Opening of the German consulate-general

My temporary housing

Just a short reminder, here is where I stayed the first night (from Sep 1st to Sep 2nd):





The next day, the IISc reserved for me the Hoysala guest house where I was an "inmate" the next 2 days:



So I called a taxi and collected my luggage to check in the Hoysala hostel. The first room had no working shower head, but a bucket and a cup instead (as I later learned, this is not unusual in India), so I asked whether I could have a room with a working shower. That room suffered from a number of other problems: When I was moving in, a cockcroach crossed my way (note to Hasan: it was not a cricket this time). Petrified, I was considering moving back to the hotel, but decided against it. The driver who had kindly helped me with my luggage went with me to a pharmacy and we bought Baygon, an insect spray. I sprayed it along all the edges of the room, in all the "holes", and along the window sill (the windows would not close properly). From my bathroom, there was a pipe leading to a water purifying machine outdoors, and the hole for the pipe was an open invitation for all the insects to come and join me inside. Since I was practically sleeping "outside", with no real protection against mosquitos and other insects, I set up my tent that I had bought in Frankfurt (very useful, indeed). Here are some pictures:

The Indian Institute of Science

I landed in India on September 2nd, shortly after midnight. I did not take any pictures until later the same day, when I arrived at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The airport is very modern and everything went smoothly. Once I was in line at immigration, I sent an sms to Borun (simyo prepaid cards do not allow outgoing calls in India, but sms and incoming calls work) who called me back and gave me the details of my first night's stay. His father had kindly arranged for me to be picked up at the airport by a driver (I think it cost around 650 Rs) and also booked the hotel thecapitolhotel.com (5,000 Rs plus luxury tax). Here are some pictures:






The next morning, I asked the front desk how to get to the IISc (or, rather, the Tata institute, as it is locally know here), and they provided me with a car and driver (Rs 450 for a 20 minutes' ride). At the IISc, the driver had to sign in; there are guards at the entrance. He dropped me off at the physics institute, but after he left, I found out that the Center for High Energy Physics (CHEP) where I will be working is not in the physics department, so I asked for directions, and on my way there, I took the following pictures of campus:


After a short walk, I arrived at the CHEP. This is the back side of the building:


The front side of the CHEP:



The street view on the front side:


The mathematics department:


The atrium of the CHEP:


This is me on the 1st floor (american 2nd floor) of the department: