Shri Pawan Gupta

Founding Director, SIDH Foundation

The Evolution of My Journey

When I received the invitation to be here, I was quite astonished, as I am not very familiar with your family. I am somewhat distant, yet I hold great respect for you all. This respect did not come instantly; it grew gradually and this journey is what I wish to share with you today. I represent that flawed class of people who are often referred to as the educated. My education and the mindset it shaped and the mindset I hold today, is a journey I would like to take you through. This journey began in India and reached Bharat and in it, the ‘Lok’ (people) naturally entered. I did not have to strive much for this; I am fortunate.
I was born in Calcutta, as Katak ji mentioned. My early education was there and I was born into a family where socialist ideologies were prominent. Dr. Lohia and Jayaprakash ji were part of those early days, though later their paths diverged. Jayaprakash ji stayed at my maternal grandfather’s house and Dr. Lohia used to visit our home, being a close friend of my uncle. Along with them, many others like Karpuri Thakur, George Fernandes, Madhu Limaye and Raj Narayan ji would frequently visit. I took great pride in belonging to a family that cared deeply for the people and the nation.

Unveiling the Mask of Hypocrisy

Calcutta is where the British first set foot. From my childhood until I left school, I gradually observed that the Lieutenant there, Shri Aurobindo, before he went to Alipore Jail, used to edit a magazine. I cannot remember the name, but he wrote many articles in it. One of his articles mentioned, “There is no parallel to the hypocrites.” Slowly, I came to understand what hypocrisy meant. The hypocrisy I encountered in Calcutta was a specific kind—the hypocrisy of the liberal left. It is like wearing a mask, presenting oneself differently from who they truly are. The left and liberals have internalised their mask so much that they live one life personally and another publicly. The values they proclaim in public life have no connection with their personal lives. Values such as freedom, rights and equality are discussed, but they are disconnected from their own lives. I will return to how ordinary people live by their values, but today’s educated liberal left feels no need to live by these same values.

Beginning of My True Journey

I am sharing this with you because I believe intellectuality, if not connected to one’s experience and the eternal truth, can go astray. It can become abstract and disconnected from reality. Therefore, to be honest and restrained in front of you, I am sharing my experiences. After Calcutta, I saw and heard many things, but I will not elaborate on them now. I come to the point where the arrogance of being educated took hold of me—that I am educated, I am wise; I am educated, therefore I am wise. And these ordinary people of India, they are poor souls, they know nothing and we, the educated, have to make them like us. This thought unknowingly seeped into my mind.
I will skip the middle part of my story and come to 1989. I did engineering, ran some businesses and then in 1989, I came to Mussoorie with the intention of meditating, delving into Buddhist philosophy and exploring Jungian psychology, as I felt there was some connection between the two. While living  there, I visited villages out of curiosity—how dovillagers live, what are their houses like, what is their architecture? There was a certain romance to it. I must have visited four or five times and the villagers recognised me as someone who lived in Mussoorie. Since I wore a coat and shirt and had a car, they assumed I was educated. They said, “It seems you don’t do much. Why don’t you teac our children? We don’t have a school.” Thus, our first so-called school began and it quickly expanded. People helped a lot and from one, it grew to 35 schools in a few years.

Shocking Lessons

After three or four months of teaching, when I had built a relationship with the elderly women and men—because building relationships takes time— they began saying, “This education is ruining our children. They don’t help with the house or the fields. The boys wander around all day with their hands in their pockets, not doing any housework. The girls have started wearing nail polish and with those painted hands, they won’t touch cow dung. You came to help us, but this is what’s happening.” I heard many such things from them and by God’s grace, I paid attention to the truth in their words. If it weren’t for divine grace, these words might have gone in one ear and out the other. But we paid attention to the truth in their words and then many things started becoming clear to us.

The Beautiful Tree: Thought-Provoking Revelation

At the same time, I read a book by Dharampal ji, The Beautiful Tree. Many of you may have read it. In The Beautiful Tree, he quotes Mahatma Gandhi from a speech in London in 1931: “We were far more educated 100 years ago than we are today and the British uprooted our beautiful tree and left the roots exposed, which withered away in due course.” Dharampal ji documented this in his book. When I read it, I was literally sweating, as my belief—which is also the belief of most educated Indians—was that education was brought to India by the British. Before that, there were only Gurukuls where Vedic studies were conducted and that was only for Brahmins. However, after reading The Beautiful Tree, I realised that in almost every village in India, there were one or more schools. They might have been called Pathshalas, but they were like schools where all kinds of education  took place—agriculture, astrology, mathematics and grammar—and these varied according to the region. These schools existed in every village.

“The character of India is changing. Bharat is becoming ‘India’. The people undergoing this change are the new elite class of India.”
– Shri Pawan Guptha
Founding Director, SIDH Foundation

Colonial Notes and Native Education

If you look at the report of Thomas Munro from the Madras Presidency, you will find that the children coming to school were not just Brahmins, but also Banias, Kshatriyas and about 60-62% were Shudras, with 17-18% being Ati-Shudras. This aligns with today’s demographics. When I first read this, I couldn’t believe it, but then I realised it was a report by an Englishman and Dharampal ji had not interpreted it. The beauty of his work is that people call him a historian, but he was a different kind of historian. He didn’t even have a B.Sc. degree; he was not an academician in the formal sense. He did all his work to understand the country and its people and reproduced British documents as they were, without edits or cuts. He only provided a long introduction at the beginning of the book. Thus, the reports by Thomas Munro, William Adams and other British officials are credible because they had no reason to distort or exaggerate the information.

A Transformative Interaction with Dharampal ji

When I read this book, I contacted Dharampal ji. He lived in Sevagram. Later, when he came to Delhi, I met him and during the summer, I invited him to Mussoorie. He agreed and visited me. This was around 1995-96. After that, until his death in 2006, he spent about one and a half to two months every summer at my home in Mussoorie. These months, multiplied by ten, were the most precious times of my life with Dharampal ji. We discussed everything—from birds to Indian politics, from small insects to the biggest ideas. For Dharampal ji, there was no subject that could not be discussed. From English novels to Premchand’s works, from ancient literature to everything else, we talked about it all.
I presented the problem of the villagers saying that education was ruining them. Dharampal ji laughed and asked, “Have you read Mahatma Gandhi?” I thought, like many of us, I knew Gandhi without having truly read him. I was one of those. When he asked if I had read him, I said, “Apart from a few quotations, I haven’t read much.” He insisted that I read the complete works of Gandhi in both English and Hindi. I ordered both, 100 volumes each and he gave me a list. If you ever read Mahatma Gandhi, Dharampal ji suggested reading from 1916 to 1922, except for Hind Swaraj, written in 1908. But if you want to read from the complete works, then from 1916 to 1922, because during that time, Gandhi was fearlessly discussing Indian civilisation, not much about politics.

Gandhi’s Insight: A New Kind of Lesson

Many of us, including myself, do not agree with all of Gandhi’s political decisions, but for my clarity, I divide Gandhi into two parts: Political Gandhi and civilisational Gandhi. I am a follower of civilisational Gandhi. When I read his writings and speeches from 1916 to 1922, I understood that what is happening in my village today had already happened in other parts of India 100, 150, or 200 years ago. Gandhi says that English education has increased the distance between our homes and schools. At home, we wear dhotis, lungis, or sometimes no upper garment, but when we go to school, we wear coats and trousers. At home, we sit cross-legged, but in school, we sit with our legs hanging over benches. At home, we speak one language, but in school, we must speak another. All cultural dimensions are different at home and at school and in the child’s mind, whether they are good at studies or not, one thing settles: “I am going to school to learn something that cannot be learnt at home.” When these cultural dimensions are different, a notion settles in the child’s mind that their home is inferior and what is in school is superior. The result of this is a sense of inferiority and the other result of this inferiority is imitation. So, on one hand, there is inferiority and on the other, imitation.

Colonial Education: Tool of the British Raj

Let me give you an example of William Bentinck. Since we are talking about Calcutta, William Bentinck was the Governor-General of India and Calcutta was the capital. As you know, the British first came to Calcutta. In 1824, there was a cantonment area near Calcutta called Barrackpore, where a major sepoy mutiny took place, similar to the one in Meerut in 1857. But the British controlled and suppressed it early on. However, they were very shaken and scared. This fear is evident in the correspondence between William Bentinck and British high officials, which you can find in Dharampal ji’s works. In one letter from 1827, Bentinck writes, “Now there is nothing to worry about, as the educated Indians have started imitating our ways. They have stopped giving alms and contributions to the sadhus and mendicants and with the money saved, they are spending it to entertain themselves in the same way as we do in London. There is no danger now, as they have accepted our ways.”
Think about it. Bentinck writes that these Indians, after becoming educated, have started imitating us.”There is nothing to worry about now, because they are no longer rebelling against us, but are spending their money to become like us.” This one sentence says a lot—it reflects that Indian society, once generous with donations to sadhus and mendicants, is now spending its money not to give, but to imitate us or to please us. Bentinck, the highest British official in India, is writing this. So, the character of India is changing. Bharat is becoming ‘India’. The people undergoing this change are the new elite class of India.

The Birth of a New Elite: Colonial Shift

A new elite class is being born, displaced from Bharat and emerging into India. These people were elites even before the British arrived. Elites exist in every era and country. Even in Europe, the gap between the elite and the common people is not as pronounced in terms of language, speech, or clothing. They also wear ties, we wear ties; they wear jeans, we wear jeans; they speak English or French, we also speak English or French. Their cultural symbols are the same—they eat with knives and forks; so do we. Our old elite, before the British came, was no different. In fact, if you read the accounts of European travellers from 1498, when Vasco da Gama came to India, you’ll find that French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish travellers visited India continuously. Some were missionaries, others came simply to understand India. Why did they want to understand it? Because they knew India was rich. They were aware of the high level of scholarship, the advanced mathematics and astronomy, steel, cotton, etc. So, they sought to understand this country. If you read their accounts, you’ll repeatedly find four or five recurring points. The details may vary, but the broad picture is clear—they couldn’t understand what this country was.

Disorted Image of Our Past: Connecting the Dots

The elite and the common people here don’t wear clothes on their upper bodies, don’t wear footwear and sleep on mats, eating khichdi. They couldn’t comprehend this. In their minds, because in their countries the elites wear more clothes than necessary, wear boots, ride carriages or horses, while the common people walk, there is a visible difference between the elite and the common people. Here, there is no such difference. Even between kings and common people, there wasn’t much difference.

I could say that the King of Udaipur, before the British arrived, used to take a salary of one thousand rupees a month from his estate and not a penny more. When the British came, the Resident said, “What a ridiculous amount you are taking. You should increase it. We will raise your limits.” So, they increased his salary from one thousand rupees a month to one thousand rupees a day. The king didn’t know what to do with so much money, so he started throwing feasts for his people, inviting them to come and eat, saying, “I have so much money, I don’t know what to do with it.” Later, they taught him, “You must become civilised. You should learn manners, English, dancing and drinking wine.” So, English governors and other British individuals came to teach him all these things. If you visit any palace in Rajasthan, can you name one palace built in the 19th century? Almost all the palaces, where five-star hotels are now situated, were built in the 20th century, not the 19th. The constructions before that were forts and life in forts wasn’t luxurious or indulgent. What I mean is that, through these documents, I gradually understood that the image we have created of our past is completely distorted. The reality is something entirely different. How do we know this reality? Because we have almost nothing left. Dharampal ji used to say, “We must build a speculative mind.” What is a speculative mind? It’s when you connect the dots. You will find glimpses here and there—there were so many schools, the story of the King of Udaipur and many other scattered pieces. By connecting these dots, you will create a clearer picture of our past. And if you compare it with the reality of today’s common people, you will see the match.

So, I come back to my story. When I saw all this in the village, we did one more thing. We understood the problem through Gandhi ji, but we also did another thing. We conducted a content analysis of six types of textbooks: NCERT books used in CBSE schools, ICSE, Uttarakhand Board, Uttar Pradesh Board, Shishu Mandir and RSS schools, and Tamil Nadu Board.
Our conclusion was that superficially, there are differences. Some teach about Rana Pratap, others teach about Akbar, but the underlying mentality is the same. Let me explain with an example. There is a textbook for class three in Uttar Pradesh, which includes a lesson on Sarojini Naidu. What is written there will make you understand my point. A child in class three is typically eight or nine years old. The child, who speaks Awadhi, Brij or Bhojpuri at home, already believes that English is something very grand. They don’t even know the ABCs and then, when they read the lesson on Sarojini Naidu in the Hindi textbook, it says, “Sarojini Naidu was very intelligent. At the age of five, she wrote beautiful poems in English. She couldn’t speak but could write.” The child thinks, “I don’t even know the ABCs and she wrote poems in English at five.” And that’s why she was intelligent. What connections are forming in their minds? Are we raising their sense of inferiority or reducing it? I don’t believe the author intended this, but unknowingly, it has seeped into us. How do we remove this mindset?

Redefining Education: Challenging the Colonial Legacy

Another example: There is a textbook for classes one and two. It features a picture of a room with a sofa, a TV, a carpet and a man and woman sitting on the sofa. The man is wearing a hat and a suit. Who wears a hat while sitting on a sofa? I don’t know, but he is wearing a hat and a suit, sitting on the sofa. Next to him is probably his wife and below them is a girl. They’ve removed the boy now, as we have become more gender-sensitive, so now there’s only a girl. Underneath, it says, “Clean environment.” And next to it is another picture of a village environment with fields, threshing floors, cows, buffaloes and dung. And what is written there? “Polluted environment.” What are we doing? We are showing a picture of a village and labelling it “polluted”. We are showing a picture of a city room and labelling it “clean”. What are we putting into the minds of young children? That cities are clean, but villages are dirty? What is this? I’m giving you two prominent examples, but there are countless others in every textbook. This is not just from Uttar Pradesh; it’s the same in Tamil Nadu and other boards. Our textbooks are full of contradictions. In one place, it says resource conservation is important, sustainability is essential. In another, it talks about the number of cars per person in Japan and America. On one hand, it tells children to consume less and conserve more and on the other, it talks about development. The same child reads two conflicting messages in two classes and no one seems to notice. This is still happening.

Challenging the Mindset: The Role of Writers and Teachers

When we say we need to change the content, we must realise that unless the mentality of the writers changes, nothing will change. Both the mentality of the writers and the teachers needs to change. The guru is no longer present; now we have paid teachers. We must work with them, but mere training will not help. Don’t just train them—teach them.

“The image we have created of our past is completely distorted. The reality is something entirely different.”
– Shri Pawan Guptha
Founding Director, SIDH Foundation