Thanks IMSc (and Chennai too)
#tags imsc,chennai,chandigarh,life,thanks

  <p>We are moving to IISER, Mohali in Chandigarh for the next two
  years &mdash; perhaps for longer. It was nearly thirteen years
  ago that we drove the &ldquo;bhuddi&rdquo; Premier Padmini from
  Bangalore to Chennai; the two of us on either side of
  not-yet-three-year-old Shruti. We landed in the IMSc guest house
  in the evening. The ever helpful guest house staff (which in
  those days was Charles, Prasad and Parthiban) helped us move our
  stuff into one of the flatlets.</p>

  <p>Innimerable people have done their bit to help us grow our
  roots here and it is impossible to thank everyone by name; so let
  me thank people by listing some notable cases:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>In 1996, there were fewer non-Tamil-speaking working
    couples in Chennai than there are now and there were even fewer
    day-care centres.</li>

    <li>We had no idea how difficult (or easy) it would be to find
    a Montessori school which would accept such a young child.
    Shruti joined Supraja (later to split off as Navadisha) at the
    age of three-and-a-half.</li>

    <li>It was the great work of the (entirely voluntary) team of
    institute members (and former institute members) which found us
    in a place with a steady 19.6K always-on net connection; a
    rarity in India in</li>

    <li>Moreover, the LAN was entirely functional.</li>

    <li>Early-on in our stay here a water lorry side-swiped us as
    we were driving on the one-and-a-half lane Old Mahabalipuram
    Road (which is now the 6 lane Rajiv Gandhi Salai). A number of
    IMSc people dropped what they were doing to rush to our
    aid.</li>

    <li>The institute drivers helped us find a mechanic, who then
    became our regular for the &ldquo;buddhi&rdquo; and ultimately
    also bought the car off us to break it up for spare parts.</li>

    <li>The nice family in Kalakshetra who helped us out when we
    were stranded there without petrol and a three-year old child
    who needed to use the &ldquo;facilities&rdquo;.</li>

    <li>The Institute tradition of holding an annual
    &ldquo;fresher&rsquo;s welcome&rdquo; introduced us to our many
    colleagues and future students.</li>

    <li>&ldquo;Lilavati&rdquo;&rsquo;s early residents (some of
    whom had moved in mere days ahead of us!) welcomed us there and
    showed us the ropes of setting up a house in Chennai. One
    particularly helpful life-line was volunteering to speak in
    Tamil with the various people who provided daily services like
    milk and newspaper delivery.</li>

    <li>Chennai in 1998 was a place where people in our income
    bracket could afford to invest in a house &mdash; but
    &ldquo;Where?&rdquo; and &ldquo;How?&rdquo;. We were introduced
    to Velachery and Alacrity and (in the long run!) both of these
    turned out to be just the right thing for us.</li>

    <li>Will there be a research seminar? Will interesting people
    visit? Will students be interested in working with us? All in
    all, will there be work to do or is it just another sleepy
    tropical place? These questions were answered in a positive
    sense very quickly. The Institute was a very active working
    environment even then and has only become more so with each
    passing year.</li>

    <li>The people of IMSc/Lilavati/Jyotsna Colony have been like
    family to us. &ldquo;No car, will drive? Go ahead borrow my
    car!&rdquo; &ldquo;Like music/dance? Here are some concert
    tickets!&rdquo; &ldquo;Going away? Don&rsquo;t worry
    we&rsquo;ll keep an eye on your things.&rdquo; &ldquo;Looking
    for a school? Here&rsquo;s an introduction to the one my kid
    goes to.&rdquo; The list goes on.</li>
  </ul>

  <p>For better or worse, life goes on and so we too must move
  on&hellip;</p>