Orient Public School

Nawanshahr is a place where you see a lot of green fields, and Samundra is no different. Orient Public School is tucked away here, and it’s a very grounded sort of place. We don’t have a lot of fancy decorations or glass walls. The building is painted in a simple way and has stood here through many seasons. In the morning, you can see the dust dancing in the sunlight coming through the high windows. The staff arrives on scooters or bikes, and we start the day by opening up all the classrooms. It can get quite dusty because of the surrounding fields, so there’s always someone sweeping the floors before the children arrive. Our desks are the heavy kind that don't move easily. We spend our days going from one room to another, talking until our throats are a bit sore. Lunchtime is when the kids sit out in the open and eat from their steel tiffins. Samundra is a small place, so we know most of the families who send their children here. It’s not like a big city school where everything is automated. We still write a lot in paper registers and use physical bells to mark the periods. By the time the final bell rings, the sun is usually high, and we’re ready to close up the office and head back to our own homes after a long day of work.