Sanjan Rajak, who has been selling grass to suburban farmers in Biratnagar for 40 years, travels as far as Dewanganj in Sunsari to find it. She puts the grass she has cut with hard work in plastic bags and sells it, usually at Bhatti Chowk.
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The postal road from Bhadrapur in Jhapa curves westward from Bhatti Chowk in Biratnagar. Sanjan Rajak has been sitting at that chowk for years, waiting for customers to come to buy grass.
She has been guarding this chowk for more than 40 years. ‘My life began to pass in this chowk,’ Sanjan, who sat selling grass, ignoring the cold of the evening, said in her own voice, ‘What was Biratnagar like? What has it become?’
As she watched, Biratnagar changed at a never-ending pace, spreading to the distant horizon. But Sanjan’s life remained the same. She endured sun and rain, cold and heat, and still waited for customers on the sidewalk.
Sanjan does not remember her exact age. However, she seems to be around 65-70. Even at this old age, she wakes up early in the morning. Her only concern is, how will she collect grass today?
Sometimes she goes to Baharampura near her home and sometimes to Dewanganj in Sunsari in search of grass. She puts the cut grass in plastic bags with great effort. Then she reaches Bhattichok.
Biratnagar is a metropolis where there are hundreds of ordinary urban farmers. Many have raised cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep at home. However, the people who come to her to buy grass are farmers who raise goats and sheep and hobbyists who raise rabbits.
Local Mehwuk Miya is her daily customer. He always comes on a motorcycle and buys and takes away grass worth 50 rupees. ‘I have raised a goat, it has become difficult to feed it’, he laments, ‘Sanjan is my mother and it has become easier.’
The grass that Sanjan sells has no fixed price . Nor is it measured . She gives the customer the amount he asks . She says, ‘I give grass according to the money .’
Earlier, another grass mother also lived with Sanjan . Now that mother has stopped coming to the market . Now Sanjan is the only character carrying grass on the sidewalk of Bhatti Chowk . The daily income from selling grass is not very much . Sometimes it is sold for more than 200 rupees . Sometimes it reaches 400 . And sometimes there is a situation where you have to go home carrying a sack of grass . ‘I have returned home with the grass many times,’ she says with a smile, ‘I kept it dry and sold it the next day .’
