Chubby Cheeks Nursery School

Solapur gets quite hot in the summers, so our nursery school in Damani Nagar can feel like a bit of a refuge when the fans are spinning. Chubby Cheeks Nursery School is right there in Laxmi Peth, near the Laxmi Vishnu Chawl. It’s a very old part of the city. We have little kids running around from morning until noon, mostly. Since it’s a nursery, there is a lot of noise, mostly singing or just children being loud as they play with blocks. Our space at number 155 is not huge, but it fits everyone. We spend a lot of time wiping sticky handprints off the walls and making sure the floor is swept after snack time. People in the neighborhood know us well because we’ve been in this spot for a long time. You can see the old chawl life right outside our door. It’s not some polished international school; it’s just a local place for the neighborhood children to start their learning. We keep the toys in plastic bins and try to keep things tidy, though it never stays that way for long. The staff here are mostly local women who know how to handle a room full of four-year-olds. We just take it one day at a time, making sure everyone gets home safely when the day is done. It is loud but it is good.