Lekphant, Parbat – Everyday, Min Prasad Subedi, 56, of Lekphant-3 makes the 10-hour journey up and down the hill to Myagdi Beni Bazaar with 40 liters of milk to sell. It’s not his wish to do so, but his compulsion. Because if he doesn’t, his family fails to make ends meet.[break]
There’s no other alternative to support his six-member family due to his poor economic condition.
“The corn and barley grown in my land doesn’t last the whole year,” he says. “So I started collecting milk from the village to sell in Beni to provide for my family.”
Subedi buys milk at Rs 25 per liter in his village and sells it at Rs 32 in Beni Bazaar. He’s been thus covering his household expenses and children’s education with the Rs. 200-300 he makes daily from his business. It takes him a whole five hours to walk downhill in the morning and another five to come home in the evening. He’s has been carrying the load of milk continuously for 15 years now.
He started the business as it got harder to provide for the needs and education of his growing children. He was suggested to buy milk from the village and sell it at Beni bazaar 15 years ago by his friends and family.
“With the money I make this way, two of my sons are studying at Proficiency Certificate Level in the college at Beni Bazaar,” he tells us as he rests his load of milk on the ground. “Another son is studying in the fifth standard at the village school. The money also goes for all my household supplies.”
There are other villagers now in the same business. These men from Lekphant and nearby villages carrying milk to sell at Beni meet every morning on their way.
Chhabi Lal Subedi, 52, of the same village tells us that he too started selling milk so that his children would never feel unprovided for.
“There isn’t a day when we stop work in any kind of condition, no matter how hard it gets,” says he with a heavy heart “All we wish for is that our children don’t have to go through such hardship.” He’s been at his dairy business for the last nine years after his land failed to provide sufficient food for the year.
Elsewhere, they get paid only for the days they work, and on days without work, they go hungry. Chhabi Lal managed his family from the wages he made with that kind of work but gave it up to start his milk business.
He carries some 30 liters of milk everyday to Beni Bazaar. But his income differs as per the quantity of milk he collects in the village.
“The cows and buffalos give less milk when they are tired, and that affects my income as well,” he said.
Babu Ram Regmi of the same village also supports his family by ferrying milk. He’s fairly new with only two years in this trade. He says his daily earning of Rs. 200 by selling 25 liters of milk is just enough for his normal household expenditures.
Very early in the morning, these men collect milk door to door, meet at six and set off together carrying their loads. The Mallaz hillside gives them a hard time. Walking down the steep trail and resting at many places, they reach Beni at around 10. It’s late when they come home.
“The day goes by distributing the milk and collecting payment from hotels and dairies,” says Min Prasad, “In a hurry to reach home, we take the steepest shortcuts. But it’s always late.”
They have no time to see or look after their children at home. As the men leave early in the morning, the women of the house do all the chores.
“When we return, it’s already late in the evening. The children are asleep and we’re too tired,” says Chhabi Lal “We aren’t even aware of what’s going on with our children’s education and their life.”
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