Carrying hopes from Jumla

Abhinas Dharala first came to Kathmandu from Jumla and was later joined by his fellow villager, Bharat Raj Giri.

The duo has been working the streets of Kathmandu together with the hopes of finding customers for their rugs. The elder of the two, Dharala, shared, “I completed my high school when I was 17, then migrated to Kathmandu to find a job. I started selling carpets because the pay was relevantly better. I lived alone in Kathmandu until he joined me.”  Dharala is ecstatic to find a friend in the city full of strangers.

However, Giri stated that his struggle to find a companion in Kathmandu wasn’t that difficult as he already had friends living in the capital. However, he shared his disappointment over not being allowed to trade in the herbs of Jumla with the outside world. He explained, “Jumla is aesthetically beautiful, and it has rare herbs in abundance. But, we don’t own the license to sell them, while outsiders have made a fortune doing so.”