Fitzgerald Visits The Merasi School

Over coffee with a friend the other night, I was reminded of an excellent old F. Scott Fitzgerald quote that lay in my battered moleskin journal. "The test of first rate intelligence," Fitzgerald bellowed from the pages of a 1936 Esquire, "is to hold two opposing views in one's mind at the same time and still function. One should be able to see that things are hopeless, yet be determined to make them otherwise."

Rasul Khan looks to what's beyond

It's a mighty mouthful that is sticky and awkward to chew, but paves the blueprints and cornerstones of our work out in Rajasthan. Caste barrels down on our little ones, bringing them into this world without a birth certificate, forcing them to live on less than 25 cents a day and robbing them of their right to participate in a society begging for justice-fueled change. But caste is far from everything. It is one reality in a world of many.

Caste is neighbored by an unbelievably musical legacy that can be found in no other pocket of the globe. It is an artistic heritage that enables students to stare defiantly and compassionately in the face of all the crushing forces telling them they are worthless and say, as Rasul Khan did, "I'll be an engineer" or Fridah Khan, "I will be a very, very good teacher."

Rasul and Fridah know the world is not a warm place for them. Yet they also know that they have the capacity to rewire this reality towards a habitat of justice and hope. The music and the education go hand-in-hand, as necessary as having both a heart and a mind. And so we move forward, supported by the backbone of Folk Arts Rajasthan, our parent non-profit, with these two realities in our hands, functioning with both the weight of reality and hope.