Whether it's the gut-wrenching cold or the heat that burns the palate and sweats, it's not earned without work. For 13 years, I have been doing cleaning work around the square of the archaeological site Tilaurakot (ancient Kapilavastu). The money I get from doing cleaning work has become my household expenses.

My house is in Tilaura village of Kapilvastu-3, two hundred meters away from Tilaurakot. Everyone knows me as Gune Tharu . I am 72 years old. But you have to work to fill your stomach without saying anything in the cold, cold days .

Due to the lack of thick clothes, one T-shirt outside and two shirts are trying to hide the cold. Even the heavy rain has not stopped the work of sweeping . Even though Tilaurakot Chirichyatt is cleaned by daily hard work, they do not get monthly salary as there are no sanitation workers. But the donation given by domestic/foreign pilgrims and tourists is the main source of support for my family. 

At home there is a 59-year-old wife Cowley, two sons aged 25 and 21 and a newly married daughter-in-law. The responsibility of raising a family is on my shoulders . Despite the increase in the number of families, the concern has increased because the income has not increased. Even though there is no end to the donation that I will receive, the end of the house expenses will be done . Sometimes it costs from one hundred to one thousand rupees.

sometimes doesn't even fit . 5500 per month for salt oil and cooking. I spend 75 rupees for three pots of salt in a month . I spend 3 thousand 675 rupees on dal, rice, flour and stove. If any member of the family falls ill, the loan must be taken out. If you have to buy clothes, then Rin will be added . I earn two to four thousand rupees a month by tapping my hands. Therefore, after not paying the household expenses, I have no choice but to sit on my head. Drinking two cups of tea a day costs 30 rupees. Sometimes even while drinking tea, I think that I am not spending a lot of money.

Both sons who have not stepped into school have no job . The income earned by the eldest son from time to time is not even enough to cover the household expenses . The fact that the younger son, who is spending his free time at home these days, is going to Kerala to work, has given some hope. The newly married eldest son sometimes earns 500 a day by doing wage labour. There, he can't even earn 4/5 thousand a month because the wages are not regular. 

My sons are not able to earn even when they grow up, so they keep staring at me .  Sons ask for expenses, but I do not have . That's why I can't give. One hundred rupees can be saved by spending some months on salt and oil. But such savings are spent on welcoming guests from time to time. 

There are some months like this, I am worried about how to prepare lentils and rice. At that time, I go to the Janaki temple near home again. The monks who live there wash the dishes cooked in the morning and evening. After doing so much, I can eat my fill . But, not only my stomach is full, there the family is hungry . 

I have not bought new clothes for four years due to lack of money. It's been 6 years since I wore new shoes . Tourists and pilgrims who come to Tilaurakot sometimes donate clothes. Some give old clothes . I save the same clothes and wear them until they fall apart. 

It's been years since Mrs. Cowley has been able to buy clothes. The wife also cleans the temple during her time in Tilaurakot premises. She sews and wears the clothes offered by devotees who come to worship in the temple. For 13 years, the family has been living like this. Sometimes I feel that God is taking care of me.

I don't only have sad stories that are always sighing like a river, I also have a few glimpses of happiness that can be told . I once received a donation of 2000 rupees from a devotee. He did not stay on the ground happily that day. Where can you always find such happiness? Sometimes he cleaned all day and did not get even a single rupee donation . At that time I return home disappointed.