Kavre, May 31

Thulimaya Tamang lives at Budol of Banepa Municipality in Kavre. Despite being illiterate, Tamang earns more than Rs 25,000 a month through thanka painting and carpet weaving.

Tamang, also known as Saili Didi, supports her five-member family and provides pocket money to her hubby from the income she earns from thanka painting.

She learned thanka painting and carpet weaving skills in her childhood and these have now proved a good source of income. “I learned these skills at the age of 15.

Now, they has become like a hen that lays golden eggs for me,” Tamang said with a smile on her face.

Without formal education, Tamang used to wonder how she would earn for herself. “But, my work has paid off, paid off very well”, she remarked.

Tamang has two sons and one daughter, all enrolled at a private school. She recommends to other women that they should adopt thanka painting as a profession.

Thirty-three-year-old Lalamaya Tamang of Mechhe village is not different from Saili Didi. She too paints thanka and this vocation has filled her life with joy and energy and enthusiasm.  Currently she is mulling over taking her production to the international market.