Kasthurbha Gandhi Balikala Vidyalayam

Over in Ram Nagar, Choutuppal, you’ll find the Kasthurbha Gandhi Balikala Vidyalayam. It’s a bit of a walk from the main road, but everyone in this part of Nalgonda knows where it is. Since it’s a school for girls, we keep the gate closed most of the day. The girls stay here, so there is always something going on, whether it's cooking breakfast early in the morning or doing laundry in the afternoon. The building is simple, painted in that standard way you see around here. It’s not a quiet place, that’s for sure. You can hear voices from the classrooms all the way out to the fence. We have a small garden area, but it’s hard to keep things green when the sun is so strong in Nalgonda. The staff here are mostly local women who have been working here for years. We don’t really do big advertisements or anything. Most people just know us because their sisters or daughters came here. It’s a lot of responsibility looking after so many students, and sometimes the plumbing acts up or we run out of chalk, but we manage. Life in Choutuppal is steady. We follow the same routine every day, from the morning prayer to the evening study time. It’s just a plain, honest school where the girls can study without too much fuss.