Although our ancestral residence is in Meringden Rural Municipality-1, Khamlung, we have migrated 6 years ago and came to the headquarters of Fungling Municipality. I am 59 years old and my husband Sangbo is 62 years old. Motor road did not reach Khamlung until the time of migration. It used to take seven/eight hours to travel to and from the headquarters. Now it can be reached by car in two hours.

We spent five years building a residence by taking land from others for three lakh hostages so that our sons and daughters could study. A year ago we bought four acres of land and built a house. After asking for the refund of three lakhs as a bond, we bought the land by adding one lakh. Younger son Vikas has gone to Dubai. With some money sent by development and a loan of one and a half lakh from relatives, we built a house on that land. 

Chanchun 4 lakhs was spent on building the house . We are thinking of paying off the money that my son will send from abroad and the debt incurred while building a house, even if it means cutting down on food. 

The money sent by Vikas in three-four months is our main source of household expenses . It costs more than 15,000 per month for three people in the house . We have raised a bull, pigs, goats and chickens . We have hired bulls at the rate of five hundred per day. Earnings are made from bullocks only during sowing in June-July and plowing barren land in January-January. Apart from feeding the guests during the festival, no other income can be obtained from chickens.  

Husband and wife's tea, even lunch is Tongba . Since we eat Tongba three/four times a day, most of our expenses are in this . In the morning, we old people pull the tonga . Daughter Asha drinks black tea . Apart from Tongba, we eat potatoes, skus and thukpa produced in the village as snacks. 18 to 20 pathis of millet, maize, khundi (Kanika), wheat are required to make Tongba. It costs around 4 thousand 500 . Now the price of millet is 300 rupees, corn is 250 rupees, wheat is 200 rupees and khundi is 150 rupees.

Up to one and a half kilos of rice is consumed in the evening-morning. Its price is one and a half hundred rupees per day. We eat one kilo of chicken meat once a week. 500 is spent monthly on tea and sugar. In the market, sugar is Rs 100 per kg, and tea leaves are Rs 150 per kg. Two kilos of sugar are consumed in a month . Apart from eating and drinking, it costs Rs. About 500 is spent on cooking oil, marmalade, electricity consumption in a month. 

There are sons-daughter-in-law and daughter-son-in-law in the ancestral home Santhakra . It costs 1000 to and fro visiting them. The expenses incurred when a guest arrives and when the guest himself leaves are different . The expenses of going to the wedding-vratbandh, pasni, barkhant are different . 5,000 per month is spent on fees, books, and clothes for my daughter, who is studying in class 12. During festivals like Lhosar, Dasain, Tihar, Sankranti, the expenses increase rapidly . Although the husband and wife changed their clothes in Lhosar last year, they did not wear new clothes this time. Daughter buys according to need. 

Household expenses are increasing with age . That's why I am buying a cow after selling the bull. The price of a bull should be around 80,000 rupees. Now I am thinking of tying two cows in the bull tying shed. We are thinking of selling four/five liters of milk daily. There is also preparation to plant vegetables like greens, radish, cabbage, potatoes in the farm to increase the income. It has been advised to grow winter vegetables by making tunnels. There is no problem of irrigation as the field is near the lake . Two daughters got married and went to their respective homes. One daughter is working in Nepal Police. After my son comes from abroad, I want to visit Lumbini and Kathmandu. We have said that we will take the elder son and younger daughter together .