I go from village to village with herbs in bags and sell them
I was born in Dehimandaun of Baitadi. He was getting older. got married Articles were not read to get a job. He did not have his own land to cultivate. He had to experience many ups and downs in his 36 years of life. I spent three years working as a laborer in India after not being able to eat two meals in the village of Baitadi. I ate the dust of the city while working in New Delhi. After the work was not sustainable even in the capital of India, I returned to my village.
There is no skill at hand to work except for wages . That's why I started trading in Himalayan herbs. The herbs collected in Darchula were carried in bags and carried from village to village, but there was no business . One year I sold herbs in the Patan market of Baitadi. Because the market is small, there is no income. Has lived in Dadeldhura for 10 years . For many, the headquarters is a desire, but for me it is a necessity. I am spending my days considering this place as a source of livelihood. I go to the market of the headquarters with a bag full of herbs . After working all day and get a little money, you will use it for household expenses.
itself has not opened a shop . I go from village to village with herbs in my bag. Most of the time I sit near the bus park and sell stuff . Ganano, Satuwa, Kalonun, Mulethi, Bhootkesh, Silajit... are the main booties I sell . I will reach Khandeshwari in Darchula and bring herbs . The sukas and bhotes of the area collect those precious herbs by stepping on the hard snow of the mountains. I buy 10-15 thousand herbs from them and put them in a bag. After returning to Dadeldhura and selling the herbs, I go to buy again . It takes me a month to bring goods worth 10/15 thousand and sell them here .
First earnings were good . Herbs were in demand and sales were also easy. One thousand-twelve hundred would be saved in one day . Now-a-days the elderly people prefer herbs more . I wander around the village and come back to my room in the evening . Sometimes when you return home, you don't have money in your pocket, only fragrant herbs and the smell of sweat. Now that there are many merchants, the customer's eyes are busy looking for the rate . Earnings are falling .
My family of 9 earns a living by selling herbs. We are old with four sons and three daughters. In the morning, I look at the faces of my children and wish that they don't suffer like me.
I pay 3,000 monthly room rent . When children start going to school . But the government school in the headquarters also became expensive. I have sent them to a school in Selagaon, leaving them from a nearby school, as there is a lot of expenses for clothes, clothes, and various fees. There, the school gives free of charge everything from paper and pens to bags and clothes. Does not charge a fee . Days are not easy . If there is no business one day, I will go back home and sit down. I keep silent looking at my wife . After seeing the children, many ideas start running in the mind.
When I don't come to write-read, I separate money notes . I know how to distinguish one thousand, five hundred, one hundred, fifty. That's my math and economics. Now I earn two to three hundred. That's enough to buy pulses and rice. After earning a lot, I buy meat and go back to my room . You can see happiness on the faces of children on that day. Then I forget the tiredness . How many days of not eating and nights of sleeping hungry! I remember eating bread with salt many times.
has to suffer for a few more years . But people have their days! Maybe there is a day for me too! I am still running with a bag in the hope of happiness, saying 'Ganano, Satuwa, Silajit...'.
Sometimes I remember grinding salt in Silouta and chewing the food to taste it . That taste reminds me of the reality of life. I have nothing today . But there is a dream that children can read a lot . Let them carry a bright future, not a burdensome bag like mine. That's all there is to wish for.
Presentation: Tarkaraj Bhatt
