Some College

This place is out in Pragpur, which is a small village in the Nawanshahr district. It’s officially listed under Kulwant Kaur Village. It is quite a long drive if you are coming from one of the bigger cities like Ludhiana or Jalandhar, but once you finally get here, the air is a lot cleaner and it’s much quieter. Some College is the name we use. We have students coming in every day from all the nearby villages like Jhingran. The building itself isn't anything like those modern universities you see in advertisements with glass walls and manicured lawns. It’s a traditional brick structure that’s been here for a while. We have the classrooms, a small area for the staff to sit, and some open space outside where people gather. It gets really hot during the Punjab summer, so the ceiling fans are always humming in the background. In the winter, it is the opposite, and everyone comes wrapped in heavy sweaters and shawls. The pace of life here is much slower than in the city. We don't have a lot of expensive equipment, but we have what is necessary to teach the classes. The staff members here are mostly local people or folks who moved to this part of the state for work. We usually eat lunch together and talk about the crops or the local weather. It’s a simple, honest life. We just want the students here to learn something useful so they can find work later.