From dawn till dusk, I sit on street stalls selling seasonal vegetables and fruits
Happiness cannot be expected after suffering is written in fate. That's why - I have been spending my days on the street for 25 years. Now I am 60 years old. It is not possible to live this old life without suffering. So, from morning till night, I sit on street stalls and sell seasonal vegetables and fruits. The family has to starve on days when there is no business on the street. At a leisurely age, he had to do such work more out of compulsion than desire.
Although I have a house in Baglung municipality-3, Guthi, my daily life is spent in the cold streets and working. After the death of my husband Bhairav Bahadur 25 years ago, this responsibility came upon me.
Even if he (husband) reached India, he used to earn the family expenses by working. He died of a sudden heart attack. After that, I came to the street without help. When my husband passed away, I had three daughters in my arms - the eldest Pushpa 8 years old, Miley Usha 6 years old and the youngest Asha 4 years old . They had to do street business to fulfill the responsibility of raising and teaching them.
You have to wake up at 4 in the morning to buy fruits and vegetables for sale. In the winter season, I reached the village without light in the morning and picked oranges myself. Even in the season of vegetables, there is a compulsion to go to the garden and bring the tips. Until a few days ago, I used to sell up to 50 kilos of oranges daily. The income from that is still running the household expenses. I get 4,000 monthly social security allowance . I have paid the room rent in one lump sum.
After the end of the orange season, now we have to go to the villages to find vegetables and bring them. If it rains in time, there is some income from the trade of Niguro greens in Baisakh and June. Because there is no investment in niguro and it is picked and sold by itself, there is a good income . You can save a little money by buying and selling vegetables and fruits from Sahu's farm . 17/18 thousand rupees are earned every month by cutting the cost of buying fruits and vegetables.
After doing this job, I married my two daughters and sent them home . I have raised a younger daughter and a grandson by myself. It also has to suffer to pay the debt incurred in teaching and raising them . 20/21 thousand rupees per month is being spent on the house for three people . Living in Dera, salt, oil, spices, dal-rice, green vegetables should be bought and eaten. 4/500 is spent on fish/meat one day in a week . I have bought clothes as needed. It will cost 5/7 thousand a year.
I have deposited the money earned daily in the cooperative and withdraw it when I get a chance. Sometimes I collect by hundred, sometimes by two hundred . Not exactly that. As the house is in Sagol, brother-in-law and their families live. Instead of asking for a house, I have been living in the market to educate and raise my daughters.
There is nothing I haven't done. Sometimes I carry sand, sometimes I go to build a house, sometimes I even go to dig the fields . I feel like I can even plow the fields . She has not done plowing since the arrival of the mini tiller. I have sold mushrooms, golvanda, bananas, greens and cucumbers grown by farmers in the village the most.
In the beginning, I also sold developed goods, but after Baglung Municipality started selling only organic and local products in carts, I focused on organic. The municipality has allowed it to be sold as it is a seasonal and local product. You have to pay tax brought from outside. At first, the municipality also threw away my belongings . Now I sell only local vegetables and fruits. Even if the city police vehicle passes by, the organic products are allowed to be sold in the roadside boxes after arranging time.
If you still get sick, it's hard to keep your mouth shut . I have heard that there is a provision of free medicine for senior citizens, but I don't know where to get it . Now her hands and feet are hurting due to cold, she has not fallen asleep . So I am working. If it is difficult, you should go to the ward and ask for help for drug treatment.
Presentation: Prakash Baral
