Yearly Archives: 2017

We often find ourselves trapped in a nasty conflict caused by the politics of communal divide, and it limits our vision, our ability to raise the issues that really matter.

Literature and storytelling are part of teaching methodologies that touch the core being of the learner making the process of education fulfilling and learning eternal. They play an important role in the inculcation of the love of learning; instil values of mutual love and cooperation and above all leave an impact that is cherishable throughout life. The piece explores the tremendous potential of the method.

India faces an annual crisis in school admissions with the growing demand for seats in ‘good’ schools. The statistics however reveal that there are enough schools across the country to accommodate each child but many remain vacant because of poor infrastructure or reputation. What then is ‘good ‘education, and is it necessarily affluent/elitist in nature? What do we choose when we select a school ? Is it the education or is it a lifestyle?

‘Noise’ is a poem that reminds us of the restlessness, hypocrisy and turbulence of our lives today and how we are responsible for this misery in many subtle ways.

U.R. Ananthamurthy died on 22 August 2014. Hindutva or Hind Swaraj is his very last work. Keerti Ramachandra and Vivek Shanbhag have translated it from Kannada. There is no doubt that , as Shiv Visvanathan has indicated in the Foreword, this little book is written in a desperate hurry by an author who knew he was dying. Yet, here is a book that is courageous in spirit, and enlightens its readers; it reaffirms that Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj is a meaningful answer to Savarkar’s Hindutva.

Youth is the time when important life decisions must be made and if energies are not channelized well during this period one may face a lifetime of regrets and unhappiness. It is at this time that the presence of an understanding master transforms one’s vision of life and helps discover one’s inner potential.

The Scholar misses the essential. Books, information, theories and logical constructions divert him from what really matters: the fragrance of the flower, not the theory of the flower. However, the Sufi carries the inner light; he experiences and realizes. With his characteristic lucidity Osho—the mystic philosopher—takes us to the world of Sufi stories.

As the iconic Champaran movement completes its 100 years it is time we invoke the Gandhian spirit of social transformation and collective mobilization. In the contemporary age plagued with severe challenges his ideas are relevant than ever before, reminding us over and over again of the need for social change through collective action.

Rethinking Education in the light of the Board Examinations We are aware of the many tructural constraints of the Indian education system among these what...

SAY ‘NO’ TO “SMART CITIES”  Here is a reflexive piece that interrogates the idea of ‘smart’ cities, and pleads for the recovery of the...