<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dharan<\/strong> \u2013 Shanti Shrestha wakes up before the city does. Long before sunrise, she boards a vehicle from Dharan to Bhawanne in Morang. After buying corn, she returns to Dharan \u2014 by then, it\u2019s around 10 or sometimes 11 AM. Then begins her daily ritual of working with fire and smoke. Every day, she roasts and sells around 160 ears of corn. This is not something she has done for a day or two \u2014 it has been her routine for over three decades. The 59-year-old Shrestha is a resident of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City\u201316. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though age is advancing, her energy remains the same. Her dream of becoming self-reliant through hard work has only grown stronger with time. \u201cOnce you’re mentally prepared to work, age or problems don\u2019t matter. You actually get used to it. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve never considered this work a burden since the beginning,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to her, she now leases cornfields from different parts of Morang on contract. Depending on the field, she has to pay anywhere between NPR 60,000 and NPR 150,000. As it’s difficult to do this alone, she works together with two or three others. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit cheaper when we take the lease together, but business is not always profitable. Sometimes there are losses, sometimes profits,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The corn she brings in is sold at prices ranging from NPR 15 for small ears to NPR 50 for larger ones. From this business, she makes between NPR 70,000 to NPR 80,000 a month. \u201cHere I sit under the open sky on the side of a street in a lane near Lakshmi Chowk, Dharan, selling roasted corn. I don\u2019t have a shop or a roof, but I have the courage to work,\u201d says Shrestha. \u201cIf you work, there\u2019s no need to go hungry. Roasting corn is what keeps my household running. It\u2019s my lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is now a single woman, having lost her husband six years ago. While her husband used to help earlier, she has been managing everything alone since his passing. \u201cI can’t do any other kind of work now, and roasting corn isn\u2019t too difficult. It gets hot under the open sun, but you have to endure it. You can\u2019t stop working just because it\u2019s tough \u2014 this work has given me everything,\u201d she says, her tired face still glowing with hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shrestha has been roasting corn for nearly 30 years in a small alley near Lakshmi Chowk in Dharan. Since the beginning, she has been serving delicious roasted corn to thousands. Thanks to this work, she\u2019s never had to depend on others for household expenses. That\u2019s why she feels such deep affection for her job. \u201cMost people my age are looking for rest and peace, living on others\u2019 support. But I\u2019ve never expected that. I\u2019ve been earning my living through my own labor. As long as I can, I\u2019ll keep working \u2014 when I can\u2019t, whatever happens will happen,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her words reflect the confidence built from years of struggle and self-reliance. That confidence gives her not exhaustion, but energy and motivation to do more. \u201cThe days I don\u2019t go out to work, I feel restless. It\u2019s my labor that has kept me going. Just because I\u2019m getting older doesn\u2019t mean I should stay home \u2014 my hands and feet still work, so I must keep working,\u201d she says with a smile. \u201cSelling corn is not just a source of income for me \u2014 it\u2019s a foundation of self-respect. The satisfaction earned through labor is the truest form of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dharan \u2013 Shanti Shrestha wakes up before the city does. Long before sunrise, she boards a vehicle from Dharan to Bhawanne in Morang. After buying corn, she returns to Dharan \u2014 by then, it\u2019s around 10 or sometimes 11 AM. Then begins her daily ritual of working with fire and smoke. Every day, she roasts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-image","category-koshi-province","category-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.margadarsannews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}