education
What instrumentalism, economic ends and modernity have taken away from the original conception of school can never be fully comprehended or felt. I meet parents who are eager to know how much we do in the school: how many subjects, how many sports games, how many languages, how many activities,
literature
One of the greatest of writers, for me, is Stanislaw Lem. I think that sci-fi has the most natural affinity to philosophical realm. Lem (and PKD and LeGuin) seamlessly travel between sci-fi and philosophy. I read Lem's Solaris many years ago after watching Steven Soderbergh's movie.
Over the years I have developed a system of reading where I alternate between philosophy and science-fiction books. At almost any given time, I'd be reading either one. I find it extremely hard to find a science-fiction author who I enjoy, primarily in style of prose and sweep
To each child, school is a concept, a memory that is always felt, like a spectre of foggy remembrance, but seldom analysed. Schools and childhood collide and intersect; the two being our primal sources of future selves. A good, sustaining space, our school, must retain that character of gossamer, always
Part 1 Jorge Luis Borges said: Like the discovery of love, like the discovery of the sea, the discovery of Dostoevsky marks and important date in one's life. I discovered Fyodor Dostoevsky late in my life. It took me many attempts over some years to complete The Brothers
education
In 2012, I was travelling to one of my favourite places in India - Shimla. Viceregal Lodge in Shimla is a beautiful building, housing the Indian Institute of Advanced Study. There is a small book store in the campus. While rummaging through antiquated books, I chanced upon Education and Humanism
Today is one those sleepless nights when my unbearable migraine takes me to the terrace. The black and blue sky before sunrise in winter is comforting and chilling at the same time. There was a halo around the waning gibbous moon today. I went to down to get my gear
Ist mir mîn leben getroumet, oder ist es war? Have I dreamt my life, or was it a true one? -Walther von der Vogelweide Rhythm of Learning, Rhythm of Life. Why did I write this for [Northstar](https://www.northstar.edu.in)? More often than not, my thoughts are not
ragasvara
Raga is a sanctuary amidst swathes of dry, arid expanse. It is incredible, almost magical, to see what a small parcel of land, taken care of, loved, can do for our ecology. The primary dwellers of Raga are the trees, plants, birds and animals.Our ecology is kind and strong,
I look forward to Fridays each week. Fridays are for Noesis, our philosophy class. Over the years I have veered more and more towards literature and philosophy embedded in literature. But sometimes, we take up something topical and dive deep in to it. 29th July, Friday was International Tiger Day.
tools
Over the years, I have written in so many places starting from WordPress site, to blogger, to Medium, to Ghost, to GitHub pages and more using tens of tools which I won't even begin to recall. I do not engage with or write on social media. I self-host
It is easy to believe that Raga Svara is a "business" and that it is different from Northstar or RKU, which are our learning institutions. But that would be an error. If anything, Raga is an even more potent form of learning. Raga is about bringing back the