Home For Everyone

Summer season would drive lots of travellers into the mountains as weather would be very pleasant. The cool breeze and chill temperature of the winter which one would feel in the plateaus would be felt during summers in the mountains. There would be a good amount of snowfall in Salli during winters making the entire summer pleasant to live. Soon Salli became famous through FB and word of mouth. We would get guests from all over the world along with majority of Israelis. People would come with a plan of staying for 2 nights and ultimately end up living there for 2 weeks. Such was the magic of Salli and Madhu. Every single guest would feel heavy-hearted while leaving Salli. We always treated everyone like our family and didn't give them a business vibe. Our kitchen was open to everyone to cook. There were no rules in our guesthouse. Upon arrival we would ask them to choose whichever room they wish to stay and show them around. The freedom to use the kitchen and cook was something unique we were offering. Salli became backpackers paradise. Visitors from all nationalities would cook their unique food which was a pleasure to watch.

There was a big porch outside kitchen where we would sit together on the ground for the meals looking at the lush green hill in front of our house. There would be so many different dishes to taste. Our morning and evening tea would be enjoyed in the balcony. Someone would play guitar while someone would sing. Everyone would share their stories and talk about their journey. At night everyone would gather in the kitchen around the fire. Madhu would serve fresh food by sitting next to the mud stove. Everyone would get hot roti in their plate. She loved to feed people and would get happy seeing everyone eating. Madhu was a complete woman to her core. After dinner we all would just sit in the kitchen enjoying the fire. Our talks would go till late night over mint tea. By that time Noor would be already asleep in my lap. That was her most preferred place to sit and sleep. She wouldn't bother if I was eating or doing some work. She would just come from anywhere and sit in my lap as if that was her designated royal chair. I enjoyed serving the princess. That 6-year-old kid made my life nothing less than heaven.

We would fill our basic kitchen stock once in every two weeks. As we were not charging guests for the stay and had kept it on the donation, everyone would buy vegetables from the market and cook on their own. That became a tension free business where we would just provide the place to stay and guests would take care of everything by themselves along with cooking food. Some guests would not pay enough while leaving as it was on donation. But then some guests would come and pay way more than expected which would balance out the less paying guests. Our approach for the first year was just to introduce more people to Salli even if that meant to suffer loss. The donation-based payment was the best way to attract visitors and market the business. We observed after one month only that we were already in profit. The way Madhu was doing business was surprising to me. Our place was making good profit and at the same time it was not giving the business vibe but a feeling of home to the visitors. We were connecting with our guests like a family and it would feel sad when they leave. That was definitely not just a business. Madhu would often tell every guest that, 'This home isn't just mine. I am just a medium who has built it. It belongs to everyone. This is a home for everyone who is away from their home.'

Our Guesthouse Was Nothing But An Ashram.