Shemrock Masoom

If you walk down Idgah Road in Palanpur, you’ll find us at Plot No 17. It’s a decent-sized plot where we keep the kids busy most of the day. The street gets a bit dusty when the wind picks up, so we’re always sweeping the front area to keep it clean. Most of the staff here live nearby, so we just walk or take a rickshaw to work in the morning. We have a playground out back, though the grass struggles a lot in the summer heat. Inside, the walls have some old drawings that the children made last year. We haven’t taken them down because they make the place look more like home. We start early, around 8 o'clock, getting the rooms ready for the day. It gets very loud once the buses arrive. Some kids don't want to leave their parents, while others just run straight for the swings. We spend a lot of time wiping tables and counting crayons to make sure none went missing under the furniture. The neighborhood is quiet mostly, except for when the bells ring for the end of school. We don’t really do anything complicated here. It’s just making sure everyone is okay and learning their basic ABCs. Sometimes we have tea in the small breakroom when the kids are finally napping. The furniture is a bit old and scratched, but it does the job for us. It’s just a normal school day for everyone here.