Kendriya Vidyalaya

It’s often foggy here in Jalpaiguri. The school is tucked away in Hasimara, and some days you can barely see the gates until you’re right there. I’ve worked here for a bit now, and the routine is always the same. The heavy iron gates creak when the guard opens them around seven. Most of the kids come from the nearby quarters, walking in their uniforms that never stay clean for long. The classrooms are basic, just desks and boards, and the walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint if we ever got the time or the budget. In the staff room, we mostly talk about the commute or the recent rains. It’s a government school, so things move at their own pace. We don't have fancy gadgets in every room, but the fans work and the windows let in a decent breeze. During the breaks, the playground gets really loud, and you can hear the kids shouting all the way down the road. It’s just a normal place where we try to get through the syllabus. Sometimes the monkeys from the nearby trees come onto the roof and make a lot of noise, which distracts everyone. We just shoo them away and carry on with the lesson. It’s quiet in the afternoons once the buses leave, and that’s when we finish up our paperwork before heading home to our own families in the evening.