391 No Balikuri 2 No Primary Lp School

Our primary school is tucked away near Vallabh Park in the D Cabin area of Sabarmati. This part of Ahmedabad has a lot of history with the railway workers, and the neighborhood reflects that simple lifestyle. The school building is quite basic, consisting of a few rows of classrooms with a small shaded veranda running along the front. We start every day by unlocking the heavy iron locks on the main doors. The kids from the surrounding houses and chawls usually start arriving early, some of them even before we have finished sweeping the overnight dust from the entrance. There is a lot of dirt and sand in this area, so keeping the classrooms clean is a task that never really ends. We have a small open ground where the students play kabbadi or just run around during their breaks. The staff room is tiny, just enough space for a couple of chairs and a table piled high with homework books that need to be checked. We use old-style paper registers to mark the attendance, and the ink sometimes smudges if the weather is particularly humid. Being so close to the D Cabin means we can hear the trains passing by throughout the day. It is a sound we have all grown used to, and the teachers just pause for a second before continuing with their talk. We don't have much technology here, just blackboards and some old wall charts.