A home for everyday revolutions

Revolutionising the mind to reimagine society

Come to think, unlearn and reimagine. Real freedom is the freedom of the mind.

Our Philosophy

The name Kranti Niketan draws inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore’s lifelong belief that true revolution (kranti) begins in the human mind, community, and imagination rather than on battlefields alone. Like Tagore we envision a revolution rooted in ethical awakening, self reflection and social responsibility.

Why Kranti Niketan

Everyone is talking, yet fewer people are thinking.

Our feeds are full, and our conversations are thin. Kranti Niketan is for people who feel that discomfort and want to understand it.

It is a home for curious minds and stubborn questions.

  • Look beyond propaganda.
  • Talk about identity, belonging, nationhood and inequality.
  • Decode how media shapes our politics.
  • Imagine a kinder, more just society.

The rooms of the niketan

Eight rooms in one home

Niketan means a dwelling. Each room has a name in Urdu and in English, and its own way of thinking together.

کتاب خانہKitabkhana

Reading Circle

Slow, shared reading. We pick a text and read it together, then question it.

Turn the page → مکالمہMuqalma

Dialogues & Conversations

Open talk on caste, gender, religion, nationhood and economics.

Join the conversation → تعلیمTaleem

Learning Lab

Workshops on gender and caste sensitivity, and on how cinema, ads, music and social media shape our politics.

Start unlearning → علمIlm

Knowledge Commons

A shared shelf of research papers, open for anyone curious to read.

Browse the shelf → داستانDastan · Safarnama

Living Archive

A library of lived experience: stories of everyday resistance, told by the people who lived them.

Hear a story → حاشیہHashiya

Field Notes

Notes from the margins. Daily observations written down as they happen.

Read the margins → تخلیقTakhleeq

The Creative Studio

A place to make things: writings, paintings, photographs, reels.

Make something → روایتRiwayat

Living Tradition

Heritage looked at closely: what we carry forward, and what we question.

Walk through →

What holds the house up

The Sacred Pillars of Kranti

Critical Thinking

Empowering individuals to question narratives and build a foundation of rational and inclusive discourse in a complex world.

Cultural Introspection

Looking closely at the traditions we inherit, and asking which of them we carry forward and which we question.

Political Imagination

Reimagining societal structures through creative vision and critical engagement with the political landscape.

Our vision

PerceptionAction

We want to change the way people perceive society, and then move from perception to action.

  • Guest speakers
  • Outreach to institutions
  • Constitutional rights
← Home

Our philosophy

Where the name comes from

The name Kranti Niketan draws inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore’s lifelong belief that true revolution (kranti) begins in the human mind, community and imagination rather than on battlefields alone. Like Tagore, we envision a revolution rooted in ethical awakening, self reflection and social responsibility.

Tagore built Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati as a place where learning was open, curious and close to life. Niketan means a dwelling, and we want to be a dwelling for that kind of learning.

What we mean by kranti

  • Kranti is a transformation of consciousness, a change in how we see ourselves and one another.
  • It begins with questions we ask in conversation, long before it reaches the street.
  • It asks us to take responsibility for the society we share.

A place where people come to think, unlearn and reimagine, echoing Tagore’s idea that real freedom is the freedom of the mind.

← Home

Why Kranti Niketan

Everyone is talking, yet fewer people are thinking.

Our feeds are full, and our conversations are thin. Kranti Niketan is for people who feel that discomfort and want to understand it. It is a space for those who want to:

  • Look beyond propaganda.
  • Talk about identity, belonging, nationhood and inequality.
  • Decode how media shapes our politics.
  • Unlearn what they were taught without question.
  • Imagine a kinder, more just society.

It is a home for curious minds and stubborn questions.

← Home

Our vision

Perception → Action

Change begins with how we see. Much of what we believe about identity, belonging, power and justice was handed to us before we could question it. Kranti Niketan starts there, with reading, listening and asking better questions, so that people can look at society with fresh eyes.

Perception becomes action when it moves from private thought to shared practice. Through reading circles, field notes, workshops, guest speakers’ lectures and conversations on our constitutional rights, we turn new understanding into small, everyday acts: how we speak, what we question, and how we show up for one another.

How we see

Perception

  • Reading circles
  • Field notes
  • A library of lived experience
  • A knowledge commons for research papers
  • Stories of everyday revolutions and resistance
  • Open dialogues across different viewpoints

What we do

Action

  • Lectures by guest speakers, open to everyone
  • Workshops on gender, caste and media literacy
  • Talks and discussion sessions in colleges and institutions
  • Plain-language explainers on constitutional rights
  • Zines, plays and paintings made by our community
  • Policy briefs and petitions on the issues we study
  • Community campaigns and local drives

We begin online, and hope to grow into offline circles.

← Home

Constitutional rights

The Fundamental Rights

Part III of the Constitution of India guarantees six groups of Fundamental Rights. We use them as a starting point for conversation.

Articles 14–18

Right to Equality

Equality before the law, no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, equal opportunity in public employment, and the abolition of untouchability and titles.

Articles 19–22

Right to Freedom

Freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession, along with protection in respect of conviction, life and personal liberty, and safeguards against arbitrary arrest.

Articles 23–24

Right against Exploitation

A ban on trafficking and forced labour, and on employing children in factories, mines or other hazardous work.

Articles 25–28

Right to Freedom of Religion

Freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion, and freedom to manage religious affairs.

Articles 29–30

Cultural and Educational Rights

Protection of the language, script and culture of minorities, and their right to establish and run educational institutions.

Article 32

Right to Constitutional Remedies

The right to move the Supreme Court directly when a Fundamental Right is violated.

This page is a conversation starter and a short summary. It is not legal advice.

← Home

The team

Meet the team

The people behind Kranti Niketan.

Naitri Derasari, founder of Kranti Niketan, smiling in a maroon saree and glasses

Naitri Derasari

Founder

Sociologist

AlumnaUniversity of Bristol
Mithibai College, University of Mumbai

Heer Rughani, smiling in a white embroidered saree

Heer Rughani

Creative Lead

Psychologist

AlumnaNanavati College, SNDT University
Mithibai College, University of Mumbai

In the founder's words

I began in psychology, curious about the mind: why we think, feel and believe what we do. But the more I listened, the more I saw that no mind forms in isolation. It is shaped by caste, class, gender, history and the stories a society tells itself. That pulled me towards sociology.

Kranti Niketan is where the two meet. It is a space to examine our own minds and the society that made them, and to imagine something better together.

Naitri Derasari, Founder

In the creative lead's words

As a psychologist, I am interested in how the stories we are given shape the way we see ourselves and each other. Those stories can be rewritten.

As Creative Lead, I want Kranti Niketan to feel warm and welcoming, so that art, writing and conversation make hard questions easier to ask.

Heer Rughani, Creative Lead
← Home

Baithak · Our gatherings

Gatherings so far

Moments from the meet-ups we have held together, and a place for you to add yours.

Four members of the Decolonisation Circle sitting on picnic blankets on a lawn in Bristol The Decolonisation Circle flyer on the grass among picnic food

Bristol, UK · 23 April 2026

The Decolonisation Circle

Decolonisation asks how colonial histories still shape our ideas, institutions and everyday lives, and whose knowledge we treat as universal. Over a picnic in Bristol, the Circle came together to unlearn, question and begin to rebuild, because the personal is political.

Share your pictures

Were you at one of our meet-ups? Send us your photos with the date, the place and a line or two about the day. Please share only pictures in which everyone is comfortable being seen.

Share your photos
← Home

Join us

Come think with us.Come question with us.

If you have ever felt that the world is more complicated than its hashtags, you belong here.

To volunteer or to join as a community member, write to us.

Volunteer

Contribute your time, skills and ideas.

Community member

Join our circles, conversations and rooms, and think along with us.

Contact details

contact@krantiniketan.in

Who we are looking for

One person to begin with

Communications, Research & Outreach Associate (Sutradhar)

In Indian storytelling the sutradhar is the one who holds the thread and narrates the tale. Ours holds three: they keep our voice alive online with posts and reels, dig into papers, histories and ideas for the Knowledge Commons, and connect us with speakers, institutions and communities who want to think with us.

This role comes with a stipend of ₹5,000 a month. We are people who are just starting out too, so we are growing this together and keeping it simple.

Interested candidates are invited to send their CV, portfolio (if any) and a short note on why they would like to work with us to contact@krantiniketan.in; extensive experience is not required, and we welcome those who are open to learning.

← All rooms

In this room

What happens here

    Contribute to this room

    The rooms are taking shape. Come and help shape them.