Punjab, the land of plenty. The state today is faced with an enemy within - drugs. And it's most lethal attack has been on one of the holiest cities for the Sikhs - Amritsar. Barely eight kilometres from the Golden Temple is Makboolpura infamously known as the village of the drug widows.
It is here that Master Ajit Singh started this school in 1990. He is a government school teacher, who saw the desperation and poverty induced by drugs and decided not to look the other way. Master Ajit runs the school from his home - living in one small room.
Most of his own pay is spent in the upkeep - for the rest - they depend on the kindness of strangers. "They call this locality of widows. I want this to be called locality of scholars. They should become crusaders and fighters," said Ajit.
At the Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir, nine out of 10 students have a drug addict for a father. Of the 800 children - nearly 130 are drug orphans.
Aarti lost seven members of her family including her father, to drugs. "I know what it is like to live without a father," said Aarti.
Makboolpura and it's children are symptoms of a monstrous disease that has spread through Punjab - unnoticed by the outside world. And no one knows or wants to know just how bad the crisis is.
Studies have estimated - that over 70 per cent youth in the state between the age of 16 and 35 are hooked to either heroine, smack or psychotropic pills. At Makboolpura an entire generation is growing under the haze of drugs - their only hope to a better life - master Ajit Singh and his humble school doing the best it can.