Kalpana Chawla High School

Kalpana Chawla High School is located on Neuri Road, right in the Neuri area of Ranchi. It’s a pretty straightforward place to find if you are heading out that way. We get a lot of kids from the local neighborhood who just walk over or ride their cycles in the morning. Being in Ranchi, we have some nice trees around, but the dust from the road can get inside the classrooms when it’s dry out. We named the school after the astronaut, and the kids sometimes talk about space, but mostly they are just worried about their math homework and the next football match. The building is two stories high and we have a small yard where the students hang out during their free time. It’s not a big corporate institution with shiny floors. We have scuff marks on the walls and the desks are a bit old, but they do the job. My desk is usually covered in notebooks and pens that don't work. We try to keep things organized, but with so many children running around, it gets a bit chaotic sometimes. The parents around here are mostly working-class people who want their kids to finish high school. We just open the gates every morning and do the work that needs doing until it's time to head home. It is a very normal school with its own little daily struggles.