For 19 years, Bhandari Ba’s tea shop in the village has been brightening his family’s future, even covering the expenses of six weddings.
Jumla, 12 Aug: Our ancestral home is in Bhandaribada village, Chandanath Municipality–2.
But now, I am making a living by running a tea shop near Sherajiulo, Chandanath–5.
I am now 64 years old. By selling tea, I raised three sons and three daughters. Along with the steam from the tea, my life, too, has drifted away. These days, in the villages, people know me as “Bhandari Ba” of the tea shop. Because the tea is tasty and affordable, my shop never lacks customers.
There has never been much festivity in my life. From a young age, I spent my days herding cattle and working the fields. Back then, there were no schools in the village. Even so, I managed to learn to read and write up to the twelfth grade level. I am the second eldest among four brothers. Because of poverty, education was a far-off dream. It was a struggle just to have one meal a day. Looking at those early days, running a tea shop in Khalanga Bazaar seemed almost impossible.
At the age of 15, in the year 2029 B.S., I joined the Nepal Police. At that time, I increased my age to 18 in order to get the job. From the day I joined the police, I was freed from tending cattle. During my service, I worked in the Karnali districts of Humla, Jumla, Mugu, Dolpa, and Kalikot, as well as in Surkhet, Nepalgunj, and Bardiya. Back then, the moment people heard the word “fauji” (soldier/policeman), it carried a certain prestige in the village.
By 2030 BS (1973 AD), I was already married. When I was alone, it wasn’t too difficult to make a living, but after marriage, responsibilities increased. At the start of my job, my monthly salary was 90 rupees. There weren’t any markets back then, and there wasn’t much to buy. We lived off our farm produce. Even with 90 rupees, I could save some money. When I left the job, my salary had reached 450 rupees. That was considered plenty to support a family. In the village, money didn’t hold much value — people relied on bartering goods instead.
Immediately after leaving the police service in 2042 BS (1985 AD), I started an apple orchard with over a hundred trees. Every year, I earned between 50,000 to 100,000 rupees from it. Traders would come directly to the village. I still remember the pain of having to feed apples to the livestock when there was no transportation to sell them. Nowadays, traders come right to the village and take the produce away.
Even after leaving the job, there were many ups and downs in my life. I ran tea shops in six different locations in Khalanga, the district headquarters. For three years, I used to sell tea and then return home. Now, I have been in the same place for 19 years. Every day, around 60 mana (about 24 liters) of milk is consumed. Since I buy milk from local breed cows and buffaloes, customers keep coming to drink tea. I buy milk worth 3,000 rupees daily and sell over 420 cups of tea. Selling tea earns me around 8,400 rupees a day, of which about 5,400 rupees is profit. Sometimes, the monthly income reaches as high as 162,000 rupees. Now I have grandchildren, and the family has grown to 10 members. I educated my youngest daughter in nursing, and now she works as a temporary teacher at Karnali Secondary School in Anamnagar. My sons are engaged in farming.
This large family is sustained entirely by the money I earn from selling tea. Even the wedding expenses of my children were covered from this. So far, I have managed six weddings, all financed by tea sales. According to my records, I have spent around 3 million rupees on weddings alone. I had the intention to educate all my children, but they were not willing. The price of tea in the market keeps fluctuating, but since the establishment of my shop, I have kept the same price—only 20 rupees per cup. I charge the same for a glass of milk. My wife has supported me throughout this journey.
Although I could not accumulate land or property by selling tea, I have never let any of my children suffer. At present, I only have a loan of 5,000 rupees. Since turning 60, I have been receiving the social security allowance—my wife and I together collect 16,000 rupees every four months. My friends also come to my shop to drink tea. They are surprised when they see our work and are delighted by the taste of the tea. Selling tea may not have made me rich, but it has kept my family fed. Sometimes, we even use the money from tea sales to travel to various pilgrimage sites in the country. Every month, I pay 2,600 rupees as rent for the shop, and I also buy sugar, tea leaves, and pepper from the same income.
DB Budha
