borges
3 Poems - Borges
For my ongoing course titled 'Labyrinthine Dreams' on Jorge Luis Borges's stories and poetry, we're reading three poems for class discussion. Here are the poems: Rubaiyat, Someone and The Enigmas.
Mohit Khodidas
education
On Growing Up with Guardians
My understanding of education primarily rests in exploring phenomenological experiences. What does it mean to reveal the experiential reality of children and adults? Pedagogy, the way I understand and explore it in the phenomenological sense, reveals this inner topology that I can view, if I am patient and listening. Of
landscape
Landscapes of Aravalli
One of my goals at Raga and Northstar is to understand our ecology; our relationship to it and our perception of it. Landscape affects us: the trees, the plants, the rocks, the crevices, the contours, the undulations, the textures, the smells, and all the minutiae that fill every corner of
trees
Untroubled Gulmohar
Riffing on Hesse's master class in succinctness, apropos my plight. Managing an organisation does not require qualities of stupidity and coarseness, as conceited intellectuals sometimes think. But it does require wholehearted delight in extroverted activity, a bent for identifying oneself with outward goals, and, of course, also a
education
Pointing the Way
At the beginning of the new school year two years ago, I wrote, "And we start again. Once more. A new school year. So many new walkers joining our caravan and some choosing another road. I have no destination in mind, because I cannot choose for anyone. I know
education
Centres of Condensation
I borrow the phrase "Centres of Condensation" Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space. Our institutions, Northstar and Raga, are thought of as, firstly, 'centres'. Taken in isolation and in the prevalent context, the word 'centre' has no gravitas, no weight. It is as
education
Everything is New Again
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
His Master's Voice - Stanislaw Lem
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.
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
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
philosophy
A Realm Beyond Time and Conflict
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
Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
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
Concept of Man - Zaidi
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