”Carrying a milk baby, I carry a basket of ice cream”

We came down to Terai two years ago when it became difficult to make ends meet by farming

फाल्गुन २०, २०८१

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”Carrying a milk baby, I carry a basket of ice cream”

After writing sorrow in karma, one cannot sit down and eat. If you don't earn two or four paise, it is difficult to eat even a gram in the present age. There is no time to spend as much as you used to. However, thinking that I have to do something to survive, I am struggling with my nanny's arms.

When the sun starts to shine, I leave the house with a bag of ice cream . When my arms are tired, I feel relaxed when I put my daughter on the basket, the baby is happy . It seems as if the future has written that the market will swing like this from morning to evening. 

After selling ice cream in Mahendranagar market all day, in the evening sometimes 4/5 and some days 7/8 hundred hands. My house is Ajaymeru Rural Municipality-2, Gunpal, Dadeldhura. There was no source of income in the village. Even if you do farming, you will not have enough to eat all year round if you don't have crops.

We moved to Kanchanpur two years ago because there was no environment to eat there. As soon as we arrived, there was no arrangement here, so at the beginning there was a problem of accommodation . Even after going here and there, nothing worked. After seeing that he was wandering, a person he knew from the village took him to work selling ice cream. After that, I started walking around the market carrying ice cream bags. 

I go out to sell ice cream after having breakfast in the morning and return home only after evening. This year's business has just started due to mild summer. There is not much sale because the summer has not yet heated up. Now, not even a hundred/two hundred are saved a day . During the season, 12,000 to 15,000 is earned per month, so household expenses are fine.

2,500 room rent, 5,000 ration water, 2,000 gas must be paid. Apart from this, the education expenses of the daughter comes to 3 thousand per month. As the ice cream industry has arranged for ration water on loan for when they are not working in winter, there is no uprising. 

Since my business is from February to October, I stay at home for four months of winter . It is difficult to manage household expenses when you are sitting like this . Husband also works in ice cream making industry . His monthly salary is 15,000. Earlier, he used to work in India for many years. After not getting a good job there, he returned home.

Gunpal is an old mother-in-law in the village. We send everything from ration to necessary expenses for him from here . The income of two people is enough to cover household expenses now. If someone is sick, there is a situation to take out a loan . We have taken a room in the village because the room rent is expensive in the market. It takes half an hour to walk from Dera to Mahendranagar market. 

is currently earning most of its revenue. Tomorrow, when the daughters grow up, they are worried about how they will manage their household affairs as the expenses increase . I have two daughters . The eldest daughter of 5 years has just started going to school . The youngest is 7 months old. I send the elder to school and carry the younger with me.

has been like saying 'Dakshina lost all day' . If you could save a little bit, it would be easier when you are in trouble . The price is increasing . The income is less now than in the past . This is always causing concern . 

presentation: Bhavani Bhatt

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