Kawaimati Anchlik High School

The traffic on A J C Bose Road is probably some of the worst in Kolkata, and we are right in the middle of it at 220/2. If you stand in the hallway, you can feel the heavy trucks passing by sometimes. It’s a high school, so the students are older and they make their own way here on the public buses. The building is a bit gray and looks like it’s seen a lot of weather over the decades. We have big classrooms with windows that we have to keep shut sometimes because of the black dust from the road. Inside, it’s mostly just the sound of teachers talking and the scratching of pens on paper. We have a small office where we keep all the records in big steel cupboards that are a bit rusty. The floors are made of that old red stone that you see in many Kolkata buildings. It’s a lot of work keeping a high school running in such a busy area. We have to deal with power cuts every now and then, and everyone just sits and waits for the fans to start again. The students hang out near the entrance before the first bell, mostly talking about cricket or the homework they didn't finish. It’s a very practical place. We don’t have much in the way of decorations, just some notices pinned to a board near the principal’s door. It’s just an ordinary school trying to do its bit for the kids around here.