Factory of The Mind

Education of children is of utmost importance to us. It is one of the main reasons we decided to move into a different lifestyle. Both Rekha and I feel that they haven’t lost anything because we pulled them out of the schooling system. I am certain that I’ve saved them from the system, which is designed to instill fear. When we moved to Barkheda, we were happy to find a school here. Though we didn’t send them to the school to study, they played with the children after school. Then one day, we were faced with an opportunity to take on the responsibility of the school. We gave it a thought and came to a conclusion that we should run a school, where we can send our children as well. We gave a deep thought to the why, what and how of education. We spoke to a few people, looked at a few methods. Finally, we figured out that it has to be residential learning space, which doesn’t separate living from learning. Since learning is round the clock, it doesn’t make sense to carve a school time. Le...

Our relationship with family, friends, relatives and people at large has undergone a major change in the context of our new life. This change was one of the striking experience during our vacation and after. Most people don’t seem to be able to relate us and vice versa. College friends, who once were a part of my being, everyday, were in touch every now and then, while I was in the city, aren’t interested in meeting me now and I don’t feel any pinch. Office colleagues are almost total strangers; I didn’t feel like and therefore did not visit my office, though I stayed there for over a month, not even spoke to anyone on phone! Relatives seem to be getting acquainted afresh, not excited, but inquisitive, curious. No one is rude, no one seems to be avoiding me, but just seems a little guarded and I’ve become quite indifferent. A large vacuum has thus been created and sometimes I feel very lonely. Immediate family, parents, siblings have filled part of the vacuum by being more interactive ...