Quotes from Karan Singh

I came to philosophy first through Plato. I was very interested in Plato, the person and his works. [The] Republic is a much larger work. I was fascinated particularly by his Symposium. It is a beautiful work with Plato's signature dialogues and the speech on Socrates, Aristophanes and others. I read the history of western philosophy and eventually moved to Indian philosophy.

Partition tore India into three pieces. Disaster struck. There was East Pakistan, there was West Pakistan, and there was the rest of India. Millions of people were uprooted from their houses, tens of thousands massacred on both sides. It was one of the greatest mass migrations and killings in human history. People today do not realize the tremendous trauma of Partition, whose negative vibrations continue to haunt us even today.

We had to write a lot of essays in school. I had a very good teacher who taught us English, V. Siddharthacharry. I enjoyed the early process of learning to structure my essays. When I came home after finishing school at eighteen, I started writing extensively. I liked to be meticulous. Initially, I read a lot on western philosophy but also made notes on the administration and constitutions of different nations and civilizations.