Away From Salli

The kitchen would be used by everyone in the office. I and Or would cook all our meals in the kitchen as there was no other affordable way to eat. Noa would give every employee a weekly budget for food. There was a grocery shop near our office from where we would buy everything. Once every 3 days, we would go shopping and also watching the sunset. Milk, bread, cheese, eggs, rice, daal were our most bought things. We had decided to manage cooking during our breaks but most of the days we would end up spending more time in the kitchen. To prevent that we then planned to prepare our breakfast before the office. But for that, we had to get up early which was a challenge for me and Or. We both were not a morning person and would find it tough to crawl out of the bed. Most of the days Or would manage to reach the office in time from his adjacent room.

The training of new employees was going great. Or was doing all the necessary knowledge transfer as his time to leave India was nearing by. Even though the team was performing better I couldn't find anyone who would match the skill levels of Or. There was no one like him. The genius was irreplaceable. I was gonna miss working by his side. Soon there were CCTV cameras in the office along with a power backup in case of electricity cut off. We were building every little infrastructure which would assist us in maintaining a smooth flow of work. Me and Or both would train the newcomers to make them ready for work as soon as we could. Once a week there would be a conference call with the client from Israel. They were very happy with the work we were doing.

The work was measured on an hourly basis and not on a monthly basis which was something new to my Indian working standards. We were supposed to complete 40 hours of work in a week and 160 hours in a month. Our office had its weekly off on Friday and Saturday as that's what was followed in Israel. So working on Sunday was something weird in the beginning. I would leave for Salli on Thursday so that would make work for only 4 days a week and not 5. To cover up 40 hours I would work extra hours every day after the office hours. Sometimes I would be seen working till late on CCTV. My longing to be in Salli was greater than the work in Naddi. I had a picture in my mind that the office would be in Salli and I would work there while looking after the guest house. But due to internet connectivity issues in Salli, we had to move to Naddi which was 2 hours long drive away.

Working Far Away From Salli Was Unsettling.