Sam International

Sam International is situated on the second floor of Wz 258 A, on Street No 4 in Shri Nagar, Shakur Basti. Being on the second floor means we have to haul everything up the stairs, which is good exercise but can be a bit tiring in the middle of summer. The street outside is usually full of activity, with vendors calling out and neighbors chatting. Shakur Basti has its own rhythm and we have become part of it. Our office is fairly basic. We have a few computers, a printer that jams once a week, and a large table for meetings that usually ends up covered in papers. We deal with international trading, but the office feels very local. You can hear the sounds of the neighborhood coming through the windows—the temple bells, the traffic, and the kids heading to school. We have a small balcony where we keep some plants, though we forget to water them more often than we should. The people who work here have been together for a long time, so we know each other's habits and how we like our tea. It is a comfortable place to work. We don't have any corporate slogans on the walls. We just come in, check the emails, handle the shipments, and try to make sure everything is in order before we lock up for the night.