Housing:
there is an option of renting a room/studio/apartment in
Paris. The price depends on the location of the room and a modest
studio in the city could cost 3000F-3500F. In the suburbs , it could
be 2800F-3200F. (A studio consists of a room and a kitchen attached,
with a shower/wc). There is a fortnightly magazine 'FUSAC' (which is
available for free at US house, CIUP)
which has rent listings and a weekly magazine "De particulier
à particulier' which is available at Newspaper stands.
One can avail of a room in Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris (University Housing) which comprises of Houses belonging to different countries. One can enquire for room/flatlet in any of the Houses.
More information on Cité Unversitaire can be found at http://www.ciup.fr and on India house (Maison de l'Inde) at http://www.ciup.fr/citeaz/maisons/inde Further enquiries on tariffs and bookings can be made to email: india-house@magic.fr
On arrival at Paris airport (Charles de Gaulle), one can take the train RER B and get down at Cité Universitaire (Metro stop). The journey could be around 40 min. The indian house is a 5 minute walk from the metro stop.
There is a super market G20 , close to the Indian house.
For indian food stuff, one may go to Faubourg St Denis street, Gare du Nord (train station), for purchase. It resembles a street in Madras and pulses, masala, Pickles,... (including sarees, salwar kameez) is available there. (The price is reasonable too and one needs not bring any food items for any short or long stay).
There are some other places where indian stuff and restaurants are available. One may make further enquiries with the residents of the House.
The information provided here is current as of May 2000, to the best of the author's knowledge.
The French embassy in Delhi and the French
consulates in Bombay, Pondicherry and Calcutta maintain websites. The
websites provide information about what documents are necessary for
obtaining a French/Schengen visa. One can also download visa
application forms (in pdf) and find other useful information. It is
best to call/contact the consulates in person to get the most upto
date information. The web and e-mail addresses are given below.
French Embassy site: http://www.france-in-india.org/emb/consulat.html
French Consulate in Bombay: http://www.france-in-india.org/emb/bombay/Index.htm
IMPORTANT: Indian academics visiting
France require a "PROTOCOLE D'ACCUEIL". Make sure that the
institution you are visiting arranges to have this document sent to
you. You will need to submit it along with other documents listed on
the embassy/consulate web pages.
Failure to do so may result in the refusal of your visa
application.
NOTE: For applicants in Bombay (and
possibly at other consulates), it is useful to fill out application
forms in advance. On the back of your application form make sure you
write down the flight information to and from Paris (airline, flight
dates and times, flight numbers) and also the details of your health
insurance (company, policy number, duration, type of insurance). This
will save you valuable time. The peon who does a preliminary scrutiny
of your form will not accept it without the information mentioned
above, and you will have to spend time filling in these details and
lose your place in the queue.
There is usually not much crowd at the French consulate in Bombay, at
least in February, when this applicant obtained his visa.
Typically, about 20 people were in line when the consulate opened at
9:00 a.m.. The situation may be different in the summer. The visa is
usually given the next day between 15:00 and 16:00 hours, so you will
need to budget for two days stay in the city in which you are
applying for the visa.
AIR: The web has several listings of
travel agents quoting low airfares to European cities. One can
sometimes do better than the fares quoted on websites (but not always
by much), but they are very useful, because they serve as a
benchmark. See, for instance,the travel site of www.rediff.com
at:
http://www.rediff.com/travel/intairbk.htm
TRAIN: If you are going to Paris from
some other European city you can obtain detailed train
schedules/fares and other information at the website of the SNCF
(Syndicat National des Chemins de Fer),the French Railway company.
You can also book tickets online.
website of the SNCF: www.sncf.fr
Aeroport Charles de Gaulle is connected to
Paris by train (RER). The one-way trip to any station within Paris
proper costs 49 Ff. This is most likely the cheapest way to get into
town. Taxis tend to be exorbitant. A free airport shuttle will take
you from the terminal to the train station. For information about
regional transportation in Paris (including the times of the first
and last trains to and from the airport) see the website of the RATP
The site includes maps, schedules and much other useful information
(for English, click on theBritish flag!) including a listing of music
concerts and other entertainment in the Paris area.
website of the RATP: www.ratp.fr
CITE INTERNATIONALE UNIVERSITAIRE DE
PARIS (CIUP): This is a residential campus of some 40 "Maisons"
or "Houses", each typically catering to a different nationality. In
particular, the MAISON DE L'INDE caters to Indian students and
academics. The relevant train stop is Cite Universitaire on the RER B
line. The chiefattraction lies in the location- just 10 minutes by
train fromthe heart of Paris. Facilities include a cafeteria (serving
highlysubsidised meals) and extensive facilities for sports. The
website of
the CIUP (see below) has a map of
the campus and other information.
General website of Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris:
http://www.ciup.fr
See also:www.cite-u.com/
The rental rates depend on one's status (student/postdoc/faculty
etc.) and one's income in France. The rental rate decreases sharply
with time. In particular, an important discontinuity is at the three
month mark. Visitors staying at least three months are treated as
"resident" rather than "passager de courte durée" (short term
visitor).
When applying (see below) for accomodation it is a good idea to
mention that you will be staying at least three months (if, indeed,
that is the case) and that you would like to be treated as a
"resident". In this case, the Maison will ask you to submit a list of
documents including a medical certificate. The CIUP maintains an
excellent website (in English and in French) with practically all the
relevant information.
General website of Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris:
http://www.ciup.fr
See also:www.cite-u.com/
The Maisons vary widely in quality and in rental rates. Typically,
rooms are singles, without attached bath or kitchen. Some maisons
have accomodation for couples and others even for families with
children. It is best to go to the relevant websites and/or contact
the individual maisons to get details of rental rates and the types
of accomodation available. Usually, visitors of a given nationality
are required to stay in the Maison of the corresponding nationality,
though it is possible, especially for short term visitors, to stay at
one of the other Maisons. This may well be worth a try (see below for
why it may beworth a try).
Typical student (resident) rates range between 1,700 and 2,500 Ffr a
month. Rates for (resident) post-docs/others making more than 8,000
Ffr a month are in the region of 3,000-3,500 Ffr, while short-term
(passager) rates are 3,500-4,000 Ffr a month for single rooms. At the
Maison de l'Inde the rates for the three categories are 2,250, 3,300
and 3,700 Ffr respectively. The weely rate is 1,000 Ffr
currently.
The Maison de l'Inde is not very well maintained (though it is
improving) and its facilities are not as good some of the other
houses. In particular, there are NO FRIDGES, in the kitchens of the
Maison*. Storing food is thus a problem. In the winter, one can store
food by leaving it out in the balcony, but in the spring and summer,
this is not such a viable option. The kitchens are fairly rudimentary
(three hot plates per floor, 20 people on each floor). The general
sentiment (of a thin sample!) seems to be that the Maison du Canada,
Maison de l'Italie, Maison Heinrich Heine (Germany), Maison du Japon,
Fondation Suisse (Switzerland) and the Fondation des Etats Unis
(United States) are nicer than the Maison de l'Inde. There are
probably still other maisons which are nicer. On the other hand, be
warned that some are considerably worse, so it is not clear that a
generic choice will be necessarily better than the Maison de
l'Inde.
*Common fridges (one for each floor) were expected to arrive later in
the year 2,000.
The CIUP has guidelines about how nationalities are to be distributed
in the different houses (see http://www.ciup.fr
and click on "Admission"). However, the best way to get a reservation
is to contact the relevant Maison directly. The site http://www.ciup.fr
(click on "Houses") provides a
complete list of the different Maisons together with e-mail,
telephone and fax information. Also listed are thefacilities each
Maison provides and a description (and sometimes pictures) of the
rooms. From India, e-mail and fax are obviously the best options for
contacting the Maisons. Be warned that the Maison de l'Inde is
extremely slow to respond to e-mail. They are much better at
responding to faxes. In order to get a reservation at the Maison de
l'Inde, simply send them a fax with your name, dates and duration of
your visit and your status (student/postdoc/etc.) asking for a
reservation. You should receive a fax confirming your reservation
which it is best to keep and carry with you to Paris.
IHES (Bures-sur-Yvette). The relevant
train stop is Bures-sur-Yvette on the RER B line.
The main disadvantage is that if your place of work is in Paris
proper, you will have a commute of about 40 minutes(to the centre of
Paris). You will further be constrained by the low frequency of the
trains later in the evening as well as by the timings of the first
and last trains to and from Paris. Bures is a relatively small town.
There are few restaurants and not many avenues for entertainment. On
the other hand, the campus is surrounded by moderately picturesque
hills, streams and meadows, ideal for long walks, jogging or biking.
Extensive sports facilities are available at the nearby stadium. For
families with small children, Ormaille provides the security of a
separate fenced campus.
The location is ideal if you will be visiting the Universite de Paris
(Sud) at Orsay (about twenty minutes walk) or, of course, IHES
itself. The institution you are visiting (e.g. Institut Henri
Poincare) may have an agreement with IHES whereby you are entitled to
a 50% discount on rents at the IHES housing at Residenace l'Ormaille.
This makes the rental rates quite attractive.
If you are a student, you can eat highly
subsidised meals at a chain of restaurants run by CROUS at over ten
locations in Paris (one such is situated at the CIUP). With a student
card, lunches or dinners cost 15 francs each. Most universities have
their own restaurants which tend to be highly subsidised for students
and frequently for other official visitors as well.
If you are looking for Indian food, there are several restaurants in
the vicinity (just north) of the Gare du Nord (on Rue du Faubourg St.
Denis) run mainly by Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates. Not
surprisingly most restaurants serve South Indian food or some variant
of the same, although there is the odd Moghlai restaurant. Prices
range from 39 Ffr to about 120 Ffr for lunch (typically more if a la
carte) and from 49 Ffr upwards for dinners.
Needless to say, these are not the most expensive Indian restaurants
in Paris. This area also has a large number of Indian grocery stores
which have all the spices, dals, vegetables and other items necessary
for Indian cooking (both South and North Indian).
Near the METRO STATION FAUBOURG ST. DENIS is another cluster of
sub-continental shops and restaurants, especially in the PASSAGE
BRADY.
These are typically run by North Indians, Pakistanis and
Bangladeshis.
Prices are similar to those north of the Gare du Nord.
Calling India from France is expensive. With the usual France Telecom card the rate is about 10 Ffr a minute. A number of cheap calling cards are available in the Gare du Nord area (see FOOD above) and the rate is typically about 2 Ffr a minute. The drawback of these cheap cards is that the sound quality tends to be poor and connectivity tends to be difficult sometimes. Most Indian visitors do by these cards because of the huge price difference. If you set things upright on your PC (if you have access to one) pc-to-pc calls are always possible.
This page provides some guideline for Indian visitors to
Paris, including information to living in maison de l'Inde. Each
visitor is invited to contribute to this page. The present start is
kindly provided by Jaya
Iyer in August 2000. It has been completed by
Ravi
Raghunathan in September 2000.
Update: September 2000
URL : http://www.math.jussieu.fr/~miw/indo-french_cooperation/guideline.html
e-mail : miw@math.jussieu.fr
return to the Indo-French cooperation page