# Doon School shaped me as an individual, says Karan Thapar 2026-08-16T07:33:24+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Journalist Karan Thapar has written about his time at the Doon School, describing how the institution treated each boy as an individual. In an essay for Hindustan Times, Thapar recalls that he never felt like one of many and was encouraged to pursue his interests in debating, acting, writing and reading, even though he hated sport and was teased for it. Thapar highlights the creation of the Scholar's Blazer in 1971 as an example of the school's willingness to recognise academic achievement equally with sporting prowess. He says the headmaster, Colonel Simeon, allowed him as a teenager to design the blazer, which remains a black double-breasted style to this day. The essay credits masters such as Gurdial Singh and Sheel Vohra for teaching him that a mistake is not a crime and that it is better to try and fail than never try at all. Thapar writes that this was the best lesson Doon taught him. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Dehradun, Doon School, Karan Thapar Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/doon-school-shaped-me-as-an-individual-says-karan-thapar/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/doon-school-shaped-me-as-an-individual-says-karan-thapar/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/