I studied only up to the 7th grade. Maybe it was because there was no environment that made me study – I didn’t feel like studying. After I stopped going to school, I started learning woodworking, carpentry, and house-masonry with my father and brother. At first, such work seemed difficult. My hands would break, the wood would break, and I was exhausted. I gradually learned everything. Today, all those skills have become the basis of my financial income. I was 17 years old when I learned this work. I am now 48 years old.

I am a resident of Ajaymeru Rural Municipality-3, Dadeldhura. Despite not having an education, I learned many things in life from strangers. My teachers are my father and brother. With the skills they taught me, I am now raising my children and family.

Bhadrapur is the headquarters of Ajaymeru Rural Municipality. Nowadays, I work as a carpenter in a small house rented in Bhadrapur Bazaar. Living here, I make everything from windows and doors, beds, drawers, cots, sofas, chairs to even small and large wooden sculptures. I mostly use traditional skills. I make wooden items by hand, carving them with traditional tools rather than modern equipment.

When using machines, the goods are prepared quickly, but they are not as durable as they say. Hand-carved wooden items are stronger. Many customers also like them. That's why many people order goods from me. This trust of the customers keeps encouraging me to work.

They say hunger is better than food, when I'm tired from work, even ordinary lentils and rice taste very good. Since it's the wedding season, many orders are coming in for drawers, beds, sofas, chairs and tables. At other times, work is also being done from neighboring villages. Apart from this, orders for making sofas and chairs are also coming from the rural municipality office.

I leave home for work after having tea and breakfast in the morning. It takes 15 minutes to walk from home to Bhadrapur. Sometimes I go home and eat rice in the afternoon, if I'm busy, I order it here. They say hunger is better than food, when I'm tired from work, even ordinary lentils and rice taste very good. When I return home in the evening, I take some daily necessities like rice, lentils, vegetables, salt and oil.

I have five sons, two daughters-in-law and a grandson. This skill has been a great help in supporting such a large family. Having a large family, this job does not always provide delicious food. I do not have much money daily, but it is not a problem to eat two meals a day.

Now my two sons have also started learning this skill. I am teaching this skill to my sons to preserve the ancestral skill. I am teaching them with the thought that the old skill will be passed down from generation to generation. However, I think the local government should also come up with a special plan for transferring such skills. After having tea and breakfast in the morning and going to work, and having a normal meal in the afternoon, and having homemade milk, curd, mochi and roti with vegetables in the evening - if I can eat this much, the fatigue of the whole day will disappear on its own.