Every year, the monsoon turns this desert into a sea. Water levels rise as high as you or me. When the rain stops, the water slowly sinks into the ground, leaving salt behind. Saltpan workers and their families move into the desert to make salt. They build houses and install pumps to bring salty water from under the ground into surface basins; water that will crystallize into six-sided salt cubes. Children move into the desert with their families and while their families work, they go to school in the Rann of Kutchh, Gujarat.
When Phulwa, a motor-mechanic hears that her friend Kanhaiya too is leaving the village for the city-like thousands of other young people-for work, she is distraught. Phulwa knows it's time to take matters into her own hand.
"In India flags are always waving, people are always dancing and singing, marching in the streets and eating lots of sweets at festivals. What is it like where you go to school?" Suresh, age 9, Government School, Madhya Pradesh, India
