Essentials

Contact

For any queries, use the following link. It will provide you a list of contact details of necessary people.

Important Contacts

And contact the right people for your query after applying some logic. Don’t be like me. I landed up calling the Director’s office because I had some TC related query. -_-

Reaching IISER Kolkata

The IISER Kolkata campus is located in Haringhata, around 10 km from the nearest town of Kalyani and 40 km from Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Airport, Kolkata. It is around 50 km from the centre of Kolkata.

To reach IISER Kolkata, please use the following directions:

How To Reach IISER Kolkata

Some Important Points To Note

• If you are taking a cab from the airport to campus, it is likely that you will be charged for the round trip, though you are only travelling one way. If you can, try and argue with the cab vendors at the airport, prior to boarding the cab itself. If this does not happen, be ready to shell out around 1000 to 2000 rupees depending on the cab service you choose.
• If you are coming by train, and you land up at Kalyani station, there are 2 ways to get to campus. Either you take a bus from the station (very cheap, 8 rupees per head) or hire a tempo truck/electric rickshaw (will charge around 200 or so, bargain for cheaper rates!). Mention that you want to go to “Saath Number” which is Gate 7 of the campus. The locals are very familiar with the use of this lingo and mentioning this will make your life a lot easier than mentioning “IISER Kolkata”. Believe me, a lot of locals don’t know, and don’t care either.
• The gate numbers are different inside and outside the campus. The main gate is actually Gate Number 4. There are several different gates, because IISER-K used to operate out of the neighbouring BCKV campus. But there are far too many that even the students don’t know all of them.
  • Gate 4 (Main Gate)
  • Gate 7 (Bus Stop Gate)
    These are the main ones. So just keep these numbers in mind.
• There is no Ola or Uber here. Don’t even bother. Just uninstall those apps before you come here.

Places To Stay

The institute has a guest house/visitors hostel. The rooms are extremely spacious and are very good (AC,TV etc.) . But these rooms are allocated on a first come, first serve basis. So you’ll have to call and book a room in advance for you and your parents, for how many ever days it takes for you to get settled in.

If not, you can also check out the following places to stay in Kalyani: Places to Stay

It may also be the case, as it was with me, that the Guest House offers you accommodation only for you to find out when you land in Kolkata, that there is no place to stay. If this happens, do not panic. There are enough number of hotels in Kalyani, ask a local to help you. My father simply asked a person on the road and got us a great place to stay! But don’t risk it. Book in advance.

Registration Day and Orientation

On the day you come for registration, you’ll need to proceed to the Lecture Hall Complex (LHC)/Academic Affairs Building. Signs will be put up around the institute, or ask the guards. They will guide you to where you need to go.

On entering the hall for registration, you’ll be seated on the basis of the stream (JEE, KVPY, SCB) you entered college, and will be called one by one to complete some formalities. This process will take a couple of hours or minutes, depending on how lucky you are.

You’ll need to carry the following documents for registration:

1. Pre-Registration Slip : This is like a receipt. It contains all the details and is a conformation of the fact that you have paid the necessary fees prior to coming to campus.
2. Application Form
3. Admission Form
4. Declaration Form (if applicable)
5. Medical Examination Report (needs to be duly filled by a doctor, before you arrive)
6. Offer Letter (sent to you already)
7. Original and a photocopy of the KVPY Offer Letter (if applicable. Please self attest it.)
8. Originals and self attested Copies of your 10th,11th and 12th marks card. (If you can’t find your 11th grade card it’s okay, the institute normally doesn’t ask for it, but if you can, do get it.)
9. Original Proof of date of birth and a self attested copy.
10. Passport Size Photos
11. Anti Ragging Undertaking
    This is an essential thing to note; The IISER Kolkata campus is completely ragging free. There are senior-junior interactions, which are all friendly of course. You do not need to fear this, at all. 
12. Aadhar Photocopy

Bring 3 photocopies of all these documents for the day of registration. There is a store to take copies in the basement, but why bother running around. Just get it done before hand.

The links to all these forms will be provided to you by the institute in your offer letter. In the event that you do not have one of these documents at the time of registration, you’ll have to submit them to the academic affairs office by a fixed date. The administration here at IISER Kolkata are extremely nice and helpful, so don’t worry too much.

On completing the process, you’ll be given your roll number, hostel room and your Medical Book. The medical book is crucial, you’ll need it any time you visit the medical centre or physiotherapy unit.

Money and Banking

There are 2 main banks whose facilities are used by IISER-K students, The State Bank Of India (SBI) and Indian Overseas Bank(IOB). IOB has a branch on campus, near the LHC, so you can set up a bank account there. SBI has the nearest branch in Haringhata, around 10 minutes from campus. There will however be bank officials on the registration day to help you set up a new bank account.

There a few things to note:

• If you are an INSPIRE or a KVPY fellow, it is MANDATORY (GOI Mandate) to have an SBI account in your name, for the fellowship to be deposited. So you’ll need to set up an account with SBI.
• However, I’d suggest you make an account before coming to campus, instead of doing it on registration day. One, it will shorten the registration process by quite a bit. And secondly, you do not have access to SBI Online services with the Haringhata Farm accounts, which trust me, is a very convenient tool. So ideally, create a bank account at home, and apply for a change of branch. You can do the change of branch online in a matter of minutes.

ATM’s

There are 4 ATMs on campus, one near the Main Gate (SBI), one near the LHC (newly opened), and two near Gate 7 (SBI). These are normally well equipped and function normally. During a cash crunch, if it happens, you may have to go to Kalyani (10 km away), and withdraw from the ATMs there.

Accommodation

There are 3 hostels on campus:

1. Nivedita Hostel
2. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (NSCB) hostel
3. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar (ICVS) hostel

ICVS is an all male hostel, where as NSCB is a co-ed hostel. Nivedita is also a co-ed hostel, but girls aren’t allowed to enter the boy’s wing and vice-versa. Whereas, in NSCB, girls can enter the boys wing but the other way around is strictly forbidden as per institute by laws.

As a first year, you will be allocated a room in the Nivedita hostel. You will be sharing the room with either 1 or 2 people, depending on what your luck is. The rooms for 3 people are quite spacious. And by spacious, don’t expect a 5 star hotel room. The room is still small, but compared to hostel rooms at some other government institutes (i.e. IIT’s, etc.) it is MUCH, MUCH better.
The room will have the following things:

2 cupboards with locks, 2 study tables with chairs (you can request for another one), 3 beds, 2 fans, windows with curtains, a bar to hang your clothes, door lock. However, no mattresses will be provided (you can buy them in the basement- different kinds, see the Janta Needs section).

(Courtesy- Siddharth Avhad

(Courtesy- Siddharth Avhad)

There are water coolers on every floor that are attached to an RO filter. They normally dispense cold water. There is also a hot water dispenser in the hostel as well, in each block. This is a godsend during the winter months.

Each floor has a common washroom, one at each end. The toilets are both of Indian and Western style. There are wash basins and hand soap dispensers. The general hygiene of the bathrooms depends on your floor residents. However, it’ll be fine if each individual person just does his/her bit to keep it clean.

There is also a bathing area. There are showers and regular taps as well. None of these dispense hot water and the water is pretty cold. However there is a geyser in each bathing area with an attached tap for hot water. You’ll have to fill the hot water first and then adjust the temperature accordingly.

The hostels, bathrooms and bathing area are cleaned everyday of the week except Sunday. Keeping the room clean, depends on you and your roommates, but you could definitely request the cleaners to help you out, if needed.

Mess

There are 2 messes on campus, one near Nivedita Hostel and the other between the NSCB and ICVS hostels. The cooking however, happens only in the NSCB mess. Also, the Nivedita hostel only serves breakfast, however, this may change in the near future.

The mess is entirely student run by the SMC (Students Monitored Canteen). They ensure hygiene standards are maintained in the preparation, service and quality of the food.

The mess serves meals 4 times a day; breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.

There is a menu card created for each of these meals, with a good variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Unlike the mess systems at other institutes, you pay only for what you eat.

There is an initial mess establishment fee taken at the beginning of each semester to pay for the workers salary and what not, but other than that, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to pay mess charges.

The food quality is good (much better than a lot of messes in other government institutes, trust me) and is also relatively cheap. Also thanks to the efforts of the SMC, it offers a pretty decent variety.

You can pay for the food through cash or using your institute ID card. You can recharge this card through internet banking or payment via debit/credit card.

Because there is only one fully operational mess, the queues can get pretty long. Especially, during the exams, and often during lunch. Or when there is a special item like Dosa over the weekends.

Fuchka at the mess!

Laundry Services

There is a dhobi shop in the basement who will wash and iron your clothes for you. The charge is not very cheap, but it’s best to make use of this if you have formal clothes, and/or white shirts.

Other than that, there are washing machines in the hostel. These are generally functional, but it depends on how people treat it. So freshers, please be responsible.

Internet Services

The campus is well connected by the IISER K Wi-Fi network. The speed varies from place to place, but is generally very fast in the library and the computer centre.

The hostel has wifi routers placed along the length of the corridor of each floor. The speed depends on the time of day and distance from the router. It really depends on your luck.

You’ll be provided an access account and password that is the login ID for your WiFi, institute email etc. a couple of days into the first week. Post this you will be able to access the internet. Until then however, you are on your own. Mobile Networks Zindabad!

Torrents and any sort of P2P sharing using the IISER K network is strictly prohibited and your account will be banned if you are caught. It’s all automatically regulated by the server. So be sensible.

Phone and Mobile

I don’t know anyone on campus who does not have some form of a mobile device. Even if you don’t need a fancy smart phone, the bare minimum is a device for calls at least. You need not invest in a sim card before coming here, if you do have one, bring it along. You can buy a sim card in the basement here. You’ll find all kinds, Jio/Airtel/Vodafone and what not.

The network connectivity is the best for Jio, both voice and data. The Airtel connection is relatively disappointing. Your calls will keep dropping. It doesn’t really matter, you will not get any sort of mobile connection inside the Nivedita hostel. It’s a network dead zone.

That’s all folks!