The lokavidya group in Bengaluru comprising of J.K. Suresh, G.S.R. Krishnan, Amit Basole, Chitra Sahasrabudhey, and Sunil Sahasrabudhey (the last two from Vidya Ashram, Varanasi) met a cross-section of scholars and activists from the world of knowledge in Bengaluru last week. We met those from the Social Sciences and social thought (at Azim Premji Univ.), art (at Ragi Kanna organized by Prasanna's Desi), and science research (JNCASR). We will be uploading audio recordings of these lectures here soon. In the coming weeks we expect to have dialogues with those in the information sciences.
The main question around which the discussions were aimed was development of a constructive dialectic of equal and fraternal relationship between the world of lokavidya and the world of organized knowledge, the university. The dialogues were initiated by Sunil Sahasrabudhey with presentation on the idea of lokavidya and the nature of changes that the world of knowledge was undergoing. He stressed the point that an active collaborative domain inaugurated together by lokavidya and organized knowledge is expected to hold great promise of a new world whose bottom line is absence of poverty and disparity.
Most participants in these dialogues were thinking young men and women, below 40 years of age. They asked clarificatory questions and also put forth their views on the subject matter. What has been tried in these dialogues is loud thinking on the idea of a new knowledge domain which has in it lokavidya on an equal footing. This is expected to liberate the world of knowledge from its analytic trappings. Then we can expect radically new ideas about societal and political structures and a new strategy to build a new world without poverty and social disparity.
A meeting has been called on Saturday, 10th June at 11AM to further explore how a lokavidya standpoint may initiate a process of reflections on the world of knowledge. We expect to work with the name Lokavidya Vedike (Lokavidya Platform) from a location in Thyagaraja Nagar, Basavanagudi.Bangalore
