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The
Unfolding Story of Pushp Niketan
It
happens all the time, a slow trickle from villages and
towns gathering at
the helms of a metropolis, in hope of a
livelihood, or in pursuit of a dream. Less common are
the stories of a city reaching out towards the villages.
This is one such journey.
By
Amruta
Patil and Luke
Haokip
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 Hundred
and ninety eight kilometers is not a long way off, but
if you have made your way from Delhi to Bijnor behind a
slow crawl of sugarcane-laden numberplate-less
automobiles, you feel the distance acutely.
The sugar mill is the most famous thing about this town,
indeed, it is the hub around which all social and
professional activities here revolve. We were in Dhampur
in pursuit of a teacher (see Harendra Chand’s
interview), but ended up profiling Pushp Niketan School,
nestled in the grey sugar mill complex.
What
is now the school was once a sugarcane laboratory. In
true small-town quaintness, there is much that the
school still needs to get into place, but Pushp Niketan
school has airy, light-filled classrooms, playground,
auditorium, and sports facilities. Another thing it has
is a small band of devoted teachers. Here are the
stories of three people whose efforts keep the fledgling
but ambitious project going.
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