48-year-old Mahi Narayan Ram is a cobbler. His roadside stall, at Sundhara, consists of a mat, shoe soles, laces, shoe polish, and a wooden box. Ram is originally from Saptari and has been working in the capital since 1985.
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Currently, he lives with his spouse, and five children – four sons and a daughter – in a rented room at Tripureshwar, Kathmandu. He says Kathmandu is an expensive city. Sustaining life in the capital has been a real challenge for him. Ram shared, “This shoe stall is the only source of income for my family, but the metropolitan police don’t let us work on the footpath. Either the government should allow us to work on the street or, allocate a particular area where we can work freely.”
