Sangita B.K is 35 years old and she hails from Barudkhan, Tansen. She is survived by her mother in law and her two children. She is a housewife and her husband is a migrant worker who is currently working in Qatar.
Her day begins with a daily chore which includes getting up in the morning, cleaning the house, cooking for her family, doing the dishes, getting her children ready for school, readying the tiffin and cooking dinner for the family. Her lifestyle was a mundane until when the corona virus pandemic hit, and the nationwide lockdown was imposed in Nepal during the end of March-2020.
As the nation went into lockdown, all the educational institutions throughout the country were closed for an indefinite period and as a result, she began having a free time in between her regular chores. To utilize this free time, she and her friend Laxmi decided to learn dhaka weaving and they approached the workshop of Poudyal Dhaka Kapada Udhyog which was nearby to her house. Due to the lockdown, many of the migrant workers at Poudyal Dhaka Kapada Udhyog had returned home and the looms were vacant so, they readily welcomed new weavers.
Sangita is still in a learning phase and she currently operates a semi-jacquard handloom. She is currently working on 28 Goti (bobbin) design. Initially, she used to weave less than 0.3 meters a day but within the span of six months, she has improved her weaving to about 0.5 meters per day. She still struggles to find the time for weaving as due to her family priorities, she could not come to the workshop on a daily basis.
Currently, she earns about Rs. 6,000 a month based on the fabric woven per month. It is not enough to fulfil all the needs of her family, but it has done a lot in diversifying the source of family income particularly during the time when her husband’s income was also reduced in Qatar due to the pandemic. She says she feels economically empowered as she need not ask money for her husband for her basic needs.