Where were you born, where did you study before Doon?
I was born in Delhi in December 1969. My schooling followed three neat six year cycles. I studied in a school located in the suburbs of Calcutta till I was about 6. I then followed in my father’s footsteps and attended Welham Boy School in Dehradun for 6 years (age 6-12) and finally Doon for 6 years (age 12-18, between 1982-1988).

When you were a child what did you think you’d be when you grew up?
I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to do at an early age. I grew up in a company colony in a suburb of Calcutta called Rishra. The colony had an unmatched range of amenities and services and growing up in this island which was surrounded by the kind of poverty one sees only in South Asia, had a life-long impact on me. I felt guilty and I wanted to do something that would “make a difference”. I wanted to help others and I wanted to be in a line of work that would allow me to understand the reasons for such underdevelopment and to be able to do something about it.

What made you join the Doon School?
My father had attended Welham Boys and Doon and this was the main reason that I was packed off to boarding school at the age of 6.

Did you enjoy studying at Doon?
For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed my years at Doon. While there were some unpleasant experiences and some unpleasant terms I look back at the entire experience with great fondness. I cherish the time I spent at Doon and I have often thought of putting my thoughts and memories of the years spent in school in a book.

What do you remember most about school?
I could probably write a volume on this as I can recall my days at Doon rather vividly. There are several things that pop into my mind in a random manner. I remember the warm friendships that were forged. I remember getting lost, the fear, the darkness and finally the relief of getting back to school after some mid-term expeditions. The excitement of going home and the anticipation of meeting friends and exchanging stories at the start of a new term. The train journeys to and from school (from Dehradun to Calcutta on the Doon Express and later on in the Rajdhani) were always adventurous (Bengal bandhs, fights with passengers, stolen holdalls, eating mangoes on the train, throwing banana peels).

There are several small details that I recall with pleasure such as picking up and throwing handfulls of bajri on various targets, gossiping during PT time, the smell of rain on the main field, Saturday night movies, especially the ones where the AV squad used to show an advertisement of Mithun Chakraborty selling a product called A1. I could go on and on, but I will stop here.

What about Doon did you like most? What did you not enjoy? If you could change one thing about Doon, what would it be? Would you send your children to Doon?
There are several things about Doon that are unique and there are several aspects which with the benefit of hindsight I admire and appreciate. Doon was an artificial environment, however it was an environment in which individuals were treated fairly and equally regardless of their religion, colour, caste, family background and wealth. I never thought of my class mates as rich or poor, or whether they were Hindu or Muslim. Our interactions did not take place in the context of such differences. I was shocked to reach college and find that the discussions and interaction with my college colleagues took place with religion, caste and background in the forefront. Thus, the experience at Doon taught me to treat individuals fairly and equally regardless of their cultural and religious background.

Doon provided ample sporting and aesthetic opportunities, although I don’t think I always made good use of them, for me to figure out my comparative advantages and to decide where I should concentrate and focus. Students at Doon are trusted with considerable responsibilities at a very young age, e.g. going on unsupervised mid-terms, planning budgets, organising the expedition as well as running a number of activities (tuck-shop, the Doon School Weekly, etc.) with very little supervision. These activities helped me to think independently, take decisions and to build judgement and leadership. The system of standardised tests which embodies the principle of competing with one-self and the system of self-evaluation has helped me to look within and to work on improving myself rather than looking for praise from others or working towards pleasing others. I think these experiences helped me develop my own moral compass, built self-confidence and enabled me to rely on my conscience and judgement.

The one thing which I did not like at Doon was the power structure amongst boys. An age difference of as little as one year seemed to endow seniors with immense power over juniors. Some of the SC formers used their power mercilessly (to harm some and to help others) and there was very little that one could do to prevent this. Sneaking was and I suppose is still a dirty word regardless of how badly some juniors may be getting treated. I am not sure how far this power structure still prevails but clashes that I had with some seniors and the injustice of some of these interactions is something that I recall with some bitterness. The one thing that I would like to change about Doon is the existence of this power structure.

Notwithstanding this remark, I think there are several positive qualities about Doon and I would certainly like to send my son to Doon.

Tell us a bit about your higher education. Where did you study? What did you major in? Did you enjoy your program? Would you recommend it to others? If you could go back to college again where and what would you study and why?
After school, I studied at St. Stephen’s College in Delhi University where I earned a Bachelors degree in Economics Honours (1988-1991). The college experience was more enjoyable for the non-academic activities than for any particularly insightful/inspirational courses that I took. The professors at St. Stepehen’s were dedicated, well-trained and did their best to teach the material. I think the problem lay in the syllabus and the emphasis on mugging and passing exams rather than encouraging critical and analytical thinking. Outside academics, the college experience provided the thrill of being in a co-ed environment. It was also a learning experience as the artificial environment of Doon melted away and was replaced by the lenses of caste, community and quotas. The most meaningful experience that I had in college was my involvement in the agitation against the implementation of the Mandal commission report.

After three years in college I decided to pursue further degrees in economics. Not surprisingly, I was drawn to development issues and planned to pursue a Ph.D in development economics. I applied to several universities in the US and was awarded a generous scholarship and living stipend at Tulane University in New Orleans. My first year at Tulane was extremely difficult in terms of my ability to cope with the demands of the course. My bachelors degree had not prepared me adequately for the transition from a B.A. program to a Ph.D programme. I spent hours and hours studying and I still did not do particularly well. The course was also quite different from my expectations. There was no discussion of real world issues and the course was more about mathematics than economics. There were several times when I felt that I should transfer to business school or apply to a more policy-oriented programme.

However, guided by some of the best teaching and best professors that I had ever interacted with, after a year and a half I was able to get the measure of the course. I was also able to take courses on development issues which dealt with the kind of social problems that intrigued me. Consequently, I was able to complete the degree requirements for a Masters and Phd by November 1995 and I graduated in May 1996.

If I could repeat the experience I would complete at least 16 years of education in India, that is complete a Masters degree in India and gain some work experience before embarking on a Phd program. I would have been better prepared, I would have got more out of the course and I probably could have had a better range of universities to choose from.

What inspired you to enter teaching? How long have you been a professor? Tell us a little bit about the research that you're doing. What is your research focused on? You've done a lot of education related research. Do you think our current education system in India works?
Before embarking on my Ph.d I had no strong desire to enter academic life. My idea was to strengthen my knowledge of Economics and to work at a public policy organization. However, things turned out a little bit differently. A requirement of the Ph.d programme was that all Ph.d candidates had to teach undergraduate students. While teaching students I found that I quite enjoyed the challenge and the experience and it also turned out that I taught quite well. Thus, I began looking for a more academically oriented job which would allow me to combine research, teaching and consultancy activities, and that is what I do today. Apart from short stints at the World Bank in Washington DC I have been in academics since 1996. I have worked in Poland, Germany and now in the Netherlands. In terms of organizations I have worked for Columbia University, University of Bonn and now my current organization which is called the Institute of Social Studies. My broad area of interest is development economics and I focus on educational, health and other issues to do with social policy. My work consists of teaching students who come to the ISS from all parts of the developing world. I usually teach microeconomics of development and econometrics. The bulk of my research output concerns education and labour markets issues. Apart from teaching and research, I spend some time on advisory activities in developing countries. My latest project is on Poverty, Gender and Social Exclusion in Mauritius.

My current research focuses on child labour issues where I am studying the trade-off between educational participation and child work. I am looking at the role that may be played by educational policy, that is, a reduction in the cost of education or improvements in the quality of education, in influencing educational participation of children and at the same time reducing child labour.

In terms of the Indian education system, well, the Indian education system is very heterogeneous. Of course it works for those who attend privately funded schools but government schools are another matter. In the first 50 years of independence our attention was directed towards building our tertiary educational institutions and primary education was ignored. Education was thought to be a product only for certain sections of the population. This has to change. There has to be far more investment in primary education. The returns to society of such investments are probably much higher than the returns to individuals and the state needs to step in to ensure that children have access to decent quality schooling. At the tertiary level the private returns are usually high and there is less need (at least now) for the government to continue subsidising higher educational institutes. Obviously this argument has still not sunk in as the current government in India wants to force the IIMs to cut fees. This is an absurd policy.

Thank you for your participation