In Memory of Andre Beteille I did not know Andre Beteille in the ordinary way one knows a teacher. I never took walks with him, shared coffee on a porch, or spoke to him across a desk, as many who are writing memoirs now have. I came to Ashoka University after his years here had passed. By then, he existed for me only as an inheritance of a name I had encountered in texts, and then found on a board in the administrative block at Ashoka. But I think that distance is fitting fo

Ashoka University is an intergenerational quest of idealism without illusions   Educational institutions are endeavours of profound optimism; they believe human capital is the only renewable national resource, nations must be their own light (आत्म दीपो भव), and systematic study offers children the most powerful path to overcome or leverage their opening balance. Ashoka University aims higher than optimism: Idealism without Illusions. History suggests that adding success to id

Maria Corina Machado is now a Nobel laureate with her win arriving on the heels of months of lobbying by Donald Trump. From boasting of ending seven wars, which included making tenuous headway towards peace in Gaza, to gathering endorsements from global leaders, and even calling Norway’s finance minister  for his support, there is little Trump has not done to assert his claim—seemingly all for naught when Machado was selected instead. But is her win truly more palatable? What

Ashoka’s student body is divided, and not by choice. What goes on to shape these choices lies within the institution, putting students at multiple ends — physically and figuratively — of this university.  Take, for example, the first weekend of the Workers’ Protest on the 30th and 31st August. Two striking scenes lay bare inside and outside the university space. While protesting students and workers  sat outside, waiting for the administration’s response on the demands set, a