During my childhood, there was always a plume of smoke near the courtyard. My father used to sit near the fire. When he lit the fire in the furnace, smoke would rise. My father's hands would become black because he was always hammering iron.

There was a threshing mill in Bhageshwor Rural Municipality-4, Rotakatte. My grandparents spent their lives in threshing. They used to make sickles, axes, hoes, spades, and plows. The farmers of the village were our customers. They used to give us khol (rice, wheat) as wages. The kitchen was run from that. Even now, my chest feels heavy when I remember that tradition. In fact, I am also in the same profession now.

Although the profession is the same, times have changed. The custom of giving khol (balighare custom) has gone. I have also moved the threshing mill to a new place. I am running it away from home. Initially, I thought of leaving my grandparents' profession. I thought of starting some new business. I also went to the market to do plumbing work for about seven years. I did things like connecting pipes and installing water lines in the house. I never managed to meet my household expenses. My expenses were double my earnings.

If you don’t come to the steamer for a day, it is difficult to get food for the next day. After not finding any solutions, one day I made a decision in my heart – many people do plumbing work, but it is difficult to find someone to operate a steamer. Then I returned to my ancestral profession. I started using the skills taught by my ancestors. Since the steamer profession was not professional, I decided to move the steamer from my home to a new place. I thought about whether I should go to the district headquarters and operate the steamer. Since there were some old steamer entrepreneurs there, I wondered if it would work and two years ago I decided to set up a steamer in Ait Bazaar of Amargadhi Municipality, near the market. Ait Bazaar is the main market square for many residents here.

Running the aran all day makes the evenings miserable. I often spend the night here. Now I have to walk an hour to reach my house from the aran. During the days I stay here, I eat rice, potatoes, vegetables and lentils. Even though I crave fish and meat, I cook it at home only once or twice a month. We have a family of five. My wife, two sons, a daughter and I. The education of our sons and daughters, household expenses, clothes, medicine, everything is covered by the income from here. If I don't come to the aran for a day, it becomes difficult to afford tomorrow's food.

When I came here from the village two years ago, I was very afraid that my business would not survive. Now I am stable. The number of customers is gradually increasing. Even though it is a small market, there are many villages separated from here. That is why the aran is running. I don't have the money to invest and buy modern equipment. Time is moving forward. There are more imported tools in the market. A sickle can be found for Rs. 200. However, such a sickle lasts only one or two seasons. A sickle made by melting it in a fire in a traditional aran lasts for 10 years.