The poem in this episode is written by a young girl in a village in Firozpur, Punjab, who regularly attended the Farmers’ Protests of 2020-21, both outside Delhi and at the sites near her village. The poem was written as an exercise on equality but the child-poet’s words reveal a much larger landscape. They take us beyond what is normally seen as a child’s world. Is the child’s world really smaller than the adult world? Or are we limiting it and ignoring the layers of meaning that lie in children’s experiences?

About the Guest
Farah Farooqi is Professor of Education at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. Previously, she worked for eight years at the Department of Elementary Education, Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi. Farah has written on issues of education, identity, marginalization, ghettoization, cultural politics and school ethnographies. Farah writes both in Hindi and English. Her journey as Manager of a government-aided school was published by Eklavya as Ek School Manager ki Diary. She has also published in journals and magazines such as Economic and Political Weekly, IIC Quarterly, Learning Curve, The Caravan, The Wire, Shiksha Vimarsh and some international forums such as The Friday Times (Lahore) and Max Weber Stiftung (London) on several issues in Education. Farah has contributed as chief advisor and author to the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks for Environmental Studies for Classes IV and V, published between 2006 and 2008. She has also written for teachers and teacher-trainees.

Her recent book published by Routledge (2023) is titled, Education in a Ghetto: Paradoxes of a Muslim-Majority School. More on the book can be found here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781003407140-1/introduction-farah-farooqi

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CREDITS
The Hum Hindustani Poetry Podcast is a production of The Magic Key Centre for the Arts and Childhood.

Conceived, Written, and Hosted by
Samina Mishra

Poems read by
Aanvi, Arudra, Danyal, Haniya, Ishanvi, Labina, Lakshmi, Kashvi, Kyra, Rohan, Ronish, Samaa, Sarah, Sediqa, Ulfa

Children reading the poems mentored by
Anannya Tripathyi

Studio recordings
Amartya Ghosh, Quarter Note Studios

Music
Shireen Ghosh

Vocals
Ishaan Chintamani

Artwork
Alia Sinha

Additional Research
Rhea Kuthoore

Co-Writer
S Gautham

Hindi Translation
Tazeen Ali

Produced by
Vaaka Media

Acknowledgements
Anannya Tripathyi
Gaurav Chintamani
Priya Mathews
Shikha Sen
Simurgh Centre
TESF India
All the children who participated in the Hum Hindustani workshops and wrote the poems

Support for this podcast comes from Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies.
The Hum Hindustani research project is part of TESF India.