The girl from Barabanki | The Indian Express

The girl from Barabanki | The Indian Express

Written by Krishna Kumar |Updated: August 16, 2019 9:07:58 am

The writer, professor of education at University of Delhi, was director of  NCERT from 2004 to 2010

The girl from Barabanki

The Barabanki girl conveys the spontaneous confidence that only the very young can feel in a complex political situation. Her truth-telling recalls Gandhi’s scepticism about the state’s ability to protect democracy.

In the media, colleges and universities, the freedom and space to discuss things without fear of consequences has been shrinking. Why has it not shrunk in a Barabanki school? (Illustration: Pradeep Yadav)

Constant humidity makes the air feel heavy in August, but memories too have a lot to do with that feeling. Some of these memories refer to the distant past which, for many, extends back to the Gandhi decades. We who were born after freedom and Partition, learnt about them at school. As usual, the school was quick to give us the news, but took a while to explain it. By that time, our parents’ memories of freedom and Partition had mutated into the nation’s dreams and fantasies.