Deshmukh School

We have been here in Karandoli for quite a while now. Most of the people around here know where we are, just off the Internal Road in Lonavala. It is a quiet spot, though it gets a bit busy when the parents come to drop off their children in the morning. The school building isn't anything fancy, just some rooms where we try to get the local kids to learn their lessons. Most of the teachers live nearby, so they walk in every day. Sometimes when it rains really hard, which happens a lot here, we have to deal with leaks or muddy paths, but that is just part of life in the hills. We focus on the basics. You will usually find kids running around the small open space we have during their break time. It gets loud, but that is how a school should be. We have some old desks and a few blackboards that have seen better days. No one is trying to be anything we aren't. We just want the kids to finish their work and maybe learn something useful before they go home to their families. The staff sits together for tea in the afternoon, talking about which student is struggling and who is doing okay. It is a simple place with a lot of history in the neighborhood. We just keep the doors open and do what we can with what we have here.