Sodepur High School

Sodepur High School is tucked away in Rahara, over in the North 24 Parganas area. If you know the neighborhood, you probably know the building. It has been sitting here for quite a while now. Every morning, the gates open up and the kids start pouring in from the nearby streets. Some walk, others come on cycles. It gets pretty loud once they arrive, but that is just how it goes in a school. Our address is Rahara, Kolkata 700118. The hallways are plain and the walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint here and there, but they hold a lot of history. We have the usual stuff like wooden desks and blackboards. The teachers are mostly local people who have lived in the area for years. During the breaks, you can hear the chatter all the way out on the main road. It is not a fancy place with high-tech gadgets in every corner. It is just a regular school where things happen at a steady pace. Sometimes the electricity goes out and we just open the windows wider to let the breeze in. We spend our days following the schedule, ringing the bell for lunch, and making sure the students are where they need to be. By late afternoon, the place empties out and gets quiet again. That is when we pack up our things and head home, ready to do the same thing tomorrow.