India, Nov. 11 -- One hundred and thirty seven years ago, on this day, in Mecca, a bonny baby boy was born to Maulana Khairuddin, a Bengali Muslim scholar of Afghan ancestry, and Sheikha Alia, the daughter of an Arabian scholar of great repute. Maulana Khairuddin was a Calcutta man; moving to Mecca in his youth, he returned to his hometown in 1890, with his two-year-old in tow. That toddler grew up to become part of Gandhiji's closest circle, President of the Indian National Congress, independent India's first education minister, and the force behind institutions like Jamia Millia Islamia, the University Grants Commission, and the first IIT at Kharagpur. Since 2008, his birthday has been commemorated as National Education Day.

Given his ...