The Scroll That Unrolls: Reviving Forgotten Voices Through Education

By Mari Priyadharshini

Before diving into this narrative, it’s important to know about Aspasia, a woman whose legacy echoes across centuries.

Who Was Aspasia?

Aspasia of Miletus was a brilliant philosopher, teacher, and advisor in ancient Greece. While often remembered as the companion of Pericles, she was so much more—an intellectual force and a powerful voice in a time when women’s thoughts were often dismissed. Aspasia influenced great minds like Socrates, yet her story was nearly lost to history.

What Is a Scroll?

Scrolls were the original books—rolled parchments storing knowledge, stories, and philosophies of the past. Today, they symbolize more than information—they represent voices from history, like Aspasia’s, still whispering wisdom into our lives.

An Unexpected Encounter in a Library

In the quiet halls of a university library, Riya sat surrounded by books and blinking screens, studying the forgotten voices of ancient philosophy. One blink later, the walls shifted. The fluorescent lights disappeared. In their place were shelves of scrolls, candlelit walls, and the soft rustle of old parchment.

“Where… am I?” Riya whispered.

“You are where minds meet,” a calm, powerful voice answered. A woman in flowing robes appeared—eyes full of fire and wisdom.

“I’m Aspasia,” she said, with a quiet smile.

The shock on Riya’s face was unmistakable. “Aspasia of Miletus? The philosopher? The woman behind Pericles’ speeches?”

“Yes,” Aspasia replied. “Though history remembers me more for who I stood beside than for what I said.”

She sighed. “I hosted philosophers, taught rhetoric—but I became a scandal in the stories written by men who couldn’t accept a woman’s intellect.”

Riya nodded in understanding. “Your voice was erased. Distorted. Because it didn’t fit their narrative.”

Voices Still Seeking Space

“Do women now get to speak freely?” Aspasia asked. “Are your scrolls written without fear?”

Riya sighed. “We can write and speak, but we’re still interrupted. Still doubted. Still proving, every day, that we belong.”

“And yet,” Aspasia said firmly, “you are here.”

The Guardians of Future Scrolls

Riya’s thoughts turned to Pehchaan The Street School. “There’s a school,” she said softly, “under open skies. Where children with dusty hands hold books like treasure. They have little, but their dreams are endless.”

“They must be the guardians of future scrolls,” Aspasia said, eyes gleaming with hope.

“They are,” nodded Riya. “Recently, volunteers brought miraculous change—not through speeches, but through action.”

The Gift of Dignity

“They came carrying notebooks,” Riya said. “Brightly colored, soft pages, each child’s name printed on the cover. They brought warm, fulfilling meal boxes. For many, the best meal they’d seen in a week.”

“They brought care?”

“They brought dignity,” Riya replied.

“Those notebooks weren’t just tools. They were mirrors. A child saw her name and felt her story begin. A boy opened the first page and saw not just lines, but opportunities—to grow, to dream, to count.”

Aspasia was moved. “That’s the kind of scroll I longed for. One that saw me. One that said, ‘You’re more than a footnote.’”

The Power of Being Seen

Aspasia walked to a scroll and held it carefully. “This,” she said, “is not just philosophy. It’s about presence. Voice. The power of being seen.”

“And the result?” Aspasia prompted.

“They drew. They wrote. They smiled,” Riya said. “One girl drew a house made of books. Another wrote her name endlessly—as if chanting a mantra. One boy said, ‘Didi, now I have a real notebook like the children on TV.’”

Aspasia closed her eyes. “To be remembered not in marble—but in the way someone’s heart stands taller. That is legacy.”

Meals Wrapped in Love

“The food was wrapped in care,” Riya continued. “Rice, vegetables, sometimes fruit. For those children, it wasn’t just a meal. It was a hug in a box.”

“One child said, ‘Didi, today my stomach is smiling.’ Another saved fruit to take home for his sister.”

Aspasia smiled, tears forming. “In my time, how we shared food spoke louder than debate.”

“These children don’t debate,” Riya said, “but they understand kindness like true philosophers.”

A Whisper Becomes a Torch

Taking Riya’s hand, Aspasia said, “You carry a torch that began as a whisper. In a world that nearly forgot my voice, you and those children remember me by not forgetting yourselves.”

“At Pehchaan, we teach children more than literacy. We teach them to believe—in their voice, in their future, in the idea that they belong.”

The Pehchaan Promise

“We call it the Pehchaan Promise,” Riya said. “To not let a single child go unseen or unheard. To nourish them—in mind, body, and soul.”

“Pehchaan,” Aspasia whispered. “A name that means identity. And gives one, too.”

And in that in-between realm—between parchment and pixels, Athens and Delhi—the scrolls unrolled. A new story began.

Carry the Scroll Forward

Dear Reader,

The world doesn’t always remember the ones who needed it most. But together, we can tell a different story.

• Be the volunteer who gives a book and receives a bright smile.
• Say to every child, “You matter. You are seen.”
• Donate a notebook.
• Sponsor a meal.
• Share a story.

Because every scroll begins with one word. Every change starts with one act. And every child at Pehchaan deserves a page of their own.