A Student from One of the Best Colleges in the Country

— By Ritika Last year I got admitted to one of the best colleges in our country, ranked according to all kinds of government and private agencies. The college believes only in meritocracy. To get admission, all you need are high percentages and approximately 20 thousand as admission fees and just a little luck to

Tiny Drops Build an Ocean

All the anecdotes, stories, accounts here are narrated in retrospect; thus it’s foolish to assume that these accounts are the exact versions of what happened, because now when I recollect these incidents, I cannot help but juxtapose them against all the new perspectives, social awakening and continuous unlearning and relearning that I’ve done.  An important

Jackfruit Justice

A Fictionalised Adaptation of “Haroun-al-Rashid-er Bipod” Note: The preceding comic strip is a fictionalised graphic adaptation of a part of the short story called “Haroun-Al-Rashid-er Bipod” (The Plight of Haroun-al-Rashid) written by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay in 1945. It tells the hilarious story of Haroun and Abul, two first generation learners from Janipur village, who have to

Teaching ‘Marginalisation’ to the Marginalised

Originally Published in The Learning Curve Issue XXIII, 2014,. October. Azim Premji University. I am the Manager of a government-aided minority school situated in the walled city of Delhi. More than sixty percent of the children in the elementary and higher classes of the school are from socio-  economically and culturally marginalised backgrounds. The editors

Raja’s Shame-A Short Story

Author’s Note: I chose to write fiction because I believe it has the power to humanize empirical data. Research has been conducted in many Indian states that provide evidence of discriminatory seating arrangements in schools, teachers discriminating against marginalized children, and so on. But beyond the numbers and affirmative action, it is that deeply personal