Beyond Books: Here's Why Tuli Research Centre Can Be "India's Oxford"

Imagine embarking on a journey through the very heart of India, where every step unearths layers of history, every sight reveals a story, and every experience deepens your connection to a vast heritage. This is the essence of the Tuli Research Centre for India Studies (T.R.I.S.), a research-space-cum-institution opening its doors on August 14, 2024.

Inspired by the vision of author, curator and archivist Nevile Tuli, T.R.I.S. aspires to be the "Oxford for India" in arts, humanities, and social sciences, a place of learning and discovery free from external economic or political influence.

For three decades, Tuli journeyed across India, from the grand monuments of Srirangam to the hidden gems of Bishnupur, from the magnificent Palitana to the valleys of Kangra. These travels were more than mere visits; they were immersive experiences into the very soul of India's architectural and cultural heritage. Whether a celebrated landmark or a neglected relic, each site became a chapter in a vast repository of knowledge that now forms the cornerstone of T.R.I.S.

OT interviewed Tuli to delve into T.R.I.S., his vision for free and accessible education, and a learning experience beyond textbooks and lectures. Excerpts from the interview here.

Naturally, the iterations over three decades of building an "Oxford for India", itself a semi-metaphor, semi-haqeeqat, have witnessed the progress of one's understanding of the learning, educational, and self-discovery requirements for a vast spectrum of humanity, for no one is not a student. No one is not creative.

In that regard, when building one's sanctuary and hospice for canine and feline children, the non-human education systems really helped one understand the fluid nature and joy that educational institutions require. Hence, many varied learning platforms need to seamlessly cohere into an integrated institution. Experiencing the injustice all around me and the immense privileges granted to myself added another important principle: that education must be a birthright, that it must be free at every level.

Thus, tuliresearchcentre.org is my long overdue gift to the public, with deep love and hope that the Indian finds new freedom and confidence by gaining access to the single greatest knowledge base ever shared publicly on India, as seen through the lens of cinema, arts, photography, architectural and travel heritage, poetry, among other important subjects.

Both have their place but are radically different to nurture and engage deeply with. The seriousness with which they engage with important questions of life varies radically. Still, society must provide fair and ample opportunities for the public to decide and engage. That fairness is minimal in India. That justice to access and support to be nurtured is deeply unjust. Rectifying that imbalance is one fundamental duty of T.R.I.S. and one's journey.

This injustice is also deep regarding understanding and experiencing human cultures and the cultures of non-human living souls. Bridging this gap is another primary objective, especially in understanding the lives and thoughts of our domesticated animals, whom we supposedly love but very superficially understand or respect.

Humans are so little in the scheme of this great cosmos that we must travel. We must travel to search, pursue, find, and then come to our little corner, which we call home.

Yet, with the changing definition of home in a world with so many homeless, refugees, and migrants, where there's so much destruction, where we have destroyed so much of childhood, the very concept of home is now radically a different concept. And therefore, the concept of the nomad needs deeper revisiting, for the nomad is in all of us, and yet a nomad must have a home at some stage of life to return to when tired.

In the same way, the concept of where I can travel without a visa, where I can travel with love, where I can travel with some support, with other people who allow me to think that that is also my home, is very different in the research centre. It is a developing research subject within another nascent larger subject—India Studies.

Along with this essential emotional transit, the other critical aspect of true art is that it nurtures the fundamental compulsion, which finds a more profound question in each answer.

With this rhythm of every answer revealing a deeper question, the process of the ancient Upanishadic traditions, as with a few other remarkable philosophical frameworks, creates the energy of the fuller-full, which begins to respect the process of questioning, of searching beyond all else, there is only rest in this restlessness. With this attitude, you start seeing the value in loving and respecting the process and placing the consequences and results of your journey on a lower pedestal.

The Bhagwad Gita has amply shared this, too, across centuries. Art, our inner creative energies, is the living catalyst provided to all of us to live this path, where no gossip then baits, no offence offends, and most importantly, you have the inner ethical resilience to stand up not just for your principles but the principles of others. In this joyous tussle of counter-voices, the last great boon of life reveals itself deeper—humour.

Humour must outlast even hope, and as I wrote nearly thirty years ago on returning home – India more than any other country- teaches you to respect your delusions more than your reasons.