Yanchen, Dharamshala.

“I don’t know what I can share, thus if you throw me questions, then I will throw you answers. Ha ha ha.

I came to India in the year of 2002. Here, I am living with my husband who is sick and has to be on constant medicine. My son, he is going to kinder garden now.

I get up around 3 am everyday to prepare ‘Laphing’. It has been around 6 years since I have been doing this business. It is tiring but I don’t have any other choice. I asked for help from the settlement office but didn’t get any. Thus, I gave up.  So, I have this stall where I sell these ‘Laphing’. Majority of my customers are Tibetan.  Sometimes, the business is so good that I finish selling everything by 11am and sometimes it is so bad that I have stay late night. I can’t sell the left over’s next day. Thus, I am not able to sell all of them on the same day, and then I will be in loss.

And you know, after paying the school fee, after paying the medical care for my husband, after paying the rent, after paying the electricity, not much is left! Thus, I don’t want to be in minus. If my business demands me to stay late night, I have to, as this is how my family survives.

Anyway, I don’t want to get too emotional and tell everything to you. Let us stop here. “

Yanghcen’s store is few steps after Post office.

Yanchen, Dharamshala.

Interview and Photo: Kunsang Tenzing.