mine (some blueish stone is mined), but we continued anyway through the mine. The problem is that you cannot see, where the people went previously, so sometimes you have to give it a good guessing to continue. Anyhow after mastering this, we came out at a small village close to the Hills.

On the way back, we tried another route. It was very smooth. First 30km nicely paved, but then a little bit “under-developed”. So typical village roads with LOTS of speed breakers. I think, we went over a hundred or so in total. Then we came out on NH7 and went south a bit to cover some distance. We went back to MVIT college and turned right at the crossing at which we turned left in the morning.

Nice road, till you come to that part, where you have to turn right again near the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, but the Kenchanahalli Road has been swallowed by some huge construction, so it does not exist anymore. So we found a trail through the fields. On the satellite images you can recognize many trails (and some round shaped markings) and on one of them we went. I am really curious what that was a long time ago. The square in the center is formed by ruins of small houses. After some trail and error, we found a residential area whose roads led to Doddaballapur Road.

It was a really nice trip. Especially the trails. We went through them with the opinion: If Google shows a road there, there must be a road. If it says, turn right, we do that no matter how the road looks like.

The whole tour would have been manageable with a BSA Photon Ex, but an MTB is actually recommended (at least partly). Since there were many shrubs with thorns (you can have a look at my legs, when we “biked” through them with force), there was a high chance to get a puncture. And the next repair shop is very VERY far. Attached to the post you can find a map showing the route from OpenStreetMaps. I included the trails into the maps which makes it more accurate (apart from the free license) compared to competitors. The blue track marks the route we went to the Nandi Hills, the red one our way back.

GPX files

• 20100417-061816_NewRouteToNandiHillsCleaned (blue track)
• 20100417-113413_NewRouteFromNandiHillsCleaned (red track)

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My international driving license which was also valid in India, expired. To get a new driving license which would be valid for another 3 years, I would have to go to Germany and pay something like Rs.1500. Usually I would not mind not to have one, but due to insurance purposes a driving license is necessary, otherwise the insurance company will not pay anything in case of an accident. So I went to the R.T.O. in Yeshwantpur (Bangalore) and with the help of an agent, who stood for me in the queue, I got a learner’s license first. However there are a few obstacles in the way. For instance I needed to pass the written test. To prepare myself for the test, the agent gave me a few paper sheets. On these 4 pages most of the traffic rules including signs were summarized. He told me to learn the signs and after around 10 minutes he dragged me into the room in which the test was conducted.

Out of 15 points that were reachable, 10 were necessary to pass the test. When I saw the question paper, a strange sensation went down my spine. Out of 15 question only 5 were about signs. Other questions were something about the maximum allowance of particles in the exhaust of diesel engines to pass the environmental tests. That section I never read, since it is in Kannada (the local language in Karnataka) and so far I did not learn it and I took (correctly) the golden middle of the three possible answers.
A poor fellow sitting next to me, struggled in the same way. So we exchanged the sheets, since the examiners were busy giving new incoming people the sheets or to correct the turned in answer sheets. To my best knowledge I filled out his gaps and he did the same with my sheet. Then he returned my sheet, took his and went to turn it in. He got 6 points and hence failed the exam. After hearing this, I went through the gaps that I had previously, and corrected them according to my opinion. I got 13 points

In case you want to see some signs, I put some of them into the gallery below, but I removed their meanings. So feel free to leave a comment in which you guess the meanings of the signs.

Here is another question taken from the exam:

If you want to turn left, what do you do?

1. Stretch out the right arm and rotate it clockwise.
2. Stretch out the right arm and rotate it anticlockwise.
3. Stretch out the right arm and waive it forward and backward.

Any suggestions? Unfortunately the most obvious answer was not available: Use the indicator on the left side.

30 days after I received the learner’s license, I was eligible to get the real driving license. So I went to the R.T.O. again and faced 2 options:

1. Either I go back to the institute to get my bike while the agent organizes a car. With the examiner together we go to the test ground where all my knowledge about hand signs is checked. After that I can apply for the driving license.
2. I pay Rs.1000 bribe and can apply for the driving license directly.

What I did is up to your imagination.

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Arrival by train/bus

If you arrive at the Bangalore Central Train station (SBC) or by bus at the City Bus Stand (this area is also called Majestic), go to the local bus stand. Take a bus to Malleshwaram or Yeshwantpur. Ask the driver or conductor for TATA Institute. IISc is not commonly known. Hop off the bus near the main gate. The standard rate for the bus would be Rs.7/- per head. If you want to take a auto, the rate is usually around Rs.60/-.
If you arrive at Yeshwantpur train station (YPR) take an auto. Usually the drivers charge very high rates. A normal rate would be between Rs.15/- and Rs.20/-. It is less than 2km to IISc and also walkable. Please refer to the map below.

If you require transportation from one of the train station mentioned above to IISc, do not forget to send your train details (the date you are arriving, the train you are boarding and its arrival timing) to . It would be helpful, if you also mention your phone number (ensure some balance in case you come from a different state) and carry a list of important phone number along with you in case you get lost. Please note that senior students are there to help and pick you up, not to carry your luggage. I strongly recommend to travel lightly, since usual things like mattresses, buckets, etc. can be bought directly on campus. Every year I have seen at least some people carrying half a library with them and additionally a computer including a 17 inches CRT monitor. This also causes discomfort to others, since the space in the bus bringing you to IISc, is not infinite and everybody else has also luggage. So, whatever you cannot carry by yourself, leave it at home and pick it up later.

Accommodation

Some lodges, hostels and hotels ranging from around Rs.350/- (lodge, single room) and Rs.4500/- (luxury 3 star hotel), are located around IISc. Please have a look at the map below to find more information. All accommodations are within a walkable distance to and from IISc. Please be advised that IISc does not provide accommodation for your parents in case they accompany you. You have to take a room outside for them. There is a chance that the same applies also to you in case you decide to arrive earlier.

Some details about the residencies:

• iReal Residency Lodge
  • 29/2, 4th Main Road, near Ramaiah College Bus Stop, Mathikere
  • Phone Number: 08041275500
  • Prices: Double room Rs.450, Single room Rs.350, extra person: Rs.100 (all prices excluding tax)
• Krishinton Suites (3 star hotel with restaurant on the roof)
  • MS Ramaiah Main Road opposite of D-Gate [where all the new departments are constructed])
  • Phone Number: 08042595959
  • Prices: 3 different price categories ranging from Rs.3000 to Rs.4500 depending on the luxury and comfort (excluding tax).

Map

Red markers point out important locations. Blue ones depict the locations of accommodations nearby. Please click on the markers to see additional information.

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There are a few pigeons flying around the hostel. Usually I would not bother, but it seems, they like to take a shit just above freshly laundered clothes hanging on the balcony to dry. So by the end of the day you can do the whole batch of laundry again. What to do against these flying rats? Scaring them off by making some banging sound has a good effect for the next 10 minutes. After they return happily resuming their activities.

Finally I found a solution: I got a new friend, helping me to keep pigeons away.

Since my friend is busy hunting all day, there is no time to stay on my balcony throughout the whole time. Hence a more permanent solution was required. Another trick to keep any bird away from the balcony is putting the silhouette of a bird of prey on the balcony door. For birds it does not matter, if the outline of the bird of prey is in the sky or attached to a balcony door. They stay away from the live threatening danger. A nice source of outlines is available on the Mr. Welz’ web pages. Download the file, choose an outline and print it out. In my case, I enlarged the sparrow hawk to fit on a DIN A3 sheet, printed it and put it on my balcony door (from the outside obviously). Since then I am almost 100% pigeon free.

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This post should be a warning to everybody. It happened to myself, but also to a friend of mine just a few days ago. I do not know any other incidences, but it seems, there is a system behind it.

What happened? Long story short:
Someone called me by phone telling me that parcels have arrived and he would like to get them delivered. So I went to the hostel gate and he waited there for me. He explained that parcels have arrived for my address (he knew my exact address of the hostel), but there are some formalities regarding customs. I had to pay duty and that was the reason, why the parcels were currently in the office in Malleshwaram. However he came by to get the services and duties done for me for some little extra fee. Then he tried to call his boss to discuss the matter further from my phone. So I had his boss’ phone number. However the number was busy all the time and he could not get through. In the end he convinced me that he will proceed to his office, get the formalities done and will come back with the parcels. I paid him Rs.500 (that was the amount, I had with me) and he left.

I mean, he really left and never came back. I tried to call his boss’ number several times, but after the third day the number got disconnected. Maybe I am too stupid since I always believe in the good part of humans first. Many people can point the finger at me and telling me that could never ever happen to them. However I admit, he had a really easy game, since I was expecting parcels from Germany and thought that they arrived finally. The concerned parcels came something like 2 months after this incident and they have their own story.

A similar event happened to a friend of mine just a few days back. He came to her room personally at 7am on a Sunday morning. With the same trick (duties, parcels currently in office, etc) he managed to lure around Rs.700 from her. The security of IISc is quite powerless and weak. Any visitor has to sign into a register. However, if you are a delivery boy, you may pass unchecked and undisturbed. I mean, a little bit common sense: Who delivers a parcel that early on a Sunday morning?

The money is gone. However we hope that this post reaches some people and to prevent them to loose their money too.

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To pursue the PhD program in India, a foreign national needs a Research Visa. Usually the visa application form and the passport is sent along with the necessary documents to the Indian embassy in Frankfurt which is responsible for the area I lived in. However two (or so) years back, the service of receiving the forms and sending them back together with consultation has been outsourced to an agency called Indo German Consultancy Services Ltd (IGCS). So I started to apply for the Research Visa through the IGCS and then the odyssey started. Concluding from my experiences with the IGCS seems that not many have the idea to do their PhD in India. Here is a history of events:

August/September 2007:
Started to gather information about Research Visa. Although mentioning the whole background to IGCS and stressing out, that I want to to PhD in India, the IGCS in Frankfurt claimed that a Research Visa either does not exist or that it is the same as the Student Visa.

Even information read from the homepage Ministry of Human Resources and Development and from the Indian embassy in Japan to IGCS people in Frankfurt and Cologne saying that there exists a Research Visa, was answered with one of the well known replies above. Due to that (I mean the IGCS people are supposed to be the professionals regarding visa questions, aren’t they?) I applied for a Student Visa in November 2007.

Then I had a long fight with IGCS and the Academic Deputy Registrar, Mr. S., about Research and Student Visa for the next 2 months. Mr. S. insisted on the Research Visa, whereas the IGCS had obviously difficulties to believe what Mr. S. said, and even more difficulties to check out the existence of the Research Visa by themselves.

27.12./28.12.08:
Mr. T from the IGCS was suddenly aware of a Research Visa after 4 months of quarreling.

January 2008:
I won the scholarship for PhD students of the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst – DAAD). They also will take care of the prospective scholars and sent the application form for the Research Visa. They collected all applications from all scholars and sent it in one single packet to the Indian embassy in Berlin. The Indian embassy in Berlin forwarded the application for visa approval to Delhi. However in the meantime there was a circular from the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resources and Development) that “the power for issuing the visa has been fully delegated to the Indian missions abroad”.

On January 5^th, I moved to the Indian Institute of Science so that I do not loose any more time and started my career as a Project Assistant for which the Student Visa was sufficient.

September 2008:
The duration in which the Research Visa is issued, was said to be between 4 and 8 months. In September the 9^th month started, so I started to check out the current status of the Research Visa application.

October 2008:
It took a month of research to figure out, what has happened to my visa application. I believe it had been thrown away due to the circular letter and due to the following reasons:
Nobody I called up in Delhi was able to tell me anything about the visa as if it does not exist. Mr. P. the section officer of the MHRD responsible for Research Visa never heard anything about my application.

So I reapplied once again, but this time I made sure that the circumstance are set and that the Indian embassy and the IGCS are aware of this application. I sent the complete application set to the IGCS in Hamburg (because they answered the phone [I called all IGCS offices and embassies randomly] and only IGCS Hamburg was very professional and gathered information FIRST, before telling some invented facts such as “Research Visa? Doesn’t exist.”). However they insisted that I gave an address of correspondence in Germany. So I gave the one of my brother who stays in North Rhine-Westphalia. The IGCS figured out that the Indian embassy in Hamburg is not responsible since my brother lives in the wrong state, and therefore forwarded the application form to Frankfurt.

With the people in Hamburg it has also been clarified that for application submission I do not need to be in Germany itself. For collecting the visa, it is compulsory.

November 2008:
A reply by Dr. S. from the IGCS in Frankfurt about the progress of the visa application said, that I have to be in Germany for the paper submission. That is a contradiction to the statement above. A reply to that asking for clarification was without any response till now. More important: Also asking for a status update about the progress was without any reply at all so far.

December 2008:
I lost the DAAD scholarship, because it is in cooperation with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in Delhi. Since I did not get the visa for more than 1 year, they canceled my application. So thanks to the IGCS and their inability to verify information, I lost a scholarship of EUR1052 a month for three years. I also would like to mention that for every application the IGCS collected nicely EUR13.50 for their “consultation”.

January 2009:
I got my visa without the “help” of the IGCS, but the scholarship is gone.

August 2009:
I sent another mail to the IGCS and received feedback almost immediately. If it is an automated reply or not, we will see. Mr. S. J. replied that he will look into that matter, but it might require some time.

November 2009:
So far no more word from Mr. S. J. A kindly reminder was also left without a reply.

As you can see, I made a very bad experience with IGCS and I know some others who have the same difficulties. Unfortunately there is not much of an alternative, if you need a visa for visiting India. I recommend to show no patience towards them and to camp in front of their door, if necessary, to get things settled. Do not listen to any information IGCS provides but get the information by yourself through the Internet or friends. Due to some legal reasons I had to blank out the names I had contact with.

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