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When Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai (1826-1889) wrote the first Tamil novel, ‘Prathapa Mudaliar Caritharam’, in 1879, he, like many of his contemporary writers, placed education at the heart of his work. The protagonist of the novel, a wealthy landowner’s son, had once refused to go to school, saying, “Ayya, do I need to study? Are not my wit and common sense enough? The poor do need to be educated, no doubt, as they have to earn their living. But is that necessary for me? If there is something to be read or written, don’t we have our clerks? And accountants?” This amusing display of adolescent arrogance from a century and a half ago may seem preposterous, but its relevance is strikingly contemporary.