Vaishalli Chandra

Boys sit here, girls sit there. A rule I grew up to as well, it seemed the easiest thing to do, back in school. Girls talk more and boys are irritating, who wants to sit with them anyway. We did talk to them. We had crushes on them and vice-versa.

If food was a religion, I'd happily be a border-line theist. Waking up past 9, I was certain, I had missed the breakfast. But, it wasn’t so much a concern as I looked at my backpack and smiled, inside there was a newly acquired box containing honey-coated cornflakes.

As the sanitation and hygiene campaign (Nirmal Bharat Yatra) moved from Maharastra to Madhya Pradesh, our halt on the outskirts of Indore brought us face-to-face with grim realities. Two schools that I visited had structures that in some government file were passed off as toilets.

September 30th - The skies poured out the day we were to leave for Nagpur. The morning shower felt like a blessing. Thankful, but sceptical of the weather, our biggest concern was whether the rains would follow us. In Nagpur, the moment we stepped out the heat hit us. Clear skies welcomed us and for that we were grateful.