Gandhi Smarak Inter College

Jaingara is a quiet part of Agra, and that’s where you’ll find our building. It’s been standing here for quite a while now. When you walk through the main gate, the first thing you usually notice is the sound of kids chatting before the morning bell rings. It gets pretty hot in Agra during the summer months, so the ceiling fans in the classrooms are always humming. The walls have been painted a few times over the years, but you can still see where the old layers were. Most of us here have worked in this building for years. We spend a lot of time in the staff room, which is filled with registers and stacks of papers. There’s a small playground out front where the grass gets a bit dry in May. The neighborhood is mostly houses and a few small shops, so it’s not too loud during the day. Sometimes the traffic on the way to Jaingara is a mess, especially near the main crossings, but once you get inside the college walls, things slow down. We have wooden benches that have seen better days, but they serve the purpose. Every morning starts with the same routine of opening the heavy shutters and checking the attendance books. It isn’t a fancy place, but it’s where we spend our days, dealing with the usual school stuff like broken chalk and missing notebooks. It is just a regular spot for learning.