We are raising these funds for

I am a Fellow with Teach For India, currently teaching at Elia Sarwat English High School and Junior College, a budget school in Malwani, Mumbai. While I teach, I learn just as much from my bright and curious Grade 3 and 4 students.

My students come from the shanties of Malwani, where space is limited and noise is constant. Adding to this din, smartphones have found their way into almost every small hand. In such an overstimulated setting, children need a quiet harbour—one that allows them to slow down while also expanding their horizons. This need led to the creation of this initiative.

Windows and Mirrors for Our Classroom is a humble effort to build a small classroom library that serves both as a window to the outside world and a mirror to the inner world of my students. The aim is to nurture confident readers who think, care, imagine, and, most importantly, question both the world around them and within themselves.

At present, our classroom has very few books that children can truly call their own. This library will change that. The children’s storybooks provided through this fundraiser will be sourced from Pratham Books. These books will not simply sit on shelves—they will be held, shared, reread, and loved.

Children will have the freedom to choose what they want to read, at their own pace, without the fear of being wrong. We will read together, talk about stories, and sometimes just sit quietly with a book—creating space for reflection, imagination, and joy.