hard work. pays off.

Today, my cousin and I had the chance of visiting/ revisiting my father’s place of occupation here in India; for as long as I can remember I have always known it as “The Salt Works,” the place in India my father would travel to once, rarely twice a year for a couple of months to check up on, contrary to my childhood assumptions I learned today, the salt flats- where raw salt is harvested is officially known as “Gayathri Salt Suppliers” and the factory in which the salt is converted to consumer goods is known as “West India Sea Brine Pvt. Limited;” mind blowing wouldn’t you say!?

Sometime ago this whole salt thing started- now, decades later- I am more than reaping the benefits. My father spent the afternoon answering question after question. “So how does _____ work?”, “what is the profit margin in this industry?”, “where are all the laborers?” were only a fraction of the questions my cousin Kaushal and I asked. After spending a couple hours touring the landscape- I caught myself realizing that each “pan” or flat of salt was quite majestic, it seemed as though mounds of diamonds lay sparkling at the edge of each pan not sodium chloride- with the sky absent of any clouds and the sun swallowing the scenery, it truly was a sight to see.

After navigating ourselves through the traffic of India- similar to playing the 1981 arcade game frogger, we made our way to West India Sea Brine Pvt. Limited (the refinery,) Pops, Kaushal, and I made our way into the factory and were immediately subject to the worker curiosity and conversations. I snapped a couple pictures of the packing line and continued onwards with our (re)tour, being my second visit it was only a matter of minutes before I wandered off outside while dad spent more time explaining the mechanics of the factory’s equipment and the logistics of the factory itself. Snapping more pictures here and there… I finally…. snapped the one I wanted….........

A picture is worth a thousand words- cliche....? indeed i know.. but how else can you explain this?

(Whats inside this door to the right will be my nxt entry!)

“What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.” -Julia Cameron