[Numpy-discussion] assigning to submatrix

If I have a large matrix, say a = zeros( (20,20) ) and a small matrix b = ones( 3,4 ) and a list of row indices and a list of col indices rind = [2,4,9,15] cind = [1,4,12] what is the best way to assign the submatrix to a[rind,cind]. I understand this is possible in numarray, but is there a good way to do it in Numeric? In matlab, you could do a(rind, cind)=b; Is there some reshape, put magic I can do to make this efficient in Numeric? Thanks, John Hunter