McEducation for all: Guest post by Manish Jain

Manish Jain is the founder-coordinator of ShikshantarAndolan which has been significant in shaping the larger unschooling movement in South Asia. His passion is in the areas of organic farming, healthy cooking, zero waste living and community media.

The reflections in this article are a result of my explorations with rethinking education and development over the past 20 years. My work in essence is about strengthening peoples’ knowledge systems and cultural imaginations, and regenerating the larger learning commons that is necessary to move from a schooling society to learning societies. 

My essay has two deeper objectives: 1) To raise the bar of courage, dialogue and imagination required to think beyond the global monopoly of Education for All (EFA) which I believe needs to be exposed for what it really is, that is, McEducation for All; 2)To help reclaim and revitalize what is commonly called ‘informal education’, basically all of the natural learning that happens in everyday life that does not fit neatly into institutionalized categories of formal and non-formal education. 

Wildings -Wild thoughts

I've never been too fond of feline creatures.Cats always seemed too self-possessed to attract my attention. I am no dog lover, either. I once harbored soft corner for canine creatures when I found a healthy diversion for my tired mind, hopelessly mired by the complexities of tamil grammar. Visiting my tamil teacher's residence to learn tamil grammar was the perfect excuse for me play with that cute little thing full of fur. When I asked for a pup at home, my mother dismissed my plea, smirking playfully that she was already too busy managing one. 

And then I set out to read "The Wildings" by Nilanjana Roy. How badly have I missed them all this while?

On discovering our sexuality

Who said you cannot judge a book by its cover? I spotted this book cover at a telugu bookstall recently. Here it tells everything and  more. It throws a flash of insight into centuries of human conditioning to look down upon sex as something ugly and unholy and remain obstinately oblivious to the natural, playful curiosity behind  discovering one's sexuality. 

Joy of Giving Week @ reStore Gardens

Joy of Giving Week @ Restore Gardens, Chennai

Are you pruning your Hibiscus, Crape Jasmine (Nandiyavattai) , Nochi, Jasmine and Adathoda plants?
Do you have numerous tiny saplings of tulsi and lemon growing all over your backyard?
Are your Aloevera, Cissus( Pirandai) and Oregano (Karpooravalli) plants growing wild?
Do you have more banana saplings growing than you can accommodate in your little garden?

Do you have organic seeds of traditional varieties of vegetables and fruits lying in your cupboard?

Maarewa - A celebration of Indian tastes

Did you notice lately that we have been using the word 'authentic' indiscriminately in every  restaurant's marketing shtick? Even Google seems to wonder whether you are thinking of butter chicken recipe, when you say 'authentic'.

I don't intend to write an elegy for the word 'authentic' here. It is inevitable that branding and its manifest smoke and mirrors will kill every shred of meaning lugging behind the facade of words. What I am more interested in is this question: Is there such a thing as authentic 'Indian taste'? A genuine inquiry would beget more questions such as 

Is there such a thing as authentic 'Indian taste'?

Is there such a thing as authentic 'Indian taste'?

Is there such a thing as authentic 'Indian taste'?

Reflections on money,hypocrisy and middle-class

I've always felt uncomfortable over conversations involving personal financial affairs. I suck at it. I noticed this keenly when I wrote a mail to a friend a week ago, reminding him of the money he owed me for the work I did for him. While writing the email, I could sense my discomfort as my train of thought inched closer to write the exact amount he owed me. I squirmed. I replaced the amount figure with a vague reminder to pay what was due. While I thought it was okay for such thing to happen with a not-so-close friend, I was surprised to see myself reacting the same way, if not with a fragile sense of discomfort, with my dearer ones. 

As I reflected on my uneasiness towards money, I could see my conditioned response making sense with money as a Faustian bargain with the devil. Why does money always have to be this way? What makes money so powerful to dictate us to do things that we don't like, take up jobs that we don't enjoy, live in cities that we hate, and live lives of quiet desperation?

Tasty nibbles on the web - #1

Life has never been easy for the health conscious. You are awash with choices. Yet you never savor those rare organic delicacies lying hidden in the sprawling forests of the Web. 

Starting with this week, I am trying my hand at the most ancient mode of subsistence known to mankind:hunting and gathering. Here's what I gathered this week.  

Social Media, ROI and all that jazz - Part I

"Social Media is all glamour and glitz offering no real value", my friend teased me wickedly over a cup of coffee, fully aware of my high-caffeine interests in things social. I didn't respond. I smiled smugly, attempting to make peace with his premature judgment. Or so I thought. Little did I realize that it would start an intense journey of introspection, drilling through the neural mine of my innards for value deposits worth sharing.


I paused. I could clearly see the reasons behind his dismissal. The tribe of Social Media gurus, ninjas, samurais are driving the social gold rush, sprouting all over like weeds, sucking the immediate hype value from the fertile soil.This tribe drives social as the proverbial hammer to which every problem ailing today's organization is the nail. Before you have understood the problem, voila! the solution is right there, defined in terms of collaboration and engagement, shouting and spitting loudly at your face. The tribe hasn't moved on from those heady days when Social Media was all about voluptuous statistics and Viva La Revolucion! 

As I introspected further, I realized that it was essential to address the elephant in the room : Social Media ROI. While there have been several pundits [for the lack of a better word] who have been addressing this question in earnest, I realized that there is lack of clarity in understanding the fundamental nature of social data. Here is a quick primer before we address the nagging question of Social Media ROI.