Springdays School

Springdays School is at number 46 in Erayangadu, which is quite close to the Pallikonda Toll Gate. Because of the toll gate, there is always a line of trucks and cars not too far away, and you can hear the faint sound of traffic all day long. It is a bit of a landmark for people trying to find us. The school building is simple, with a small play area that has a couple of swings that creak when the wind blows. We spend our mornings greeting the parents at the gate and making sure the children do not run off toward the road. It is a lot of watching and waiting. Inside, the classrooms are filled with the usual stuff like charts on the walls and boxes of crayons that are mostly broken. We don't have a big budget for decorations, so we just use what we have. Sometimes the water pump acts up and we have to call the plumber from the village to come and bang on the pipes. It is just part of the daily life of running a school in a place like this. During the lunch break, we all sit together and eat out of our tiffin boxes. It is a noisy time, but it is nice. By the afternoon, the sun starts to set behind the hills and the traffic at the toll gate seems to get even louder. We pack up the bags and wait for the quiet.