National English High School

National English High School is tucked away at 17-8-151 in the Chowni Nader Ali Baig area of Chenchal Guda. It’s a busy neighborhood, so there is always the sound of rickshaws and people talking right outside the walls. The school building itself is tall and a bit narrow, fitting into the crowded street like everything else around here. Students from all over Chenchal Guda come here, and since it is a high school, you see a lot of teenagers standing around talking about their exams or just joking around. The staircases are a bit steep and the hallways can get quite packed when classes change over. We have been here for a good while, so the paint is peeling in a few spots and the desks have plenty of names carved into them by kids who have already moved on. It’s not the kind of place you’d find in a magazine; it’s just a real school where things get a bit loud and messy. The teachers use a lot of chalk, and there is always a layer of white dust on the tables by the end of the afternoon. We don’t have a big playground, so the kids mostly use the small courtyard or just hang out by the entrance. It’s a practical place, and we just deal with the daily heat and the noise of the city as it comes. It feels like home to most of us.