Dear readers,

As the year comes to a close, targets for the new year gush with promise. As Phunsukh Wangdo of 3 Idiots fame would extol, the virtue of quality over quantity cannot be denied. Times have changed in unprecedented ways resulting in lopsided educational growth of the younger generation. Of course we are not information starved anymore, with everything available at the click of a button, but what we have left behind is a legacy of questions – the why and the how. I have often heard experts and academicians commenting on the valuable and increasing culture of education in India. They quote examples of children from developed nations unable to point out locations that every youngster in our nation would be more than familiar with. But is learning by rote an achievement? Then again for some, too many thinking people may not be a comfortable thought. So from books to the education system all lie in sublime disarray.

Let us tackle the books at this stage. From concept to application, we mirror the west – understandably so, with hundreds of years of colonial rule, adaptation to ‘Indianness’ has been a slow process. But as John became Ram in mathematics textbooks - not to say that it suffices, volcanoes still remained in the precincts of the Mediterranean Seas. It is not as if students are not aware of India’s only volcano on Barren Islands, but to begin a chapter with the mechanics of a volcano that exists here in the country is perhaps what is needed. Not only geography, but for every subject, texts should start where they end. New concepts pertinent to India like renewable energy, GIS, climate change, etc. should be cross cut of every subject, whether sciences or arts.

Thus we present to you the first school edition of G’nY that attempts to capture some of that ‘Indianness’. The topics covered are compilations - just a few of the many that remain, which we promise to bring out in the following and in more in depth editions.

Happy reading!