In retrospect, our school days at HQ CG 19 were a microcosm of the state itself—imperfect, energetic, and fiercely authentic. We entered as children learning the alphabet and left as young adults armed with the peculiar wisdom of a borderland generation, ready to carry a piece of Chhattisgarh’s red soil into the rest of our lives. The classrooms may have taught us formulas and dates, but the corridors, the canteen, and the chaos taught us the only lesson that matters: how to be human, together.