Most Indians will know Rabindranath Tagore, but a mention of Girijashankar Bhagwanji 'Gijubhai' Badheka is likely to draw blank stares. That's the assumption Once Upon a Story, a new book by Vinitha and Dr Swati Popat Vats, starts off with. Vats and Vinitha follow a clear trajectory of narration. They paint a clear portrait of the educator, before deviating into his specific ideas like the importance of parent induction and storytelling.

Badheka was born in 1885 and hailed from Vala, Chittal in Saurashtra. He was extremely unhappy with the rote learning and caning in school. After the birth of his newborn, the thought of the education system triggered him. Through Motibhai Amin, who ran a small school in Gujarat, he was introduced to the Montessori system — which puts the child at the centre of the system, in contrast to a talk-down approach. And then, Badheka introduced it to India. The book, thus, is a useful tool in not just understanding the journey of an educator but also gets us thinking about the state of education today.