St. Xaviers High School

Our school sits along the Bankura Khatra Road in a place called Rajagram. It is part of the Damodarpur area, near the Bhagabndh post office. If you are driving down that road, you cannot miss the gate. It is a long stretch of road and we are one of the few big buildings out here. The red soil of Bankura is everywhere. It gets on your shoes and on the floors of the classrooms. We have stopped trying to keep it out entirely because it is impossible. St. Xaviers High School has been a part of this landscape for some time now. We have a large playground where the wind blows quite hard in the afternoons. The staff comes from all over the local villages. We talk in a mix of Bengali and English. Life here is tied to the seasons. When it is the hot season, we all move a bit slower. During the monsoons, the fields around us turn very green. It is a beautiful sight, even if the roads get a bit tricky with the mud. We do not have the fancy facilities you see in Kolkata. Our desks are wooden and a bit worn at the edges. But we have enough space for everyone to sit and study. Sometimes a stray dog wanders into the yard and we have to chase it out. It is just regular life for us in Bankura.