Photo: People involved in demolishing the house that got damaged in the Earthquake; this is the most common work people are involved in nowadays and is a good source of income

WORK, MONEY and FOOD, these three words combine together to give existence to life these days in the surrounding we have been living. It is not easy to live a life; we need to follow a sequence of steps, one by one, which goes like this:  First step, “WORK”, which is not easy.   Second step is to earn “MONEY” with the work that we have done. Third step is to get “FOOD” with the money that we have earned. Finally, there comes “LIFE” after eating “FOOD” to survive. This is the common step that everyone has to follow to live a life.  In case of students like me, for now, parents work day and night; hence, we can directly jump to the last step where we get food to eat and survive. However, eventually, time will come for us when we need to follow the same sequence step by step. These three steps are the basic and most important steps. Besides these, there are many other steps to go through, but these are the most basic ones.

Every human being follows these steps to live life no matter what work they do and how much money they earn. The thing is that they all are human beings and they are living their life independently.

Today, I am going to present some of the works that people are doing around us in order to live their life, which we normally tend to ignore. However, if it is legal in the society, then there is no shame in doing such works to live. If someone earns more by doing illegal works, money from such activities might be much higher in quantity but comparatively of no value.

Those mentioned below are few works people are doing and we should respect them. I wasn’t able to find the actual names for these works. I hope picture and the explanation will make readers clear about their works.

[caption id="attachment_7562" align="aligncenter" width="3000"] Collecting the old newspapers and counting money[/caption]

There is no fix name for the work “Mukesh Shah’ (the man in the picture) is doing. In our society, we call them “men who take newspaper, copies, books and steels”. Like Mukesh, we find many of them roaming here and there around us. They purchase such things from us at meager amount of money and sell them to factories at a bit higher amount. Mukesh said to me that he earns around six to seven thousand per month, saves around four thousand for his family who are in India. A group of five people like him stay in a room so that they can save more money. “I am happy with what I am doing and with the amount I am earning, the thing that kills me is when people disrespect; even dog starts to bark at us when it sees us.”

[caption id="attachment_7560" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Laborer working in the construction of road, receiving money for lunch and drinking tea with his money from the work[/caption]

He is Manoj Lama originally from Hetauda. Leaving his wife and 5 years old daughter, he is here in Kathmandu to earn money for them.  Although he did not get a chance to study, his dream is to educate his daughter and make her capable enough to fulfill all of her dreams. Per day he earns NRs. 800, working entire day in mud and sand so that he can secure the future of his daughter.

[caption id="attachment_7564" align="aligncenter" width="711"] Old man sewing shoes outside, in the scorching sunlight[/caption]

Like Mukesh and Manoj, he is far from his family i.e (Janakpur). His name is Ram Ji Chapar, he said that people with surname Chapar usually do the same work as he does. He has been doing this same work for more than 20 years and has managed to run his family well. His two sons are now in Malaysia, and a daughter reading in grade 8. When I asked him, “Your two sons are in Malaysia. Do you still have to work so hard?” He replied, “They earn for themselves not for me, I am happy and I will do this work till my health supports me. I still have my daughter to look for and I have to work for her.”

I used to think that people work firstly for their dream but from these people I find that people with children work for their children. This made me remember my parents.

People who are reading this article might not fall into these categories, when profession is concerned. But then again, there is no doubt that there are more striving works where your family members, your parents, and you yourself are involved. The case is more complicated when it comes to people who have children waiting for them. It is so because they need to work harder for their children. They can stay for a few days without eating and drinking, however, they can’t see their children striving with hunger even for a few seconds.  People with children  work for their children, they don’t see if it’s day and night but work relentlessly to make their children happy, send them to the  most costlier place they can afford with a hope to make them the most successful person in the world.

There is nothing bad in working hard; in fact it makes your life more meaningful only when every single penny that you earn is utilized properly. There is a big loss especially when we children do not understand the importance of hard work that our parents are doing to make it. I have experienced it myself and have seen in many cases, our parents find it difficult to eat a single plate of food alone in a restaurant, no matter how hungry they are, they pack it and bring it home to share with us, their children. Think about it deeply and compare it with your parents, you will feel it, know their importance. You will see your parents most happy when they see their children achieving something in life.

No matter, what people do to live their life, we should respect every one, pay them fairly. We should behave with the sweeper in the same way like we do to the most senior staff of any organization. Everyone have self-respect and they deserve that. None of us have right to point someone’s work saying it bad or anything unless it is illegal in the society.

You work hard and let others work hard, and respect what others do. For students like me, who are fully dependent on parent’s income, please do respect it and utilize it properly.

Photo Courtesy: Ashmita Kunwar