Forget what you were taught in school about Maths. Your fear of Maths. Forget the time you worried every time a Maths exam loomed. If Saby Sachi has anything to do with it, you will love Maths as if it is a new kind of music you're hearing.

Saby Sachi has set up hundreds of Maths labs around the country and is hailing in a new breed of mathematicians intent on changing what you think of Maths from a very young age. He led a workshop on ‘Making Maths Fun'. He posed difficult yet stimulating questions that workshop participants had come upon.

An interview with Saby Sachi:

Why do children find Algebra difficult?

The reason is that once they are taught Arithmetic they are not taught in transition to Algebra.

He believes that every child has the curiosity to learn about Maths if it is taught correctly. He believes that Science is not ‘neutral' and that we as humans must make moral decisions. His enthusiasm for Maths spilled over in the day and spills over into his life. Nature does Maths all the time. Even a cat knows of Maths. When a cat, when it loses one kitten but can see the rest of its litter, is playing with numerosity as young children do. Children can estimate if something is becoming more or less. They have a feel for Maths.

Why are you trying to teach radical, new approaches to Maths at school?

I did my MA, M.Phil. in Economics from JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University), continuing my Ph.D. in Economics and working at the Economic Research Institute but I wasn't very happy. I wrote about poverty, starvation, issues facing people in socially disadvantaged and economically disadvantaged situations but as an academic, I felt restless. My friends had emigrated to the USA and far off lands. I decided to stay behind to help people. However higher academic research is elitist and we sit in our A.C rooms, get published, go to conferences, but the question is do we really end up making a difference at grass root levels? I felt restless that I could've gone abroad to do further research if I had been after the prestige. But I wanted to work with children and make a difference to their lives. One of my friends was doing a Ph.D. She was working with Eklavya in Madhya Pradesh, which is an NGO that is looking at the Social Sciences and education…Jodo Gyan is a sister organization that she suggested I join.

What is Jodo Gyan?

Jodo Gyan is an NGO set up by Usha Menon and E.K. Shaji. During '95 and '96 the World Bank set up a literacy campaign. During this time Usha got involved with the campaign and set up this project in the Shakurtu, our current region. She found that literacy alone was not enough to help people, who faced social deprivation. She got involved with the community bringing in basic hygiene skills and basic Maths. She found that people from socially deprived backgrounds needed help in many aspects of their understanding. Gradually Maths became an issue that Jodo Gyan as an NGO took up further.

Why did you not go down the academic route abroad or here?

During my economic research I felt that the problems in society are not purely due to the lack of economic resource. However distribution of existing resources is a problem. I felt that the only resource I had in life was my academic knowledge.