I am now 52 years old. I have spent more than half a century of my life in business. In my childhood, when other friends were enjoying sports, I used to walk through the streets of the market carrying oranges. I would buy oranges worth one hundred rupees and sell them for two hundred. The profit was small. But it instilled in me a passion and confidence in business.

My house is in Koteli, Navadurga Rural Municipality-1. I currently live in a small mud house built on a small plot of land in Tufandanda, Dadeldhura district headquarters. This is where my shop is. Even though I had passed SLC, I never dreamed of a government job. My dream was to have my own shop, my own business, and a life standing on my own two feet.

When I was in the village, I used to buy fruits like oranges, lemons, and pears grown in the village and sell them in the villages. Sometimes I did not hesitate to do anything, whether it was goat farming, buffalo farming, or poultry farming. I had no shame, I respected business. Life has hurt me a lot, but I never gave up. This habit of not being ashamed of doing business has kept me going till today.

Even now, I walk the streets of the market every morning carrying a crate full of bananas, almonds and fruits. Sometimes I call customers saying, ‘Take bananas, fresh almonds’, sometimes I sit in my own shop and wait for customers. Life has been full of hard work. I even bought a bus with the money I earned from the fruit business.

For a few years, I was the owner of my own bus. I had to sell the bus as I couldn’t do business well. After that, I started other businesses. The business continued with the bus, but when customers borrowed goods from the shop and did not pay, I had to suffer losses. The profitable business turned into a loss. Finally, I had to sell the bus and return to the retail shop. Now, I have made one rule, ‘Loans are closed forever.’

I still have a shop in my own backyard. I sell greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts and even cigarettes in the morning. I do business according to the season. I also bought this land about 20 years ago with the earnings from business.

I may have earned a lot of money in my life, but I have never bought a 'purse'. The habit of keeping money in polythene or plastic bags since childhood is still there. That is why some customers know me as the 'polythene merchant'. Why do I like to keep money in polythene?

There are six people in our family now. Everyone's stomach is fed from this small business. We are not rich, but we are not hungry either. I sweat for my morning dal and bhaat, but there is satisfaction in that. I have never coveted others. There is joy in life when you work hard and eat. Now age is slowly leaving me, but the enthusiasm for doing business has not diminished. I live in the shop here, cook here, sleep here.

Sometimes when I feel hungry, I eat the fruits or nuts that I sell myself. There is no problem with dal-rice in the morning and rice-vegetables in the evening. But I am tired in the evening after working all day. I am not lazy to cook food there either.

My family is in the village, but I live in Dadeldhura district headquarters. The village is not far, I sometimes go back and forth. I like the streets of the city, the customers in the market and the morning bustle. This place has become a part of my life.

In my opinion, today's youth are too shy. They think it is easier to go abroad than to work. But I want to say – ‘Shame does not fill the stomach, no work is small or big .’ Business has given me respect, made me self-reliant, taught me the meaning of life . Self-satisfaction is a bigger thing than money . I feel that even today . 

I know that now life has been touched by old age . But as long as my hands can move, I will not leave business . Business is my life, my identity . This shop, this market, these notes kept in this polythene, all these are the pages of my story .