Ram, the ideal man, is the result of two very different educations from two very different teachers: sages Vasishtha and Vishwamitra. While the former instills in him vast knowledge and theory about everything that a king must know, it is Vishwamitra's tutelage that lets Ram practise all that he has learnt, thus marking the end of his childhood and the beginning of his journey as a man. From debating moral conundrums, using dharma to make difficult decisions, facing dangerous rakshasas, and understanding human frailty, Vishwamitra's lessons are as much learnings for Ram as they are a way for us to understand the Ramayana. In Ram: The Student, Devdutt Pattanaik presents to his readers a side of Ram and his childhood that one rarely hears about. Complex yet straightforward, this is classic Pattanaik.