”I walk for 8 kilometers and sell bananas at street stalls”

I don't feel like riding a bicycle, even if I drive an auto, I walk to save the fare

Jestha 11, 2082

Fulmati Tharu

”I walk for 8 kilometers and sell bananas at street stalls”

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Kailali lives in Tikapur-6, Rakshapur. I have been making a living by farming since tradition. Even now, there is no reduction in my running to earn two pennies. I can wake up at 4 in the morning and do the housework. After having a little breakfast, I prepare food for lunch. It takes more than 2 hours to reach Rajapur market in Bardia from my house. I am doing all this just to get 2-4 rupees. Every day, while walking around, my feet got stuck.

Now I am 45 years old. My house is at a distance of 8 km from Rajapur . We don't have money to buy a motorcycle. There is only one bicycle in the house . There, the husband brings bananas to the Rajapur market in the morning. I walk from home to Rajapur. 

I come to Rajapur every morning to sell bananas and return home in the evening. After walking from Rajapur at 6 in the evening, I reach home around 8. What to do? I don't feel like riding a bicycle. Auto runs. But to save the rent, I walk again and again . 

husband has also turned 50 years old . One of his hands is weak . When he was young, he fell and broke his arm while climbing a tree to pick mangoes. The hand is not straight . You can't do hard work. Help in farming . The eldest of the two sons is married and separated. The younger son is not married. Since my farm is small, I have rented 5 katthas . 7 thousand 500 must be paid annually for the farm. We plant paddy, wheat, lentils etc. in the fields . With the cultivation of own and rented fields, it is enough to eat rice, pulses and vegetables throughout the year. 

I came to Rajapur three years ago to sell bananas. At that time, I used to sell bananas in Madhyachowk of Rajapur. I stopped coming for a few days in between . After not getting a wage labor job since last year  I have started coming to Rajapur again to sell bananas. Now the road to Rajapur market has been expanded . It is not possible to do business sitting in the square. I sell bananas sitting in a box on the main road .

20 rupees should be paid to the municipality daily for doing business in street boxes. Now even the residents of Rajapur have learned to sell bananas. Business has decreased somewhat as more people are selling. Bananas are not sold in winter. Bananas are being sold little by little in the summer season. 

We didn't grow bananas ourselves . I buy it from a banana farmer in Tikapur. Bananas are not even found nearby now. You have to go far to find bananas. Bananas are ready to be sold only after they are bought from the farmer's field and cooked at home. Farmers should be paid 40/45 rupees per banana. Bananas are sold at 60 to 80 rupees each in Rajapur market. I have supported my family with the profit from that business. 

When the husband puts bananas on his bicycle from home and takes them to Rajapur, the fare will be saved . If the bicycle is punctured or damaged on the day, it should be brought to the auto. Bringing bananas from home to Rajapur costs 200 rupees one-way auto fare .

Earn up to 12/15 thousand if you sell it for a whole month . From which salt, oil, surf, soap and clothes are spent. With my earnings, I have spent 100% of my household expenses. Failed to save . What can be saved by selling bananas in a basket! I am satisfied with the house expenses.

presentation: Ram Prasad Chauhan

Fulmati

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