The school building in Akkarbaid is a surprising contrast to the simple mud huts there. A squat concrete structure, it stands some distance from the huts. Surrounding it are a few trees and newly planted shrubs, wilting in the harsh sunlight the morning I visit.

Two men are asleep on tarpaulins along one wall of the large, airy hall. Members of a band that plays at weddings and such events, they have an engagement this evening. Clearly they are conserving their energies for the show. Off to the side, a smaller room is filled with thousands of small potatoes. “For next year’s crop,” Prasanta Rakshit tells me. “We’re waiting for the prices to go up before selling them.” Anticipating the obvious question, he smiles and says: “No, they won’t go bad!”.

Little potatoes and sleeping musicians. School is clearly not in session.

The entrance is framed by two yellow painted panels.

On the left is a list of contributions for building the school: it’s not long. Film star Mithun Chakraborty gave the school Rs 100,000, nearly half the total. Another substantial chunk came from the literary critic Gayatri Chakravarti Spivak, translator of (the famously obscure) Jacques Derrida and Mahasweta Devi. In gratitude, the school has been named for her. (Another yellow sign over the entrance).

More here. Via Uma.

gayatri-chakravorty-spivak-school