Basic education, like a prism, refracts a spectrum of economic, political and cultural issues that usually remain knotted. The writer discovered this when he toured West Bengal – from the heart of Sundarbans to Shantiniketan, from the floodplains of dying rivers to the ochre plains of Jangalmahal. What emerges is a tapestry of sights, sounds and smells that often speak more than cold statistics. Learn More