Kendriya Vidyalaya No 3

Out here in Laxmi Nagar, near Ram Nagar, the school sits in a pretty quiet part of Machhe. It’s a Kendriya Vidyalaya, so things are done in a certain way, but it still feels like a local neighborhood spot. The grounds are quite large compared to some of the private schools in the city. You’ll see the kids in their checked uniforms coming in from all the nearby areas. In the mornings, the air is usually a bit cooler, and you can hear the assembly starting from a distance. The building is solid and looks like many other government buildings you’ve seen before. We have a lot of benches that have seen better days, but they do the job. The teachers come from different parts of the country, so you hear a mix of languages in the staff room during tea breaks. We have a small playground where the grass doesn’t grow too well because of all the running around, but the kids don't mind. It gets quite dusty in the summer months when the wind picks up from the open fields around Machhe. We don't have fancy air conditioning or anything like that, just the ceiling fans that hum all day long. Parents often wait outside near the gates around three o’clock. It’s just a steady, predictable life here. We just make sure the kids show up and do their work in the classrooms every day. On Fridays, we have a bit more activity with sports, but mostly it's just the usual classroom work.