War on Iraq: The End of Education?In the intervening period between thepublication of the first and second issues ofKamiriithu, the world of human beings hasbeen transformed in a most profound andtumultuous manner.The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraqby a country reported to be celebrating forsome time now “the end of history” hasfrontally assaulted our most cherishedhuman ideals. We have to seriously considernow whether the “end of history” in theUnited States of America has come to meanthe “end of education” there as well.What kind of “education” would allow thebrutalisation of the innocent people of Iraq,and earlier, of Afghanistan? Which systemof learning would justify the open theft ofresources from a nation kept forcibly impov-erished for a dozenyears? Can one everapplaud a high-techwar against a nationof undernourishedpeople, many chil-dren?The rulers of thesehighly “educated” andso-called advancedsocieties of theUnited States ofAmerica, theUnited Kingdomand their cronyallies violated everyconceivable law known to civilised society.They resorted to unacceptable levels ofviolence against innocent civilians. They liedand fabricated documents to show that theIraqis had weapons of mass destruction. Bytheir unilateral use of brute force, theinvaders created overnight a country bereftof civic life and education (and a planetemptied of international law as well).For decades, the United States has been amagnet for people seeking “quality educa-tion” from around the world. The “braindrain” of several years has ensured that“the best and the brightest” of young peoplefrom all across the planet end up in Ameri-can universities. How did this allegedlybrilliantly endowed country descend almostovernight into this abysmal sewer of humandepravities?Education ought to have prevented the needof war and all else associated with thisterrible human disease. We associateeducation with the hopeful long term curingof the human pathologies associated with allwar, just or unjust. These ideals failed inthe United States where even school chil-dren take up guns and spray their teachersand colleagues with lead in senseless boutsof violence. So what can be expected of theirpolitical leaders?In fact, the violent American conquest ofIraq symbolises not just the failure ofeducation in the United States, but itsrejection as well.With what face shall we teach Americanstudents about the beginnings of humancivilisation knowing we collaborated in thedestruction of museums that housed the

priceless heirlooms of the ancientcivilisations of Mesopotamia, Sumeria,Babylon? How do we teach the next genera-tions that the destruction of history andscholarship was required in order to safe-guard fuel supplies for American cars, stub-bornly pursuing not just the end of history,but the end of the planet as well?Can any decent, civilised citizen from anypart of the remaining profoundly humansocieties of Asia, Africa or South Americaever again pretend that flying to the US willany longer get him or her an “education”?What education? Education to become aplague, a pathogen, a disease?Post-Iraq, many will say that the direction inwhich we are headed is largely towardsmaking the planet a more miserable place forall the people fated to live in these times.Others, however, have a better view. MunirFasheh wrote me recently, for instance:“What is ugly is not new, it has been thereall the time, especially since the invasion ofthe Americas. What is new, and to me marksa new phase in human history, is the newspirit, as manifested for the first time inhuman history, in millions of people from allwalks of life and backgrounds and regionsgoing out on the same day in more than 600cities around the world and saying no to thedominant inhuman logic. They did not goout for support of a charismatic leader orideology (as what happened in the sixties) butfor feeling that the dominant logic will soonreach and wipe out everyone. This spirit,these manifestations reflect the main humantreasure which consists of what people andcultures have. The danger of wiping out lifefrom this earth is there, of course; thesemaniacs have the tools to do it. But, I feelthings are and will be swinging the otherdirection in the coming future.”The publication of Kamiriithu and its mes-sage is therefore timely. Multiworld’s associ-ates have no desire to conduct themselves aspall-bearers of the glorious ideals associatedwith “education”. But the Multiworld commu-nity is convinced that offering more andmore children to the altar of “American-inspired” educational institutions and theirlife-less curricula can only make the globe amore terrible and galling place to live in. AsArif Tabassum wrote recently, we can neverforget that “the nuclear bomb is a product ofschooled minds.”We may not be able to stop the Americanwar machine in its tracks as yet becausethere is today simply no institution largeenough to hold the clinically insane, thor-oughly schooled individuals who control anddirect it.But we can begin right now by taking greatercare about how we undertake the educationof our children: that we never surrenderthese most precious gifts from God to betrained for service in a system that can onlybenefit and strengthen this manic cabal ofanti-civilisation, anti-culture terrorists andthieves that claims it has reached the end ofhistory – and of education as well.Claude Alvares

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Multiworld

The End of Education 1

Network websites 2

Multiversity

Eurocentrism in Social Science 3

Universidad de la Tierra 4

Multiversity Tracts 5

Vazhviyal Multiversity goes toMalaysia 6

Taleemnet

To School or Not to School 7

Interview with “walk-outs” 8

Vinoba Bhave on Teaching 9

Unschooling in Pakistan 10

Love Letters to Kamiriithu 11

Ploughing a Lonely Furrow 12

2

Multiworld Network websitesmultiversity msn pageYusef Progler from the UAEruns an independent Multiver-sity website which also featuresexciting new discussion mate-rial, rare articles and reportson Multiversity themes.

You can access the site at:http://groups.msn.com/multi-

versityJoin the discussions there.

The site is frequently updatedand the discussions way out.Everything relating to the re-gime of Western academic stud-ies is being challenged with de-termination, verve and imagi-nation.

Progler is also editing a se-ries of short booklets containingessays by important scholarswho have attempted to chal-lenge in a fundamental wayWestern academic culture andits various associated compo-nents. Called the “Radical Es-sentials Pamphlet Series”, theessays appear in the format ofcolourful booklets (see p.5 ofthis issue for more details). In-dian editions of these bookswill be out shortly.

These booklets have beendesigned for seminars andworkshops on themes relatingto decolonisation of knowledge.

3. Edward Said, Orientalism4. J.P.S Uberoi, Science and Culture5. Nsekuye Bizimana, White Para-

dise, Hell for Africa?6. M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj7. Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society8. Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality9. Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity10. Sunil Sahasrabudhey, Gandhi’s

Challenge to Modern Science11. Masanobu Fukuoka, The One

Straw Revolution12. Ashis Nandy, The Intimate Enemy13. Claude Alvares, Decolonising His-

tory14. Claude Alvares, Science, Develop-

ment and Violence15. Ziauddin Sardar, editor, The Touch

of Midas16. Winin Pereira, Inhuman Rights17. Winin Pereira, Global Parasites18. K.M. Panikkar, Asia and Western

Dominance19. Walter Rodney, How Europe Un-

derdeveloped Africa20. Mohammad Kattami, Islam, Lib-

erty and Development

21. D.L.O. Mendis, Eppawala: Destruc-tion of Cultural Heritage in theRace of Development

22. Dharampal, Collected Writings (5vols)

27. Just World Trust, Dominance of theWest Versus the Rest

28. Just World Trust, Human Wrongs:Reflections on Western GlobalDominance and its Impact on Hu-man Rights

29. Orlando Fals Borda, Knowledgeand People’s Power

30. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart31. Orlando Albornoz, Sociology and

the Third World Perspective32. Renato Constantino, Synthetic

Culture and Development33. Claude Ake, Democracy and De-

velopment in Africa34. Roberto Galeano, Open Veins of

Latin America35. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Moving the

Center36. Ali Shariati, The Sociology of Is-

lam.37. Ziauddin Sardar, How we know:

Ilm snd the revival of knowledge.

Eventually, the entire 500 titleswill be written onto a single CDwhich will not be available for salecommercially. However, scholarsand teachers from Asia, Africa andSouth America will be able to askfor copies for use in classrooms andfor purposes of their own research.

Where permissions from au-thors or publishers is available, weshall also post the entire text ofthese books on the Net.

Multiversity is also commencingpreparation of an annotated bibliog-raphy of up to 10,000 articles writ-ten by intellectuals from the Southand organised under various disci-plines and which demonstrate cre-ative work, new ideas, methodolo-gies equal to or superior to what wehave learned from the academic in-stitutions of the West. Many ofthese articles are already posted onthe Net.

We request intellectuals, writers,academics from Asia, Africa andSouth America to use the webpagesof multiversitylibrary.com andmultiworld.org to circulate the bestof their writing within the interna-tional community.

multiversitylibrary.comHitherto, the knowledge we in Asia,Africa and South America created orwhich we still create everyday, wassuppressed or was simply ignoredbecause it did not fit within thedominant paradigms that rule theacademic world. The present dayoutput of books – that wield influ-ence in the knowledge system beingdisseminated – is notorious for itslack of any works generated by in-tellectuals from the South. So oneof the Multiversity’s first tasks hasbeen the rescue, airing and sharingof suppressed knowledge.To achieve this, the Multiversity hasset up an internet library calledMultiversitylibrary.com. The site willoffer scholars from Asia, Africa andSouth America free loads of majortitles written by scholars from thesecontinents.

Eventually the Internet Multi-versity library will comprise over500 of the best titles from Asia, Af-rica and South America. The list oftitles already scanned includes thefollowing:

1. Ngugi wa Thiong’o,Decolonising the Mind

2. Rana Kabbani, Devise and Rule:Europe’s Myths of Orient

multiworld.orgMultiworld.org is the mainMultiworld website.

We are encouraging educa-tional activists in every countrywithin the South to have theirown Multiworld chapter andsite, operated by their own coregroup. Naturally, several ofthese will be in their own na-tional, regional or local lan-guages, with crosslinks to themain Multiworld page.

The main website will even-tually host discussions in theprincipal languages of theSouth: Hindi, Chinese, Swahili,Spanish, Arabic, Farsi etc.

Multiworld.org, for the mo-ment, also hosts the Multiver-sity site. It also hosts the dis-cussion dealing with the teach-ing and implications of (colo-nial) international law.

There are crosslinks thatwill take you to othermultiworld sites, includingthose dealing with schooling(taleemnet) and organic agri-culture (indiaorganic). We arealso providing linkages to sev-eral other sites which are work-ing in similar directions.

We are also envisioningseparate Multiworld sites onspecific issues like the WTO,debt, international law, etc. Anyperson volunteering to set upand run such sites for us iswelcome to do so. Please keepus informed so that work is notunnecessarily duplicated. If youcome across interesting sitesthat should be linked with theMultiworld page, please informus.

The multiworld.org site isbeing updated every week com-mencing June, 2003. We wel-come comments and contribu-tions to the multiworldwebpage from sympathetic col-leagues and friends in Asia, Af-rica and South America. ThisNetwork is not designed to berun from above, but through itsnumerous constituents.

indiaorganic.org

This site deals exclusively withthe field of organic agriculturalscience.

Traditional agriculture inalmost all countries has beenreplaced by imported agribusi-ness science based on use of co-pious synthetic chemicals andpesticides pushed by huge cor-porations.

In several countries, in fact,farmers have been cut off frominherited knowledge of farmingand are now finding it difficultto survive with an alien systemof growing crops that is not onlyincreasingly unprofitable butthat actually devastates the en-vironment as well.

For the moment, the infor-mation available relateslargely to the organic farmingmovement in India and Malay-sia.

The site provides linkagesto several organic farming siteswithin the country and abroad.

It reports on intellectualwork carried out by farmersand innovations in the area ofrestoring soil fertility, improv-ing the micro-community of soilspecies and organisms, home-made inputs, etc.

The main activities of or-ganic farming teaching are car-ried out under the rubric ofVazhviyal Multiversity which islocated in Tamilnadu and wasinaugurated on September 11,2002.

The first major activity ofVazhviyal has been the con-ducting of training camps forfarmers eager to turn awayfrom chemical farming.

In April 2003, several farm-ers from Tamilnadu visitedMalaysia to exchange noteswith farmers there on naturalfarming techniques.

taleemnet.orgThis site is exclusively for re-porting on discussions and ex-periments dealing with learn-ing experiences outside schoolwalls or outside the frameworkof ‘factory schooling’.

Taleemnet is actually thefirst major site dedicated exclu-sively to de-schooling orunschooling experiments inAsia, Africa and SouthAmerica.

The site aims to create aninternational community ofparents and students who takea decision to “walk-out” ofschool and resume learning us-ing their own resources.

Educators, parents andstudents are encouraged tovisit the site to learn about themental and spiritual damagethat is done to children andlearners when they submitthemselves to the coercive pro-cesses of schooling.

After reading the critique,parents may be interested inknowing what other parents aredoing in different parts of thecountry and abroad.

The site features stories ofchildren who have done betterout of school than if they hadcontinued with it.

Taleemnet hosts storiesmaking fun of the school andcartoons critical of the school.

The site also provides a de-tailed overview of educationalsystems outside the purview ofWestern educational institu-tions.

Links are provided to sig-nificant home-schooling move-ments within the industrialisedcountries where there is aneven greater mental anguishabout the negative impact ofschooling on the personality de-velopment of children andyouth.

3The Multiworld Network’s Newsletter

Why read or teach the works of Marx, Weber and Durkheimor other European authors long since departed to a class ofSingaporean or Southeast Asian students? What have the

ideas of three European theorists born in the last century ina different cultural milieu to do with the non-European

regions of the world today?

Writing in the early part ofthe last century, Benoy KumarSarkar (1887-1949) was wellahead of his time when hecensured Asian thinkers forhaving fallen “victim to the fal-lacious sociological methodsand messages of the modernWest, to which the postulate ofan alleged distinction betweenthe Orient and the Occident isthe first principle of science.”He attacked such Eurocentricnotions as the inferiority ofHindus in matters of scienceand technology, the one-sidedemphasis on the other-worldlyand speculative dimension ofthe Hindu spirit, and the al-leged dichotomy between Ori-ent and Occident. He wasalso critical of the methodol-ogy of the prevailing Indologyof his times on three grounds:(i) it overlooked the positive,materialistic and secular theo-ries and institutions of theHindus, (ii) it compared theancient and medieval condi-tions of India with modern andcontemporary European andAmerican societies, and (iii) itignored the distinction be-tween existing institutions onthe one hand and ideals onthe other.Sarkar was very explicit abouthis call for a new Indologythat would function to demol-ish the idolas of Orientalismas they are found in sociology.In 1968, the well-known In-dian periodical, Seminar, de-voted an issue to the topic ofacademic colonialism, whichwas understood in terms oftwo aspects. One referred tothe use of academically gener-ated information by overt andcovert North American agen-cies to facilitate political domi-nation of Afro-Asian countries.The other referred to the eco-nomic, political and intellec-tual dominance that NorthAmerican academics them-selves exercise over academicselsewhere.Why read or teach the worksof Marx, Weber and Durkheimor other European authorslong since departed to a classof Singaporean or SoutheastAsian students? What havethe ideas of three Europeantheorists born in the last cen-tury in a different cultural mi-lieu to do with the non-Euro-pean regions of the world to-day?While the various calls for al-ternative discourses have in

Why Teach European Social Science to Asians?

theory questioned the existingparadigms in the social sciences,they have so far been unable todisplace the fundamental as-sumptions of specific disciplinesin practice. The pragmatic needto reproduce disciplines such associology and anthropology de-mands that certain continuitieswith the past be maintained.Hence, it is not insignificantthat the critique of the humansciences is confined to the pro-fessional arena (that is, scientificjournals, conferences and otheracademic forums) with the par-ticipants being established schol-

have attempted to deal with theissue of teaching sociologicaltheory by way of a more univer-salistic approach to the study ofsociological theory. This in-cludes raising the question ofwhether sociological theorisinghad been done outside of thebounds of European modernity.This would imply changes in so-ciology theory curricula. Wehave been experimenting withvarious approaches entailingchanges in the way sociologicaltheory is taught. Some interest-ing results came out of suchchanges which we had reported

This is an introductory courseto Muslim civilization. Em-phasis is on the historical, cul-tural and social context of theemergence and development ofIslam, and the great diversitythat exists in the Muslimworld, from Morocco in thewest to Indonesia in the east.The course is divided into fivesections. The first, consistingof two lectures, provides an in-troduction to the study of civi-lizations in general, defines Is-lam as belief and practice,creed and civilization, andbriefly discusses the origins ofIslam.The next set of lectures dis-cusses the spread of Islam andthe encounter between Islamand the West in the past.This part of the course intro-duces the major cultural areaswithin Muslim civilization,that is, the Arab, Persian, Ot-toman, Moghul, and Malay,and covers topics such as theMuslim conquest of Spain andSicily, the Crusades, and theIslamization of Southeast Asia.The third part of the courseexamines the cultural dimen-sion of Muslim civilization,with particular emphasisplaced on the religious and ra-tional sciences that developedamong the Arabs and Per-sians, their contact with theGreek heritage, and the im-pact that Islam had on medi-eval European philosophy andscience. Also discussed in thispart of the course are the lit-erary and artistic dimensionsof Muslim civilization.The fourth part of the coursefocuses on current issues inthe contemporary period (post-World War II). Particular em-phasis is given to the emer-gence of Orientalism in Europeand the Islamic response to it.This section also provides anoverview of the politicaleconomy of the Muslim world,setting the stage for discus-sions on a number of contem-porary problems and issuessuch as gender, underdevelop-ment, Islamic revivalism, andimperialism.The main objective is to bringstudents to an understandingof what I understand as thethree central themes of thestudy of civilizations: a) Inter-civilizational encounters; b)Multicultural origins of moder-nity and c) The variety ofpoints of view. (Full text ofthis paper at multiworld.org)

ars and not students. The cri-tique of the social sciences thatemanated from academic institu-tions in Asia, Africa and LatinAmerica tended to remain at anabstract and reflexive level.There had been several thought-ful pieces on the state of thevarious disciplines, raising theissue of the lack of connected-ness between social science andthe societies in which it wastaught. But the calls todecolonize the social scienceswere generally not followed bysuccessful attempts to build ‘in-digenous’ theories and autono-mous social science traditions,delinked from the academic coreof Western Europe and NorthAmerica. Neither have thesecalls manifested themselves atthe level of teaching in the so-cial sciences. As far as sociologi-cal theory is concerned course onthis throughout the world tendto restrict themselves to discus-sion and exposition of the worksof Marx, Weber and Durkheimin addition to those of othernineteenth century Westernscholars.Given this scenario, my col-league, Vineeta Sinha, and I

in the journal, Teaching Sociol-ogy.These changes involved, amongother things, introducing Asianthinkers who were grapplingwith similar problems of socialchange and emerging modernityas nineteenth century Europeanscholars were. For example, theworks of Ibn Khaldun,Rammohun Roy, Jose Rizal andBenoy Kumar Sarkar weretaught in addition to those ofMarx, Weber and Durkheim.We are also planning to intro-duce the ideas of East Asianthinkers such as the Japanese,Ogy Sorai (1666-1728).Because of the relative au-tonomy that university profes-sors enjoy, we are in a positionto make such changes in thecourses that we teach, even ifentire curricula cannot be re-vamped along these lines. Inaddition to the two courses men-tioned above, I have attemptedto put into practice somethemes that I believe should in-form the dialogue among civiliza-tion in a course entitled “Islamand Contemporary Muslim Civi-lizations”.

Syed Farid Alatas of the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore tells us of the newcourses he and his colleagues are designing in order to marginalise the dominance and tyranny

of Western social scientists and their work in his sphere of influence.

B R I N G I N G C O L O U R B A C K I N T O A C A D E M I C S T U D I E S

4

They came from villages andbarrios, mostly Indigenous.They were naive refuseniks,fed up with the classroom.They came with curiosity,rather than conviction. Theyheard about Universidad de laTierra from friends or ac-quaintances and decided togive it a try.They knew that we have noteachers or curricula and don’tprovide educational services.They loved the idea that theywould be in full control oftheir own learning – the con-tent, the rhythm, the condi-tions. But it was not easy forthem to take such controlinto their hands. (Even thosethat suffered school for only afew years were already condi-tioned to think of themselvesas passive receptacles for re-ceiving instructions).As soon as they arrive, theystart to work with a tutor, aperson doing what they wantto learn, who is willing to ac-cept them as apprentices.In doing their work, in observ-ing their tutors, the ‘students’usually discover that somebooks may have good use. Asapprentices with an agrarianlawyer, for example, they ob-serve how he alludes duringhis work to some articles ofthe Agrarian Law and smellwith curiosity that little bookfull of strange sentences. Attheir request, a reading circlestarts, where several ‘stu-dents’ study together theAgrarian Law.They also discover that theyneed specific skills to do whatthey want to do. Most of thetime, they get those skills bypractice. At their request,they may attend specific work-shops, to shorten the timeneeded to get those skills.We have regular seminars, tofreely discuss what we wantto discuss. We usually startwith a definition of a commoninterest. Someone suggests aspecific text, pertinent to thetheme. In the next session weorganise our conversationaround what we read. Thenumber of participants in ev-ery session varies from six to25.We also organise special semi-nars, when one of us or an in-teresting visitor has some-thing to share. The speakerspeaks for 30 or 40 minutesand all the participants dis-cuss with him or her for oneor two hours more.A regular seminar is focusedon the ideas of Iván Illich. Weare exploring how he articu-lated our experience at thegrassroots and how appropri-ately he achieved this. We usea selection of his texts as areference or a framework toexamine our own experience.

Universidad de la Tierra:

Reclaiming Our Freedom to Learn

The seminar has been veryfruitful. Most of the participantsare now conscious refuseniks.Our ‘students’ have been learn-ing faster than we expected. Af-ter a few months they start tobe called by their communitiesto do there what they havelearned. Some of them are com-bining different lines of learningin a creative way. One of them,for example, combined organicagriculture and soil regeneration(his original interest), with ver-nacular architecture. He is thusenriching, though a variety ofexperiences and tutors, what agood peasant usually does. In-stead of seeking to get dignityand income by producing and

denied to them by the educa-tional system. Instead of certify-ing a number of ass-hours, asconventional diplomas, we cer-tify a specific competence that isimmediately appreciated by thecommunities.We are also extending similardiplomas to wise people, whomay never have been in aschool or our university. Theircompetence is certified by theirpeers and the community. Theidea, again, is to use in our ownway – laughingly – the symbolsof the dominant system.The cost of the whole adventureis ridiculously low, almost irrel-evant. Most of the ‘students’,however, do require support for

school with those out of theschool. The latter knew moreabout everything, except thenational anthem... And thosegoing to school were lookingdown at their communitiesand cultures, and subordinat-ing their minds and hearts tothe authority of the teacher.Maldonado’s report is titled,“How the school produces ig-norance”.The people in the villagesknow very well that theschool prevents their childrenfrom learning what is neededfor survival in the community.And that it does not offer tothem appropriate preparationfor life or work out of the com-munity. They no longer del-egate their children’s learningto the school, but most ofthem don’t dare take the chil-dren out of the school either.They don’t want to deprivethem of the school diploma, arequired passport in modernsociety, whose lack is a con-tinual source of discriminationand humiliation.They know by experiencewhat happens with thoseabandoning their communitiesto get “higher education”.They will not come back to thecommunity and are usuallylost in the cities, in degradedjobs. A recent official studyfound that only 8% of allgraduates of Mexican universi-ties will be able to work inwhatever they graduated. Cer-tified lawyers or engineers aredriving a taxi or tending astall. Inspite of such aware-ness, people still hold the illu-sion that higher educationmay offer something to theirchildren. They don’t feel com-fortable in depriving their chil-dren of such “opportunity”.And so we created our univer-sity. Young men or womenwithout any diploma, and bet-ter if they never attended theschool, can come with us.They will be able to learnwhatever they want to learn –practical trades, like topogra-phy or law, or fields of study,like philosophy, astronomy,whatever. They will learn theskills of the trade or field ofstudy as apprentices of some-one doing those activities.They will also learn, in doingit, how to learn with moderntools and practices, not avail-able in their communities.We called it ‘university’ tolaugh at the official systemand to be able to provide uni-versity diplomas, protectingour ‘graduates’ from discrimi-nation. But we also reclaimedfor our organisation an old tra-dition of the medieval univer-sity: the opportunity for agroup of friends to learn andstudy together, around a table

Gustavo Esteva (who wrote this piece for Multiversity) is a grassroots activist and deprofessionalized intellectual. Author of 27 books and manyessays, he lives in a small indigenous village in Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. Universidad de la Tierra en Oaxaca was created by a coalition of

grassroots organisations. The University is a unique institution created for the uneducated and unschooled of South America. We welcome manymore such universities all across the planet. Those wanting to set one up can contact Gustavo Esteva at: gustavoesteva@terra.com.mx

And so we created our university. Young men or womenwithout any diploma, and better if they never attended the

school, can come with us. They will be able to learn whateverthey want to learn – practical trades, like topography or law,or fields of study, like philosophy, astronomy, whatever. Theywill learn the skills of the trade or field of study as appren-tices of someone doing those activities. They will also learn,

in doing it, how to learn with modern tools and practices, notavailable in their communities.

selling professional services, helearns how to share what he islearning with others. Like thepeasants.What we are mostly doing is toreclaim practices of apprentice-ship as old as the hills, andcomplement them with somecontemporary practices forshared learning and study.To define areas of apprentice-ship, we explore with the com-munities both the kind of knowl-edge or skills not available inthem and the kind of learningthey want for their youngpeople.Of course we also play with thesymbols of the oppressive educa-tional system. After one or twoyears of learning, once the ‘stu-dents’ are successfully able toperform the activities they wantto learn (as Agrarian Lawyersor Alternative Medical Practitio-ners, in Popular Communica-tion, Vernacular Architecture,Forestry, Social Research, etc.),we give them a magnificent uni-versity diploma. We are thus of-fering them a ‘social recognition’

food and lodging, since they areout of their communities duringtheir learning process. This hasbeen a limiting factor, prevent-ing us from accepting all the‘students’ that apply to learn atUnitierra.Why Unitierra?Years ago, we started to observein villages and barrios, particu-larly among Indigenous peoples,a radical reaction against educa-tion and schools. A few of themclosed their schools and expelledtheir teachers. Most of themavoided the political conflict in-volved in such move and optedfor by-passing the school, whilereclaiming and regenerating theconditions in which people tradi-tionally learned their own ways.They came to this point after along experience. For many yearsthey resisted the school. Andthen, like the Zapatistas, theysaid ¡Basta!, Enough! They knewvery well what was happening.Benjamín Maldonado, a younganthropologist, certified it. Usinga collection of tests, he com-pared children going to the (continued next page)

5The Multiworld Network’s Newsletter

Multiversity TractsCitizens International, Malaysia,has brought out these six book-lets which look at the world andits major problems through non-Western eyes and brains.Kamiriithu has already featured“White Studies” in its first issue.John Mohawk is a native Ameri-can who has challenged the he-gemony of Western thinking. Sohas Ali Shariati, who also wrotecritically of Western academicsciences and sought to replacethem with Islamic models.‘Digital Diploma Mills’ is a sharpcritique of the Western educa-tion system with its new empha-sis on distance learning.Frederic Clairmont is an elo-quent writer who forecasts theend of Western liberalism andits manifestation as an empire.The War on Iraq is a revealingexposure of Israeli direction ofthe criminal US led war on Iraq.

These booklets are part of the“Radical Essentials PamphletSeries”. The series in intendedto bring readers a collection ofessays necessary for envisioninglife beyond the hegemonic gripof Western modernity, itsknowledge traditions and itssocio-economic systems. Pam-phlets feature works by ThirdWorld thinkers developing theirown intellectual traditions andworks by maverick thinkers op-erating within the Western in-tellectual tradition.The focus of the series is on ac-tion-oriented critical analysisabout a variety of contemporarytopics, including the environ-ment, consumerism, technology,health and education.You can order all the titles fromOther India Bookstore, AboveMapusa Clinic, Mapusa 403 507Goa, India. Rs.30 each.

Esteva: Reclaiming Our Freedom to Learn– not to get any diploma oradvance up the education lad-der, but for the joy of it.We started recently anotheradventure. People of 300 com-munities from three provincesare participating with us in anexercise in cultural regenera-tion. We have two or threeday workshops, in groups of20 to 40, every six months, insome towns near the commu-nities. Every month we haveone or two day workshops, ingroups of 3 to 8, in the com-munities. We share with allthe participants some texts,audiocassettes and videocas-settes, for them to share theexperience in their communi-ties. For a few months we willshare reflections on our cul-tures and how they have beenaffected and damaged. Theparticipants will then conceiveof initiatives to strengthentheir own cultures. During thefollowing years we will accom-pany them in the implementa-tion of their initiatives. Thoseso willing may continue theirlearning process in the univer-sity.In this adventure we are us-ing the analogy of a tree. In

recent years, indigenous peopleshave been repeating an old say-ing: “They wrenched off ourfruits... They ripped off ourbranches... They burned ourtrunk... But they could not killour roots.” The foliage repre-sents the visible aspect of a cul-ture, its morphology. The trunk,part visible and part invisible,represents the structural aspect.And the roots represent theirmyths, their view of the world,their notion of the self, space,time, spirituality.A culture may have, as a tree,some grafts – something broughtby another culture that becamefully incorporated. The Span-iards, for example, brought theplough, which is now an inti-mate part of our peasant cul-tures. But to prosper, a graftshould be of the same species,and it should be grafted in theappropriate way. In the commu-nities there are also many alienelements, that cannot be graftedin their cultures. They may de-cide to keep them and use themin their own way, with a criticaldistance, or they may decide toreject them, as something dam-aging or dissolving their ownculture. The school is often the

first example mentioned by theparticipants when we discusssuch alien elements. They re-member that three years ago,in a public forum of the indig-enous peoples of Oaxaca, aftermonths of reflection and dis-cussion, they declared: “Theschool has been the main toolof the State to destroy the In-digenous cultures”.We are learning together,with these young or old peopledesignated in communities’ as-semblies of ten indigenouspeoples to participate in thisadventure of ‘reflection in ac-tion’. We are learning how toregenerate our own cultures.We are hospitably opening ourarms and hearts to others, butfully aware that we need toprotect our own cultural treesfrom inhospitable people, toolsand practices that corrupt orkill them. We are thus heal-ing ourselves from the dam-ages done to us bycolonisation and development.And we are joyfully walkingagain our own path, trustingagain our own noses, dream-ing again our own dreams...

An ApologyDespite the best of our ef-forts, we were unable tobring out Kamiriithu earlier.But in the near future aswell, the publication ofKamiriithu will not be on aregular basis. This is largelybecause we are operating ona shoe-string basis, with com-pletely inadequate staff.We have therefore taken aunilateral decision that sub-scriptions sent for the news-letter will not be valid for abi-monthly published over sixmonths of the year. Instead,all subscriptions will be for aset of six issues as and whenthese are published.The reason for this change?We have decided to ensurethat half of the newsletterwill feature actual stories ofpeople already working tomeet multiversity objectives.Meeting such people andwriting up their storiestakes considerable time. But,you will agree, such storieswill ensure that Kamiriithuis not just a talk shop, but areal life workshop as well.We are keen to ensure thatsubscribers preserve everyissue of Kamiriithu as if itwere gold. Or better.

Enlightened thinkers and therevolutionary SocietyBy Ali Shariati (Rs. 30, US$3)

War on Iraq: Conceived inIsrael. By Stephen Sniegoski(Rs. 30, US$3)

White StudiesBy Ward Churchill (Rs. 30, US$3)

A Basic Call to ConsciousnessBy John Mohawk (Rs. 30, US$3)

Digital Diploma MillsBy David Noble (Rs. 30, US$3)

USA: The Crumbling of EmpireBy Frederik F Clairmont(Rs. 30, US$3)

(continued from previous page)

6

Over the years, almost all ofMalaysia’s agriculture has con-verted to intensive farmingbased on expensive syntheticchemicals and toxic pesticides.However, as with farmers’ ex-periences elsewhere, the useof these chemicals is producingdiminishing results. Farmersfind they are making greatercash payments to companiesfor costly inputs, while theiroutput is stagnant or declin-ing.Worse, synthetic chemicalsdamage the soil, driving outthe micro and macro fauna in-cluding earthworms. Toxicpesticides affect not only thehealth of those farmers thatuse them, but also end up inthe food crops bought by inno-cent people in the open mar-ket. They also destroy impor-tant elements of the ecosys-tem including honey-bees andfish in the streams and pondsinto which the toxic pesticidesend up.All these impacts of modern“green revolution” agricultureare well known, but those whocontinue to propagate thepackage of practices associatedwith it have no options left.Within this context, Indian or-ganic farmers appeared to benatural candidates for initiat-ing Malaysian farmers into theintricacies of natural farming:a way of growing crops thatrelies wholly on recycled natu-ral materials and eschewscompletely any dependence oninputs, especially syntheticchemicals, from outside thefarm.The organic farming move-ment has taken great strideswithin India in the past de-cade. The Third World Net-work played a key role in themovement by assisting in thepublication of The OrganicFarming Source Book, anencyclopaedic document thatcreated enormous excitementand energy among those look-ing for alternatives to modernagriculture and induced a run-away trend among farmersconverting to natural farming.In many areas, theSourcebook functioned as asort of clearing-house for newideas relating to organic agri-culture. Today farmers in In-dia are glad to be rid of thedependence on costly syntheticchemicals, toxic pesticides,bank credit, crop insuranceand a host of other dependencecreated by the so-called GreenRevolution of the mid-sixties.Since a number of farmers inMalaysia originally migratedfrom Tamilnadu in India (asso-ciated with earlier indenturedlabourers), it was decided tobring in farmer teachers fromTamilnadu, so that the prob-

cow: milk, curd, ghee, dungand urine. Panchagavya en-ables farmers using syntheticchemicals to make the switchto a non-chemicals based agri-culture within the space of ayear.The five elements required forPanchagavya are mixed in cer-tain pre-fixed proportions fol-lowing a recipe invented by amedical doctor and allowed toferment. After a set period of18 days, the Panchagavya isready to be diluted and used asa growth promoter and as asoil conditioner. Once afarmer begins to prepare anduse Panchagavya, he turns hisback completely on syntheticchemicals and pesticides. Hethereby saves considerableamounts that normally go outof his hard earned earnings topay for such costly chemicals.Another major component ofthe techniques wasvermicomposting: the use ofselect species of earthwormsfor preparing compost from ag-ricultural wastes.Earthworm farming is a majorindustry in India with severalentrepreneurs setting up hugesheds for raising these usefulcreatures. The earthwormsare raised for sale and also forproducing A grade compostwhich farmers use in place ofsynthetic chemicals.Malaysian farmers had severalmisconceptions – mostly hos-tile – about earthworms.Some believed that earth-worms, if not eliminated,would destroy vegetables byboring holes through such pro-duce. It took some time for theIndians to rid the farmers ofthese prejudices and to con-vince them that earthwormswere a useful and very effec-tive tool for sustainable agri-culture.From day one, the Tamiliansalso taught the Malaysianshow to manufacture their own,environmentally benign,herbal pesticides. Nammalwarand his team were able toidentify several plants theyfound growing in the Malaycountryside – and which arenormally treated as “weeds” –that could be used for purposesof controlling pests. Farmerswere taught how to mashthese leaves, then boil themand finally use the concoctionsin the form of effective spraysto control pests.The Indian farmers also visitedMerbok in Kedah, a typicalMalaysian paddy growing vil-lage, where they spent threedays talking to farmers andteaching them the use ofearthworms and herbal pesti-cides.Claude Alvares

Teaching Across Borders

Multiversity introduces natural farming to MalaysiaThrough the assistance of the Third World Network, organic farmers from Vazhviyal Multiversity arrived in Malaysia for a three week

teaching tour targetted at getting Malaysian farmers to switch to natural farming and decrease their dependence on destructive Westernagricultural science. Malaysia’s farmers appear to have completely forgotten about composting, earthworms and mulching. The rotten

economics of modern agriculture based on expensive fertilisers and toxic pesticides is inducing them to learn their subject all over again.

lem of communication would notconstitute an obstacle.Accordingly, three key organicfarmers associated withVazhviyal Multiversity werefirst selected to visit Malaysiaand train their Malaysian coun-terparts. The three farmers in-cluded G Nammalwar, one ofthe principal leaders of the or-ganic farming movement inTamilnadu. (Nammalwar is aformer trained agricultural sci-entist who today disavows what-ever he learnt at agriculturaluniversity.)65 year old Nammalwar sur-prised ordinary Malaysians byhis vast knowledge of plantsfound during his visit. Whilewalking around either in theurban environment or in thefields of the Malays, he pickedup various grasses, weeds, fernsand other plants and explained

their medicinal properties. Heeven picked up several plantsgrowing by the roadside inPenang town and explained howthey could be used for dealingwith specific pests in agricul-ture.The other farmers included K.Mohanasundaram, Tamilnadu’sbest known organic turmericgrower and M Venkatachalam,a barefoot untrained entomolo-gist who learnt the entire art ofbiological pest control on hisown without going to universityand set up a successful villagelevel unit for raising naturalpredators that farmers could usein their fields against pests.The three farmers spent practi-cally the entire month of April(2003) visiting farmers in vari-ous parts of Malaysia:Cameroon High Lands, Ipoh,Kedah, Penang and KL. Theycame equipped with slide presen-tations on various techniquesand procedures that were essen-tial to natural farming.They began their first course inCameroon Highlands with amere ten farmers in attendance.As news of their techniques

spread and the media got in-volved, more and more enqui-ries poured into the offices of theConsumers Association ofPenang that was organizing thetour. By the end of their stay,the organic farming promotiontour was covered by The Star,the New Strait Times, UtusanKonsumer and a host of Tamilnewspapers including Tamil Na-tion, Malaysia Namban, MakkalOsai and Kumudam.The Indian farmers were sur-prised to discover that their Ma-laysian counterparts had com-pletely forgotten how to preparesimple compost and were rou-tinely getting rid of the largequantities of organic waste gen-erated on their farms by dispos-ing them of as unwanted andtroublesome garbage. The firststep was therefore teaching theassembled farmers how to pro-

cess such agricultural wastes in-cluding dead leaves.The Tamilian teachers alsotaught the Malaysians the art ofmulching their crops. Mulchingis a key organic farming tech-nique by which the soil is cov-ered with a layer of dead agri-cultural waste materials so as toform a blanket above it. The or-ganic soil cover has several im-portant advantages when com-pared with keeping the soil ex-posed to the elements: the soilunder the mulch is cooler. Inaddition, its water requirementis less since evaporation ratesare also cut down. The mulcheventually degrades and mergeswith the soil, creating afavourable substratum called hu-mus for beneficial microbes toflourish. The microbes are re-sponsible for unleashing biologi-cal and chemical processes thatassist in plant growth and planthealth.Besides composting and mulch-ing, the Malaysians were alsotaught the art of making“Panchgavya”, an exciting micro-bial brew prepared by mixingfive elements sourced to the

Organic farmers from Vazhviyal Multiversity (Tamilnadu) explain to Malay-sian farmers the basic skills of composting agricultural wastes

7The Multiworld Network’s Newsletter

Schools are both a manifesta-tion and a tool of the dominantlogic.One basic ingredient in anylogic is the assumptions/pre-mises/ governing values (orwhatever word one uses inthis regard). A basic valuewithin the dominant logic isthe belief in universal think-ing, i.e. believing in a single,undifferentiated path forprogress. Other values thataccompany this value of uni-versalism are control and win-ning. Measurement becomesa corollary, absolutely neces-sary for the spread of controland universal thinking. In or-der for these values to beserved best, the mind had tobe elevated to a supremeruler and wisdom had to beimprisoned. This logic alongwith its values have been amajor factor in destroying di-versity, distorting pluralism,forcing learning to move alongnarrow paths, equating under-standing to acquiring informa-tion and technical skills andknowledge, and pushing wis-dom aside.The logic embedded in univer-sal thinking naturally leads tothe belief that one person/people/ nation/ country/ reli-gion/ culture can be absolutelybetter than another (accordingto some supposedly universalmeasure!) and, thus, can im-pose their ideas and ways onthe world at large.The belief that one’s ideas andways are universal or the bestis not new. What is new (andexclusively characteristic ofwestern civilization) is the suc-cessful diffusion/ dissemina-tion, through “universal” tools(softly or coercively), certainbeliefs and practices as univer-sal. The most effective tool hasbeen education as it has beenconceived and practiced atleast during the past 300years through a curriculumtaught to all students, andthrough standards, measures,concepts and meanings thatare assumed to be universal.Mathematics and the scienceswith their claims to universaltruths, and technology withits magical impact on people,have been part of this trium-phant march of universalthinking and the belief in a lin-ear path for progress. Ignoringwisdom and pushing it outsidepeople’s consciousness seemednecessary for science and tech-

nology to develop at an amazingrate. However, they have been,at the same time, a main causefor the catastrophic situationand trends, which we witness to-day around us. Life cannot holdtogether for too long withoutwisdom.For me, two basic values weseem to share (not so much ex-plicitly) are harmony and health(of the human body, of commu-nities, and of nature). Pluralismand wisdom are crucial in thisquest. That’s why I think thattrying to prove that schools aregood or bad, in some universalsense, is falling into the grip ofthe dominant logic. My feeling,

To school or not to schoolin this regard, is, if some arehappy with schools, let themhave them. The problem isnot having schools as much asin not allowing (or legitimiz-ing) other ways of learning toflourish (or even to exist).Those who like schools andwant (or their parents wantthem) to go to schools shouldhave the freedom and abilityto go to schools. If some havesweet memories of theirschool days, let them enjoythose memories. I don’t thinkwe can tell anyone that theyshould not send their childrento school. But this freedomhas to be also enjoyed bythose who do not want to goto school, and who want to fol-low other paths for living andlearning. This is what I thinkwe should pursue and put alot of effort towards realizing.It is the diversity of ways oflearning that I think we arestruggling for; for such waysto gain legitimacy, recogni-tion, resources (including aproportionate part of the bud-get geared for education); i.e.,to provide various forms forchildren to choose from. Myconcern concerning schools iswith the students (and theyform the majority) who leaveschools after 12 years (or less),basically as useless people,with hardly any skills otherthan passing or failing inmeaningless tests, and areblamed for it. I think what weare talking about is regainingdiversity in learning/ living,pluralism in our attitudes, andwisdom in our approaches.Of course we have a big chal-lenge in front of us. Schoolshave been ingrained in ourminds and our psyche for solong and so deep that ourimaginations can’t even thinkof alternatives. But those ofus, who believe that the uni-versal path is disastrous to hu-man beings and to humancommunities and to nature,have no choice but to go ondoing what our inner convic-tions tell us, regardless ofwhat others think and regard-less of the price we may haveto pay for swimming againstthe current (i.e., in believingand living in accordance with apluralistic and wise attitudesand ways). The mind, the sci-ences, etc should be looked atas part of the tools we canuse, not as masters.Munir Fasheh

On guardby Satinath Sarangi (Sathyu)

Children listen with alot of attentionChildren see with alot of attentionThey have just comeinto this worldAnd they have somany questions toaskLikeWhy should guavas bealways drawn roundin pictures?LikeWhy isn’t the deathof a goat an accident?Why are there firingsacross borders?Why are there fir-ings?Why are there bor-ders?They are ignorantThey do not knowthat it is more impor-tant to brush yourteeth in the morningthan to give clothesto someone whodoesn’t have them.The system is threat-ened if too manyquestions are asked.If the answers are notapproved.So deploy a parentbehind every child.And for further cau-tion,Open schools.

Those who like schools andwant to go to schools

should have the freedom togo to schools. If some have

sweet memories of theirschool days, let them enjoy

those memories. I don’tthink we can tell anyonethat they should not send

their children to school. Butthis freedom has to be alsoenjoyed by those who donot want to go to school,and who want to followother paths for learning.

F R E E I N G C H I L D R E N F R O M T H E T Y R A N N Y O F S C H O O L S

8

Interviews with “walk-outs”

Out of school, at last!For years, Janani Narayanan,a school teacher, smarted un-der the restrictive and dead-ening environment of herschool. Both she and her hus-band, a retired Navy officer,watched helplessly as theschool their two sons at-tended prevented them fromlearning anything outside theschool syllabus. According tothe school teachers, any activ-ity other than text-book mug-ging was illegitimate and “di-versionary”.In 1999, just when their eldestson, Srinivas, was being pro-moted to the last year of hisschool, the family finally re-volted. Both Srinivas and hisyounger brother, Shivram,were yanked out of formalschool and given their free-dom.Now that in India needs a lotof courage. Children in theirfinal year of school drive par-ents up the wall, upset familyroutines, get the entire familyhigh-strung and nervous tillthe results are out. Some whofail or even don’t get themarks they want, commit sui-cide. But here was this familytaking their children out ofschool just as their eldest wasgoing to wrap it all up!At the time of walking theirchildren out of school, Sriniwas 14 yrs old, in class 9.Shiv was 11. Janani says thata lot of people thought thatthey had taken a very boldand courageous step, but shenever did feel that way atany point of time. Whenprobed a bit more, both par-ents insisted they had nothingagainst schooling but did notsubscribe to the prevalenteducation system and its det-rimental effects it was havingon society. They feel (eventhree years after they got thechildren out) that they havemade the right decision.Both parents found that thepresent schooling system en-couraged students to be mind-less morons doing everythingat the biddings of the higherauthorities i.e. (teachers, inthis case). They said that thestudents do not even knownor understand what theywere learning. All that schoolsand teachers are interested inare marks, marks and moremarks, and ranks in theBoard exams so that theyhave more and more students.Schools are big money.Teachers do not like studentsasking questions and tend toignore them when asked. Thisreminded Janani of a linefrom ‘The Charge of theLight Brigade’ – Ours not toquestion why, ours but to doand die. The text book is thegospel truth which cannot bequestioned. It has to be drilledinto the student’s head.When students learn by rotewithout understanding, whereis all this going to lead themto? demanded CommanderNarayanan.The Narayanan household islocated in an ordinary middleclass neighbourhood in Vasco-da-Gama, one of Goa’s five cit-ies. Commander Narayan

took voluntary retirement fromthe Indian Navy before he de-cided to settle down with hisfamily in the city. In 1999, hestarted a fortnightly ‘VascoWatch’ (VW) primarily for theresidents of Vasco. He was ablyassisted in this new professionby Janani.It was while they were settingup VW, that both parents cameto the conclusion that theyshould take their children out ofschool. Accordingly, Janani quither job as a school teacher anddecided, apart from helping withVW, to be a full-time teacher ofher boys. Along with com-mander Narayan, she could edu-cate and initiate them into abroad based value system basedon their own practical experi-ence and knowledge. They

did not agree with this thrust asthey felt they wanted to ‘educateour children and give them asound platform to build theirlives on and also to make themunderstand the dignity of labour.As any other parent, we toowish to give the very best to ourchildren. We feel we are thebest persons to teach and guidethem.’Thus they exercised their choiceas parents to free their childrenfrom the oppressive shackles ofpresent day school routines.They were rather fortunate thattheir respective families re-spected their decision and didnot seek to undermine it.And how did Srini and Shiv feelon leaving school? Both of themhave a smile and a twinkle in

Karnataka – the source ofriver Madei – documentingthe rich bio-diversity of theregion and seeking to createan awareness against thedam project proposed on theriver.At present, Srini is appearingfor his 12th standard examina-tion through the National In-stitute of Open Schooling.The subjects he has chosenfor his board exams includegeography, history, english,hindi and economics.Shiv the younger has beenvery passionate about origamisince the age of five. Origamiis an ancient Japanese art ofpaper folding without cuttingand sticking or pasting, sur-viving from around 1000 AD.(Ori – to fold and kami – pa-per = origami).Despite his young age, Shivhas already held eight exhibi-tions across the country plusnumerous workshops withschools, senior citizens’groups, mentally challengedpersons etc. He finds interac-ting with people from allwalks of life very stimulatingas there is fruitful exchangeof knowledge and skills. Shivhas also created his own de-signs (around forty) in origamiand spends time working andimproving upon them.In February 2003, Shiv wasinvited by the Goa ScienceCentre for a two day work-shop. The first day’s demon-stration was on ‘Aerodynamicsthrough paper airplanes’. Thesecond day was devoted to ex-plaining mathematics and sci-ence through origami.Srini and Shiv are bothshhishyas (pupils) of the greatGhatam music maestro, ShriVikku Vinayak Ram. Srini islearning the mridangam andShiv the ghatam and flutefrom Shri Ramanathan.The brothers are voraciousreaders (like their parents).Apart from their study mate-rial, they read novels and sub-scribe to magazines like ‘Na-tional Geographic’ and ‘Popu-lar Science’, to name just afew. Incidentally, theNarayanans have never kepta television set till date. Theparents say they spend qual-ity time as a family instead ofwatching inane serials.The boys’ daily routine is wak-ing up early in the morning,reading the subjects theyhave chosen, surfing the Netand pursuing their varioushobbies, interacting with par-ents and playing andsocialisng with friends. Theytravel extensively too.While Srini wants to be a wildlife photographer, Shiv takesit one day at a time. He willbe appearing for his 10thstandard next year.When asked if they regret inany manner the decisiontaken three years ago towalkout from formal dayschool, they pose a counterquestion: ‘Would we havebeen able to do all this, if wewent to regular school?’P D Mukherjee

would have, in addition, ampletime and opportunity to pursuetheir specific interests.Both parents told me of theirconviction that ‘a teacher is of-ten a role model and a positiveinfluence in the life of a student.Sadly, these features are lackingin most teachers of today. Sowe decided we could play therole of a teacher instead andhave a positive impact on chil-dren in their formative and cru-cial years. Since both of us werenow at home, this was possibleas well. We felt we knew ourchildren better then any bodyelse, hence our decision.’Janani added that there was an-other vital element missingfrom school curriculum: lifeskills – a major dimension to be-ing a conscientious citizen andto making a meaningful contri-bution to the community. By lifeskills the Narayanans mean –communication, curiousity,openness, developing self confi-dence, and inherent basic hu-man values.Commander Narayan andJanani both emphasised the dif-ference between academics andeducation. Academics was just acurriculum devised to put stu-dents through some sort of sys-tem to get a job, and all that itstressed on was marks. They

their eyes when asked this ques-tion. Without hesitation, Srinisaid: ‘We feel free to pursue ourhobbies and interests, and thisbecomes a part of our educa-tional process. Our parents arealways there to guide us and dis-cuss our problems.’Their parents however say: ‘Wedon’t push them in any one di-rection: we encourage them tothink for themselves and utilizetheir time in the manner inwhich they want to.”Commander Narayan is of theconsidered opinion that to learna vocation one has to undergoapprenticeship for a number ofyears if one has to get a hands-on feel of the subject. Sriniwants to be a wild life photogra-pher and is ready to undergo anapprenticeship with a profes-sional in the field. His interestsare diverse: he has completed acorrespondence course in orni-thology through the Rishi ValleyFoundation, Chittur, and one onentomolgy through the BombayNatural History Society. Anamateur electronic buff with spe-cial interest in robotics, sailingand trekking, Srini has designeda land yacht from cycle partsand old wind surfing material.He trekked through uncharteredterrain with eleven colleaguesfrom Valpoi to Gawali in

Srinivas, Ananthanarayan, Janani and Shivram: escape from school

A middle-class family in India decides to walk out of school andbegins living and learning all over again. Their story.

9The Multiworld Network’s Newsletter

An interesting light is cast onthe Indian attitude to educa-tion by the fact that in allfourteen languages of Indiathere is no root word corre-sponding to English “teach.”We can learn, we can helpothers to learn, but we cannot“teach.” The use of two distinctwords, “teach” and “learn,”suggests that these two pro-cesses may be thought of asindependent of one another.But that is merely the profes-sional vanity of the “teacher,”and we shall not understandthe nature of education unlesswe rid ourselves of that van-ity.Our first task is to realize thatan “uneducated” human beingis nowhere to be found. Buttoday, all too often, an ordi-nary schoolboy treats a first-class carpenter as if he werean ignorant boor. The carpen-ter may be a man of maturityand experience, a wise andskilled workman, who is ofreal service to his community.But simply because he cannotread or write, the “educated”boy treats him as an inferior.Wherever two people live to-gether in this kind of com-radeship, giving and receivingmutual help, there real educa-tion is in progress. The placeof books is, therefore, second-ary. This idea troubles manypeople, who think that if theplace assigned to books is re-duced the students will be de-

prived of the most valuable toolsof knowledge. Books do have aplace as tools of knowledge, butit is a very minor place. Themajor need is for teacher andstudent to become work-part-ners, and this can happen onlywhen the distinction betweenthe teacher “teaching” and thestudent “learning” can be over-come.In matters of knowledge, no or-ders can be given. Educationdoes not “discipline” students, itgives them complete freedom.Whether or not society freefrom governments is ever builtin the larger world, such a soci-ety must be found in the worldof students. If there is one thingof supreme importance for stu-dents it is this freedom.A young man said that hewished to do some good workfor society.“Tell me,” I said, “what kind ofwork do you feel you could dowell?”“Only teaching, I think,” repliedthe young man. “I can’t do any-thing else, I can only teach, butI am interested in it and I feelsure that I shall be able to do itwell.”

“Yes, yes, I do not doubt that,but what are you going toteach? Spinning? Carding?Weaving? Could you teach any ofthese?”“No, I can’t teach those.”“Then tailoring, or dyeing, orcarpentry?”“No, I know nothing aboutthem.”“Perhaps you could teach cook-ing, grinding, and other house-hold skills?”“No, I have never done anywork like that. I can onlyteach...”“My dear friend, you answer ‘No’to every question, and yet youkeep saying you can only teach.What do you mean? Can youteach gardening?”The would-be teacher said,rather angrily, “Why do you askall this? I told you at the begin-ning, I can do nothing else. Ican teach literature.”“Good! Good! I am beginning tounderstand now. You mean youcan teach people to write bookslike Tagore and Shakespeare?”This made the young man soangry that he began to splutter.

“Take it easy,” I laughed. “Canyou teach patience?”That was too much.“I know what you mean,” Isaid. “You can teach reading,writing, history, and geogra-phy. Well, they are not en-tirely useless, there are timesin life when they are needed.But they are not basic to life.Would you be willing to learnweaving?”“I don’t want to learn anythingnew now. Besides I couldn’tlearn to weave, I have neverbefore done any kind of hand-work.”“In that case it might, ofcourse, take you longer tolearn, but why should you beunable to learn it?”“I don’t think I could everlearn it. But even supposing Icould, it would mean a lot ofhard work and a great deal oftrouble. So please understandthat I could not undertake it.”This conversation is quiteenough to enable us to under-stand the psychology and char-acteristics of far too many ofour “teachers.” To be “only ateacher” means to be: com-pletely ignorant of any kind ofpractical skill which might beuseful in real life; incapable oflearning anything new and in-different towards any kind ofcraftsmanship; conceited; andburied in books.“Only teaching” means being acorpse cut off from life.

Vinoba Bhave: “Only Teaching”

Israeli school textbooks aswell as children’s story books,according to recent academicstudies and surveys, portrayPalestinians and Arabs as“murderers”, “rioters”, “suspi-cious,” and generally backwardand unproductive.Direct delegitimisation andnegative stereotyping of Pales-tinians and Arabs are the rulerather than the exception insuch educational material.Professor Daniel Bar-Tal ofTel Aviv University studied124 elementary, middle- andhigh school textbooks ongrammar and Hebrew litera-ture, history, geography andcitizenship. Bar-Tal concludedthat Israeli textbooks presentthe view that Jews are in-volved in a justified, even hu-manitarian, war against anArab enemy that refuses toaccept and acknowledge theexistence and rights of Jews inIsrael.Israeli writer/researcher AdirCohen’s book An Ugly Face inthe Mirror is a study of the na-ture of children’s upbringingin Israel, concentrating onhow the historical establish-ment sees and portrays ArabPalestinians as well as howJewish Israeli children per-ceive Palestinians.One section of the book wasbased on the results of a sur-vey taken of a group of 4th and6th grade Jewish students at a

school in Haifa. The pupils wereasked five questions about theirattitude towards Arabs, howthey recognize them and howthey relate to them. The resultswere as shocking as they weredisturbing:Seventy five percent of the chil-dren described the “Arab” as amurderer, one who kidnaps chil-dren, a criminal and a terrorist.Eighty percent said they saw theArab as someone dirty with aterrifying face. Ninety percent ofthe students stated they believethat Palestinians have no rightswhatsoever to the land in Israelor Palestine.

Textbooks as MissilesThe educational system in Israel has also become a form of war

Supporting Multiworld

Unlike other projects whichbegin with large grants andhuge offices, the MultiworldProject on dismantling colo-nial and corporate-led educa-tion has begun small. Buteven small initiatives requiresmall amounts of resources,support and money.For those with little or noaccess to money, we welcomethe idea of contributions inthe form of voluntary labour.How can you best do this?Be the eyes and ears of Mul-tiversity in your area. If youare aware of exciting workoutside the framework of fac-tory schooling, document itand keep us in touch with it.If you find articles, books,media reports, films, CDs onany multiversity themes,mail these to our office.You can also support ourwork by sending us a regularamount, howsoever small,every year, automaticallyfrom your bank account andbe happy you are helpingsupport one of the most criti-cally important projectslaunched this century.Another useful way you cansupport our work is to buyand gift subscriptions toKamiriithu to people in yourworking circle and withinyour community. (The sub-scription form is on p.11)

Bhave was a close disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. He followedGandhi in challenging conventional ideas about education, learn-

ing and schools. Here he talks of those who can “only teach”.

Cohen also researched 1,700Israeli children’s books pub-lished after 1967. He foundthat 520 of the books con-tained humiliating, negativedescriptions of Palestinians.He also took pains to breakdown the descriptions:Sixty six percent of the 520books refer to Arabs as violent;52 percent as evil; 37 percentas liars; 31 percent as greedy;28 percent as two-faced; 27percent as traitors, etc.Cohen points out that the au-thors of these children’s bookseffectively instill hatred towardArabs by means of strippingthem of their human natureand classifying them in an-other category.In a sampling of 86 books,Cohen counted the followingdescriptions used to dehuman-ize Arabs: Murderer was used21 times; snake, six times;dirty, 9 times; vicious animal,17 times; bloodthirsty, 21times; warmonger, 17 times;killer, 13 times; believer inmyths, 9 times; and a camel’shump, 2 times.(Readers will notice that theresearch reported in the abovenews item was carried out byIsraeli citizens and scholarscommitted to a Mid-East with-out violence. There is still hopefor our times.)

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10

Unlearning in Pakistan

I belong to a family that wastotally dependent on agricul-ture for all its needs. But Inever went near my agricul-ture farms because I was sup-posed to be schooled for a‘bright future’. I still remem-ber the days of my life when Iwas unconsciously forced tospend all my fruitful time inattending classes that werefull of facts, of which I neverfound any relevance to my so-cial surroundings and groundrealities.I was kept engaged in memo-rizing the lessons taught to mefor my learning and reinforce-ment of those lessons by tu-tors. Because of these engage-ments (morning to night) howcould I spare time for my ag-riculture, culture and socialinteraction that were basicand real sources of learning? I

was unable to find some timeeven for sports, because I wastold that school was my firstpriority, compulsory and inevi-table for my learning.So I remember the day whenI went with all my school-mates to our farm and weplanted the seeds of tomatoesthrough ashar’. That was avery rich opportunity of learn-ing ‘how to plant tomatoeswith a collective effort’. Whileon the one hand this activityprovided us with an opportu-nity to learn the skill of sow-ing tomatoes, on the other, itenabled us to learn the ‘valueof collectivism’. At that timethis realization was blurred.After that lesson I was neveragain to experience suchlearning activities throughoutmy formal schooling process.When I was in tenth class, Igot bored with my studies andbecame active in a progressivepolitical movement. I startedreading, writing literature (po-etry, fiction, articles). This ac-tivism nurtured my capacitiesof being a conscious citizenand I was introduced to a lotof learning that was live andexperiential. I became involvedin social activities with someof my colleagues and we

formed an organization for ad-dressing social issues facing ourtown. Through this process andinteraction with communities Ifelt more confident and realisticthan I ever felt, even for a mo-ment, in my formal educationprocess. I continued my formalstudies but not with the inten-

cultures that are now obsolesc-ing due to the overwhelmingspread of formal schooling in far-flung communities. I belong tothe same race but was never al-lowed to reflect on my indig-enous culture during my formalstudies nor was it ever includedin our core curriculum. Thefindings of the said researchwere an eye opener. A brief ac-count of the findings is given asunder:• The collective work of cultivat-ing and harvesting of crops, con-struction etc. which was theprincipal ‘indigenous participa-tory learning approach’, was

called ashar. This approach, inwhich the whole communitiescollectively work for a member’sneed without any remuneration,was valued strongly.• Another participatory and col-lective learning approach,woman-led was termed krastah.After a family had extracted thewood from the sheep, all thewomen of the community were

Arif Tabassum tells of his wasted schooling days and how he had to unlearn the manufactured facts fed to him for over a decade.Now as a member of the Faculty of the Institute for Development Studies and Practices (IDSP), he and his colleagues spend their

time on their own homegrown cultures which they have found are a rich resource for collective learning.Arif Tabassum’s email is ariftabassum@yahoo.com

Because of these engage-ments (morning to night)how could I spare time formy agriculture, culture andsocial interaction that werebasic and real sources oflearning? I was unable tofind some time even forsports, because I was toldthat school was my first pri-ority, compulsory and inevi-table for my learning.

All these indigenous collec-tive learning opportunitiesand spaces have been over-whelmed first by the colo-nial schooling system withits past mission of ‘civilizingthe sub-humans of theworld’ and with the presentagenda of EFA. They arealso crushed by ‘develop-ment workers’ and ‘changeagents’.

tion of learning, but for a for-mal degree in order to avoid thesocial pressure associated withmy ‘bright future’.My association with IDSP-Paki-stan, first as a learner of a pilotcourse (1998) and then as a fac-ulty member (1999 till date),shed light on all my foggythoughts about learning, educa-tion, development and progress.Through discussions, dialogues,debates within the IDSP team,interactions with learners andcontinuous reflections overlearning processes and the de-velopment paradigm, I came toclearly understand the theoreti-cal logic of this paradigm andthe causes of my frustrationsand blurred thinking during myformal studies whose roots I hadnever been able to uncover.So I started the process of un-learning manufactured facts andirrelevant so-called realities onmemorizing which I had spent agood period of my life in school.This unlearning process wasstrengthened when I involvedmyself with learners duringtheir participatory action re-searches in different communi-ties of the country on indig-enous cultures, local literature,education, poverty, agricultureand many more.During these researches I foundindigenous cultures a rich re-source of learning. An exampleof my relearning is research on‘indigenous learning systems’ ina rural community of Loralai,conventionally termed an ‘unde-veloped’ district of Pakistan thatwas carried out by a group oflearners from our community-based course (2001). I was in-volved then as research supervi-sor throughout the course.During this research I have be-come aware of the collectivelearning processes of indigenous

invited to its home where theycollectively started the processof making a carpet from thewool. During this process, life,social matters, and the problemsand hurdles of routine workwere shared by the women. Thesituation created the learningopportunities from each other’sexperience and, on other hand,kept the women well informedabout social events. Carpet mak-

ing skills were also acquired.The gathering also providedcreation/recreation opportuni-ties through folk songs, thuscontributing to keep the localfolk literature alive.• Through the practice ofcharah, the whole commu-nity is involved in the con-struction and cleaning of con-duits or water canals (karez),so that no water is wasted.Every family sends somemembers to participate inthis common action voluntar-ily. The activity generatedfeelings of ownership of thework. But it also enabled theinteraction between commu-nity members to be smoothand frequent and helped thesettling down of the water dis-tribution mechanism. Com-munities acquired importantknowledge of water sources,their distribution and properusage and about knowledgetransfers to the next genera-tion.• Communities get togetherin social events, events ofjoy and sorrow. In every mar-riage the whole communityshares their commodities (i.e.pots, beds & tents etc.) andhelps to accommodate theguests. Likewise when adeath has occurred, the com-munity felt the responsibilityto share and provide thebreakfasts, lunches and din-ners to the affected family.This process is a collectivelearning activity that led com-munities towards voluntarism,being accountable to them-selves to help others andshare their sorrows and joys.The bijjar, jirga, nanawati,gudar, baitak, etc. are othersimilar customs that providemajor sources of learning andhelp keep the people interde-pendent and in touch witheach other.All these indigenous collectivelearning opportunities/spaceshave been overwhelmed firstby the colonial schooling sys-tem with its past mission of‘civilizing the sub-humans ofthe world’ and with thepresent agenda of EFA. Theyare also crushed by ‘develop-ment workers’ and ‘changeagents’ who are promotingagendas of consumerism infar-flung rural communitiesfrom corporations in theshape of the neo-liberal, mar-ket economy .At our institute we are en-gaged in re-creation and re-vival of these learning sys-tems through reflective dia-logues and interactions withmotivated youth and othersections in different communi-ties. Let’s hope we succeed.

11The Multiworld Network’s Newsletter

Appeal for Stories

If you have come across afamily like the Narayans orthe Rastogis, please write tous, giving us their addressand contact information.Taleemnet will send a personto do a detailed interviewwith these families, so thatothers can learn from theirexperiences as well. The de-tailed interviews will alsofind place on the Taleemnetwebpage, enabling these sto-ries to be made available toall learners worldwide.Alternatively you can con-duct the interview yourselfand send this along to us forpublication and for hostingon the Internet.Every issue of Taleemnetwill carry at least one majorstory with a family thatwalked out of school in dis-gust and has ventured tohave its children learn aboutlife on their own.We especially welcome firstperson stories, written by ei-ther parents or by childrenout of school. They shouldnever be more than 1200words long. Pictures are wel-come.If you find an interesting ar-ticle or booklet on Taleemnetthemes, please send it alongto us.There are literally hundredsof stories of parents in Asia,Africa and South Americathat have taken their chil-dren out of school and setthem free.Eventually we hope that allthese stories will be as-sembled in the pages of theAlternative EducationSourcebook which we plan topublish towards the end of2003.Please send your story to:

MultiworldG-8 St Britto’s ApartmentsFeira Alta, Mapusa 403 507

Goa, India.or

email:mversity@sancharnet.in

Love Letters to KamiriithuToday your new magazine camein the mail. Very excited to knowthat your torch is now focussedonto education. Since my husbandand I are educational consultantswe have a lot of our own ‘stories’.

Just yesterday Dinesh was teach-ing our eight year old daughter.We were looking at the drawingTara had done of the life cycle ofthe mustard seed. I had pulledup various stages of mustardgrowing in the garden. ThenSuman (the lady who managesour house) and Tara and myselfspent about 15 minutes examin-ing these mustard plants. I thendrew up a series of cartoon-likesquares and asked Tara to drawthe stages.Later we picked up the drawingto talk about it. Tara told herPapa what was happening ineach square. Papa was impressedand wanted to know who taughther. ‘Suman’ was the very quickreply. ‘She knows everything. Shemanages the kitchen, she man-ages upstairs [the four roomedguest house], she manages thegarden… and you and mummyonly know how to read.’So Tara had ‘evaluated’ her par-ents and Suman was happy toknow that she is on the top ofTara's list.

Tara is home-schooled. If Dineshand I were settled in one placeshe would most probably be go-ing to school. But our job as con-sultants in ‘active-education’ re-quires us to travel, so she goesalong with us.Two hours a day is more thanenough for the formal part oflearning. The wasted hours inschool are quite scandalous. Theassembly takes half an hour …what was said, what was under-stood, no one knows. The news ofthe day, the thought of the day,the pledge, the songs – have theymade us patriotic? Moral?Thoughtful? During school hourschildren sit and wait … for theEnglish teacher to show up …while their teacher practices aspeech with two children … whiletheir teacher chats in the hallwith her neighbour ... while the

vice-principal discusses sports-day… or annual day ... or the report card… or the art competition.And if a teacher does teach it isusually one-way traffic.

Teachers themselves are very muchvictims of the system. Too manystudents, too much marking to domakes them weary and dull. Theobject is not to learn, but to rankand grade kids as if they are label-ing spice jars.There are alternatives for parents.You could send your four and fiveyear old to a small neighbourhoodschool and leave her there for only2 or 3 hours. She will have time tosocialize, the small student-teacherratio means she may get more at-tention, and you could also volun-teer for a few hours. You will savea lot of money and you can spendmore for a nice library, art supplies,good music and sports equipment.(When you volunteer, you can readstories to the kids, sing songs alongwith the cassettes, play games thatyou learned in childhood, and chatwith the kids about themselves).Children need the company of manyother children of all ages andstages. Home-schooling has limita-tions if the child does not get to so-cialize. In the USA, many parentshomeschool because of the violencein schools or for religious reasons.In India, the problem seems to betotal irrelevance of the subjects, thedull teaching methods, the humili-

ation and ranking of children. Allthat destroys the joy of learning.

Maybe parents could considergetting into groups of 10 to 15families. If they hire tutors forsubjects that they do not feelcomfortable with, it will still bemuch cheaper than the costs ofgoing to school. Parents can shareteaching, and almost every homehas space for 15 to 20 children.It will also force one to be regularand consistent. (That is our big-gest problem with Tara.)

Parents will soon notice thatmany subjects are completely ir-relevant. What class 3 child en-joys learning about the food hab-its or industry in Orissa? Andwho cares what the highestdesert of the world is? First ofall there is so much to explorearound one’s own community.

In fact, schools themselvesshould know that they can decideon their own course of study - atleast up to class 5. No one hastold them to teach in a boringmanner. They could easilyshorten their school hours and en-courage parents to provide extrastimulation. After all, the sheernumbers in school mitigateagainst personal attention andlearning ... no matter how goodthe teacher is.Hope you find this interesting.Look forward to your next news-letter.Ruth Rastogi

WE TOTALLY BELIEVE ANDAGREE WITH YOUR VIEWS.PLEASE KEEP US ON YOURMAILING LIST. SEEMA GUPTAMUMBAI 022-2-5565949

My wife Lakshmi and I are goingto adopt a baby girl soon. Weplan to ‘educate’ her at home (allthe usual reasons).

Any help, guidance will begreatly appreciated.Thanks,

Jogesh jogeshmotwani@hathway.com

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12

When I first saw Guru (myimmediate neighbour) plough-ing his fields, I thought it tobe the most simple thing inthe world. All that it appearednecessary to do – as the bullspulled the plough effortlesslyup front – was hold the imple-ment steady by its handle .When Guru reached the endof the field, the bulls wouldautomatically turn around andhe would plough in the oppo-site direction. It seemed like afairly monotonous job to me.When I took a one year breakfrom school, three years ago,ploughing was one of the skillsI learnt during the rains.As I first held the plough,however, I soon realised thatthis was going to require someskill. In fact, I eventually tooklonger to learn ploughing thanto drive the family car. I alsofound the work quite enjoy-able. Nothing about it wasmonotonous.Since then Guru has called meto help in ploughing his fieldsfor the past three consecutiveyears. Guru is part of a bigjoint family of about 25 mem-bers but yet he doesn’t have asingle member in the entirefamily who will help him inploughing his fields. Every onewants to get nice ‘desk’ jobs.Let me start by telling youhow the plough works. Awooden piece about one and ahalf metres long and 10 cmsthick is tied across the necksof the two bulls. Tied perpen-dicular to this is the ploughwhich is about 3 metres long,with a handle and the sharpcurved blade. The bulls moveforward as you tap them witha stick. Normally you startploughing from either the cen-tre or the edge of the field andcontinue with concentriccircles around them. Usually,Guru used to do the firstround so that the bulls knewwhere to turn around and thenhe would hand me the plough.He would then leave me toplough the rest of the field.As he left he would call outhis famous parting words:‘Rahul, go straight, OK? Don’tmiss the line.’ Then he wouldreturn after an hour when thework was almost done and see-ing me fully drenched insweat, he would say, ‘Now youcan leave this to me.’Sometimes I would be plough-ing in the rain, cold and wet,and Guru would return snugin his raincoat, ‘Don't get wetor you’ll catch a cold,’ he’dsay.A lot of people are under theimpression that when youplough you have to push theplough into the ground. Actu-ally you have to guide theplough, a task that is reallymore difficult than handlingthe steering wheel of a car.The plough has a curved bladeand a pointed end which goesinto the soil. This is situated

exactly between the hind legs ofthe two bulls. The trick is tomove parallel to the groove cre-ated in the previous round, andat the same time, avoid plough-ing the bulls’ hooves. If one ofthe bulls had to get the ploughinto his leg he would need atleast one week’s rest for thewound to heal and this wouldcost the owner severely. This isbecause bulls have only one use,which is to plough the field forone month of the year. Also, if abull is injured, it is as bad ashaving both the bulls injuredbecause a lone bull can’t ploughthe field.In theory, holding the ploughseems to be quite easy but actu-ally each field is different. Insome fields, the soil is hard andthe plough lifts out of the fieldon its own and has to be pushedback in. Some fields are full ofgrass which would get entangledand the plough would start slip-ping towards the bulls’ hooves.At times, the field is so full ofwater, you can’t even see whatyou are ploughing. At times thebulls would lash out with theirtails, throwing mud straight intoyour eyes.Another area of difficulty is theturn at the end of the field: theplough has to be gently turnedand at the same time you haveto concentrate on directing thebulls to turn around too. If youincline the plough too much, itwill start skidding: then followsthe comical jugglery of thefarmer with the plough, tryingto push it back in as it danglesdangerously behind the bulls’hooves.Then you have to remember tolift the plough with one handover the bund (raised mounds ofmud that divide fields) and thenpush it back in again. Theplough wasn’t that heavy butwhen you lifted it about 40-50times over each bund, you defi-nitely felt its weight.

The heroes of the ploughing ex-ercise are of course the bulls. Solet me tell you about Guru’sbulls.Both of them are two differentcharacters altogether. The olderone is a 23-year-old and is red-dish brown in colour. He hasshort and thick horns like twooversized bananas sticking outof his head! His back wasarched but yet he never ap-peared tired when compared tohis younger partner who is a 16-year-old. The younger bull looksstronger, his back is straight butyet he was the one who tiredout more easily. After I finishedone round around the field,sweet sixteen would immediatelydemand a rest. Normally Iwouldn’t disapprove of this butwhen I knew I had 20-30 roundsmore to go I would get a littleimpatient.Then in order to waste moretime, the younger bull wouldthrow down the zu (woodenpiece across his neck). I had tolift it up and place it back againacross his neck. This of courseput me into a very vulnerableposition because I was right be-tween the heads of the two bullsand if any one of them had tolash out, I would be in deeptrouble. Fortunately, they wereboth well behaved and I sufferedno injuries.Though both the bulls were si-lent and showed no expressionsexcept the usual sad and mourn-ful face, I was quite sure thatthere was some bull talk goingon between them. For example,the older bull was a bully. If theyounger bull didn’t manage tothrow down the zu at the end ofthe round, the older bull wouldlash out at him. Sometimes, theyounger bull would walk slowerthan the older bull who wouldnaturally get angry and swinghis horns towards him, as if tosay, ‘Do you expect me to do allthe work!’ Sometimes I felt

sorry for him because hewould receive punishmentfrom me and from the olderbull as well.During my ploughing exercisesI met a lot of farmers. Most ofthem seemed surprised that Iwas in a field ploughing. Theyall recognised me of coursebecause I am from the samevillage. But they were alwaysa little surprised to find meout in the field at 6 a.m. hardat work in their fields. I thinkI was the only ploughman whobesides having a college edu-cation also sported a pony tailand wore glasses to work.Some of the men folk wouldcompliment me and say I wasdoing a fine job.But the women who came tothe field thought that therewas something wrong with me.They couldn’t understand whythe son of a so called bhatkar(landlord) was out ploughing afield instead of going to col-lege. In fact, the first thingthey would say to me wouldbe to ask, ‘Are you going tocollege or not.’One rather strict lady evenasked me which class I was inand what subjects I had takenjust to make sure I wasn’tbluffing. When I told her thatI was definitely going to col-lege but there was still a weekfor it to begin, she relaxed abit.Another lady whose field I hadploughed met my mother atSunday mass. She told mymum rather hesitantly, ‘Yourson did a great job ploughingmy field – the furrows wereabsolutely straight.’ Thenrealising that her complimentperhaps unwittingly impliedthat I was from the peasantclass, she quickly retractedsaying, ‘Of course, I know heis not meant to be ploughingat all.’Now as I write this article dur-ing a free lecture in college, Ithink of the great time I hadthis year ploughing. It was awonderful feeling being allalone with two bulls underyour control, the cool rainbeating against your back: youdefinitely felt tough.Next year I’m sure to be backin the fields again, with thepungent smell of bulls, muckall over my body, the farmersall asking questions about mycollege as usual.Guru, of course, still calls meon Sunday mornings when Idon’t have college. And I find Ican never resist.About the author: RahulAlvares is an expert snake andreptile handler. His first bookFree from School (pp.136Rs.100/US$5) was publishedwhen he was sixteen. His sec-ond book, The Call of theSnake (pp.150 Rs.110/US$6),has been recently released.Both titles can be orderedfrom Other India Bookstore,Mapusa 403 507 Goa, India.

Ploughing a lonely furrowRahul Alvares, a college boy from zoology class in India, learns to

plough fields in his spare time – and enjoys himself in the bargain.

Ploughing a field Indian style is not as simple as it looks.

About Kamiriithu: Kamiriithu will appear six times a year. The newsletter has been printed by Multiworld at Maureen’s, Rua de Ourem,Panaji, Goa, India. It is designed for private circulation and is also posted on the Net at multiworld.org. It is published from: Multiworld

Network, G-8 St Britto’s Apartments, Feira Alta, Mapusa 403 507 Goa, India. email: mversity@sancharnet.in