One Person, and the Work That Needs More Hands.
Kinfonet is, at the moment, one person.
My name is Shubham Gaikwad. I started Kinfonet because I felt — and still feel — that there should be more spaces in this country and elsewhere where people can sit together and inquire seriously into life, without a teacher at the front of the room and without anything to sell.
For the last three years, I have been organising residential and online self-inquiry retreats in different parts of India. The retreats happen because I plan them, because participants who have come before help, and because something in this work seems to be needed. I support my family through freelance IT work. The rest of my time goes here.
This is not a complaint. It is just the truth of where Kinfonet is right now. And it is the reason this page exists.
What I am trying to build
Not a school. Not an ashram. Not a movement.
The longer vision is simple: study centres — in India first, and eventually elsewhere — where people can come together to read Krishnamurti, sit in silence, walk in the hills, and inquire honestly. Places without fear, without hierarchy, without spiritual dependence on any person, including me. Places shaped by the spirit of K, of Ramana Maharshi, of Nisargadatta — by the spirit of direct inquiry rather than by any institution.
That is a long road. It will not happen alone.
Where you might come in
Some of these you can do from anywhere. Some are on-site, during retreats. All of them, right now, are things I am doing alone or not doing at all because there is only so much one person can hold.
From wherever you are
-
Translate Krishnamurti's writings or parts of this website into your mother tongue — Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, or any other Indian language
-
Transcribe and edit dialogues from past retreats
-
Help with the website, social media, or the email newsletter
-
Design — posters, simple graphics, layout for printed material
-
Photography and videography, when you are at a retreat
-
Bookkeeping and accounts
On site, during retreats
-
Cooking, serving meals, washing up
-
Welcoming participants, helping them settle in
-
Looking after the grounds and the dialogue space
-
Driving people to and from the nearest station
If you have a profession
If you are a lawyer, an accountant, a designer, a developer, or anyone whose skill is normally expensive — even a few hours of your time, freely given, would change what is possible here.
If you are a student
Come for a week. Come for a retreat. Help with whatever is needed. You will learn more than you expect.
What I cannot offer
I cannot offer a salary. I cannot offer a title. I cannot promise a structured role or a clear job description, because Kinfonet is not yet that kind of organisation and may never be.
What you may find instead
A small, unhurried, honest body of work. The chance to help build something at the beginning, when help matters most. The company of people who are taking the questions of life seriously. And the strange satisfaction of doing something that does not need to be done — except that it does.
How to begin
Write to me directly. Tell me a little about yourself, what you might like to help with, and when you might be free. There is no application. I read every email myself, because there is no one else to read them.