A bit about ICRISAT / IWMI - India 5

The ICRISAT campus is a fenced in several acres separated from India. Not only are the grounds clean, but they also smell good (or so I thought)! Most of the campus is research fields (30,000ha), covered by the watchful eye of a 5 or 6 story water/guard tower. In addition to crop fields, a small international neighborhood (20 houses), a larger Indian neighborhood (45 houses) and 5 apartment buildings populate the campus. A covered walkway connects a further eight research labs, 2 auditoriums, and a 4 story cavernous exhibition hall, where local Indians are taught agricultural techniques (eg. growing millet underneath the trees of an orchard).

ICRISAT stands for International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

IWMI is part of an international U.N. consulting group, which has offices in Sri Lanka, Ghana, Thailand, Nigeria, and India. Except for the India and Sri Lanka offices, there has been vast shifts in location of offices in the past few years. India, however, remains cheap enough that this location has grown. Here at ICRISAT, IWMI is a standoffish partner. While IWMI does coordinate with ICRISAT, and rents a building, IWMI is over 50% foreign nationals, as where ICRISAT is about 10%.

IWMI stands for International Water Management Institute

Also on campus there is a clubhouse with a minimal exercise room consisting of a pulley weight system, a treadmill, and an exercise bike. They also have table tennis. I joined $5 for the summer. For Indians it is $3 for the year. This also gives access to the pool, which is rather crucial. The temperature gets up to 100ºF most days. Three of the ten or so foreigners, who I have met, have had to go to the hospital for heat stroke/dehydration.

The pool is also the only place on campus that serves Kingfisher.

Most of the younger people living on campus, PhD researchers and post-docs, regularly eat in the canteen. Some of the professionals hire cooks to come in and they avoid the cafeteria. The canteen has limited hours, but also acts as a grocery store, for those who don't want to take bus (Rs7) or auto (Rs7 if you catch one with someone it it-Rs25 on your own) to town.

I enjoy the food at the canteen, but then I would. I was recognized by a South Indian as regularly choosing the spiciest food there. The food has some interesting characteristics, lots of rice or flatbreads (Chapathi, Roti, Paratha) and at lunch always some kind of biryani. In addition a soup, chicken or lamb curry, vegetarian curry, and fruit juice (mango, orange, pineapple) are each available at lunch and dinner. Dinner usually has a western dish (e.g. fish and chips, vegetarian cordon bleu).

Breakfast has papaya, hardboiled eggs, croissants, spicy chickpea sauces w/flatbreads, omelettes by request, and corn flakes. Milk is served warm here. Although refrigerated it is reheated and released through a spigot. The cream has a tendency to jam the spigot, causing hot sprays of milk to lash out at the unweary breakfaster. To remedy this, I have purchased a liter bag of milk and keep it cool in the dorms in a shared (8 person) fridge.

There are no green vegetables. A salad plate (Rs. 8) contains 2-3 slices of onion, 2 slices of tomato, and 2 slices of cucumber (green removed). At some point I will have to go to a western restaurant with a clean salad.

Coffee and Tea (Rs.4)  are available and drunk with every meal. I am strange in that I have neither. Sodas are available, and a German here has a propensity for mixing fanta and cola to make spritzi or 7up and kingfisher to make radler.