Even after eating one meal, I would worry about what to eat for the next. There was no one to earn money in the family. Since there was no income, it was difficult to even afford food at home. I saw the pain of my family since I was born. As I started to gain some consciousness, the lack of family also started to hurt me. I went to school when I was young. I did not have an environment to study beyond the third grade.

The money my father earned from his labor was enough to buy pulses and rice. And I left school and started following my brother-in-law. I was 10 years old at that time. Wherever he went to work, my brother-in-law took me there and started teaching me how to work. He taught me how to make sirak, dasna and furniture. I learned the work by walking with him for a few years. The work I learned then has now become the main basis of my livelihood.

I am now 22 years old. Since it is difficult to find work in the village, I have left my brother-in-law and am now traveling to different districts of the country with my friends. While traveling in this way, I work in the winter to make sirak, dasna and pillows. During the rainy season, I go to Pokhara Bazaar and make furniture. This time I have come to Salyan with my friends. It is not easy to do this work alone. That is why I have brought my relatives with me to make Sirak-Dasna.

It is almost difficult to find the young generation in the hills. I also see the elderly at home in trouble. After two people prepare Sirak-Dasna all day, we earn 4 thousand rupees in the evening.
I had come here in late October looking for work from Khalichadi, Jagannathpur-3, Parsa. Now I am living with friends in Sharda Municipality-1, Srinagar, on a rented room. We have a cotton and cloth washing machine. The machine works quickly. We cook and eat ourselves. Two people spend 2 thousand rupees on rice, 1 thousand rupees on lentils, 750 rupees on three liters of oil, and 2 thousand rupees on vegetables in a month. We eat fish and meat worth 1 thousand rupees twice a month. We spend 2,000 on a phone, tea and breakfast, etc.

We pay 4,000 for room rent and 15 to 20,000 per month for the cloth we borrow from a creditor to make sirak-dosana. Since we use a machine to spin cotton, we spend 1,000 per day on oil and another 1,000 for maintenance. All in all, we spend 35,000 per month. At the rate of 4,000 per day, we save about 120,000 per month. After deducting expenses, we both divide the money left over at the end of the month and send it home.

I was interested in studying. However, my parents were not wealthy enough to enroll me in school. I was forced to start working as a laborer after I couldn't save enough money to buy pens and paper. When I was young, I couldn't eat my fill and wear it as I liked. It has become much easier since I started earning. After taking on all the responsibility, I have left home and lived outside for about 10 months a year for the happiness of my family.

I have visited 67 of the 77 districts of the country. People have been migrating abroad in search of employment in recent times. That is why it is almost difficult to find the young generation in the hills. I see that the elderly at home are also in trouble. Seeing such a situation, I decided to open a small industry in my own country instead of going abroad.

Since I missed school when I was learning the alphabet, people now call me illiterate. But I can do calculations as well as an educated person. I can keep each calculation neat. Without a certificate, you cannot get a government job. And you are deprived of government facilities. But I am earning more than a government job. I am proficient in my work as if I had been educated with responsibility and experience.

Presentation: Biplav Maharjan