Venkateswara Degree College

Our place is in Veeraghattam, which is a small town in the Srikakulam district. It’s a degree college, so we get students who have finished their intermediate and want to stay close to home for their further studies. The location is pretty simple, not much around except for some local houses and a few small shops. The building itself is a single block with several classrooms. We have some fans that squeak a bit and the benches are the old-fashioned kind made of wood and iron. During the monsoon, the ground outside gets quite muddy and we have to put down some stones so people don't slip. It’s a very quiet atmosphere most of the time, except when the students are changing classes. The office is just a small room with a couple of desks and a lot of registers stacked up on the shelves. We don't have a lot of fancy technology here, we still rely a lot on paper and ink for most things. The local bus stops nearby, which is how most of the kids get here from the surrounding villages. We see a lot of the same faces every day, so it feels quite familiar. It’s a humble place to study, and we don't try to be anything else. We just open up in the morning, do the lectures, and close the gates when the sun starts to go down. It is a quiet existence here in the village.