BY JAMIE FOSTER
In an era of relentless testing and digital distraction, Adhirath Sethi’s The Moving of Mountains arrives like a cool drink on a dusty lane. This is not merely a book about an educational charity; it is a gentle, immersive ramble through rural India, and a powerful reminder that the best lessons are often learned with dirt on your hands and wonder in your eyes.
For readers of Country Squire, who understand that real education happens far beyond the walls of a stuffy classroom, Sethi’s work will feel like a kindred spirit. It charts the twenty-five-year journey of the Agastya Foundation, which began in the arid landscape of Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh. The mission was simple yet radical: to spark curiosity, nurture creativity, and build confidence among underprivileged children—moving them away from rote memorisation and towards the timeless art of “learning by doing.”
Sethi, a trustee of the foundation, writes with the unhurried patience of a man who has watched saplings grow into trees. He does not shout his message from the rooftops. Instead, he invites you to sit on a charpoy under a banyan tree and listen to the stories. And what stories they are.
The soul of this book lies not in grand strategies but in the children themselves. We meet Rani and Roja, two village girls who, while sheltering from the midday sun under a peepul tree, began questioning why some leaves feel cooler than others. Their curiosity, fuelled by Agastya’s hands-on methods, eventually won them a national science award. Then there is Vasantha, a young girl who, after a single session with a mobile science lab, returned home and started her own night school under a solar lamp, teaching the food chain to her neighbours. This organic blossoming of “Operation Vasantha”—a school run by children, for children—is the beating heart of the book.
Sethi is refreshingly honest about the obstacles: the dusty roads, the local suspicion, the sheer exhaustion of hauling science equipment across unforgiving terrain. Yet his tone never dips into despair. He writes with the quiet optimism of a countryman who knows that good things take time, and that the most fertile ground is often the most stubborn.
For the British reader, particularly those of us weary of league tables and the relentless pressure of standardised testing, The Moving of Mountains offers a much-needed antidote. Sethi introduces the concept of the “Aah! Aha! Ha-ha!”—the journey from wonder to comprehension to joy. It is a pedagogical model that feels as ancient as the hedgerows and as urgent as tomorrow. He argues, convincingly, that a child who has built a simple water pump from discarded bottles has learned more than a child who has merely memorised the diagram.
If the book has a flaw, it is that it leaves you longing for a few more quiet chapters, a few more afternoons spent in the company of these remarkable young minds. But that is less a criticism and more a compliment. By the final page, Sethi has moved his own mountain. He has dismantled the cynical notion that true innovation requires Silicon Valley wealth or Westminster approval. Instead, he proves that the most powerful engine of change is a group of passionate, unproven individuals willing to fail, learn, and try again.
The Moving of Mountains is not a loud book. It is a quiet, dignified, and deeply hopeful one. It will restore your faith in the next generation and leave you with the urge to step outside, look closely at the natural world, and perhaps teach a child something simply for the joy of it. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or simply a soul in need of good news, this book deserves a place on your shelf.
The Moving of Mountains: The Story of the Agastya International Foundation can be acquired here. A link to the Agastya International Foundation can be found here.
Jamie Foster is Country Squire Magazine’s Chief Writer