Musician Brings Ivy League Professors to Small-Town India

Lying in a hospital bed in 2021, musician Anil Srinivasan noticed something troubling. The doctor with prestigious foreign degrees showed the least compassion, while his friend who studied in India offered genuine care during what doctors assumed were his final days.

That observation sparked a question that wouldn't let go: what if access to elite education doesn't mean what we think it means? And why should some children get world-class teachers while others never get the chance?

Srinivasan survived his mysterious illness. In 2022, he launched Kruu, an online platform that brings professors from Oxford, Harvard, IIT Madras, and NYU directly to students in small Indian towns.

But these aren't video lectures. Students in grades 6 through 12 spend weeks working on real projects with faculty acting as guides, not supervisors. High schoolers in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu are analyzing telescope data and creating visual maps of distant galaxies with guidance from a University of California researcher.

Other students are designing green solutions with IIT Madras sustainability experts, building apps, and developing policy proposals. Teams from Tanzania, Qatar, and Sri Lanka have partnered with Syracuse University faculty to study media bias.

Srinivasan, a pianist known for playing Carnatic music on Western instruments, calls himself an educator who stumbled into music. His earlier venture taught math and science through music to young children. Kruu aims higher, drawing from his PhD work at Columbia and his current role as an entrepreneurship professor.

The platform uses design thinking principles. Students research, ideate, prototype, and test their ideas while trained mentors provide live support throughout the journey.

The Ripple Effect

The results have revealed unexpected patterns. Girls complete projects significantly faster than boys. Students in small towns outperform those in major cities. The strongest performers come from average schools, not expensive international programs.

Srinivasan believes adolescence is the perfect time for this kind of intervention. Helping a 13-year-old discover their direction matters more than waiting until they're 40, he explains. Through hands-on projects, students learn what they love and what they don't want to pursue.

The model levels the playing field because problem-solving is a universal skill. You don't need fancy degrees or specialist training to tackle real challenges, just curiosity and guidance from someone who cares.

What started as a hospital bed epiphany is now giving thousands of students in overlooked towns the same academic opportunities as their peers in Mumbai or Delhi. Harvard is coming to Madurai, one galaxy map at a time.