Mangaal Gandhari, 37, sells sarangis (traditional Nepali musical instruments) for his living at Thamel, Kathmandu. His family, including his father, wife, and three children, lives in Gorkha.

He quit his studies during the second year of his bachelor’s degree after failing two subjects. He then started selling sarangis since 2057 BS. After getting married at the age of 22, he headed to Dubai and worked at a super market there for a few years before being sent back because ‘there were too many Nepalis’. Upon having returned to Nepal, he was not able to start a new business due to insufficient funds so he went back to selling saragis. He thinks that this is a tough work. “It’s like fishing. Sometimes you get a big fish and sometimes you get nothing. All you can do is be patient about it,” he said. The sarangis that he sells are made in Tanahun and he gets it from the Gandarva Cultural Organisation.