1. BIG MONEY IN SMALL BUSINESS
Aashish Mishra
27th April, 2016
A mild smile with a little bit of the teeth showing, half closed eyes peering both to the
inside soul and outside world, the curls of the tied up hair and even the wrinkles around the
nose and lips, Rabindra Shakya keeps a hawk’s eye on every minute detail of the statue of
Lord Buddha before purchasing it to keep on sale in his shop inside a twisty stone-paved
alley about a five minutes walk from the bus stop at Boudha.
His shop at Boudha with its well lit red ceiling, glass windows and floor so clean that
one could eat off it looks much better than him whose hair has been peppered by age, the face
just starting to wrinkle below the eyes and wearing a half-sleeved white shirt with a bandage
around his right arm which he sprained playing badminton.
Shakya, originally from Trishuli, has been running a metal statue and silver jewellery
shop for tourists at Boudha since the past 25 years after taking over from his older brother.
The shop is family run by him and his wife and sometimes by his two sons.
He reveals that when he took over the shop was already popular among tourists and
he didn’t have to invest much on it.
“I only had to put in 10 lakhs of my money to get things started. If it was a complete
start-up, I would have needed to put in so much more. Thankfully, my brother left the
business in a sound condition”, he exclaims with joy.

2. The 90s was a really good decade for the tourism industry. His business, too,
flourished during that time with his items being sold out in a week. But after the royal
massacre and the peaking of Maoist insurgency, both tourism and his business took a down
turn.
“My profits plummeted. Times got so hard that I even considered selling my shop and
changing my profession”, he says with a voice so soft that it’s almost a whisper.
But from 2006, Nepal started becoming a popular destination for Chinese and other Asian
tourists which compensated for the lack of western tourists. Adapting to the change in
tourists, he added Buddhist statues and artifacts to his shop. This helped his business pick up
again.
“Now I cater to Asian customers more than Europeans.”
His strict inspections of even the minutest of details and the growth in the buying
power of many Asians means that the Buddhist statues are flying off his shelf.
“The Asian tourists are very specific and they demand the highest quality. I can
deliver it to them!”, he says with a smile extending from ear to ear. He further adds, “In fact
my products are so popular that I get orders from the Indian and Chinese embassies as well.”
His store opens at 10 in the morning and stays open till 7 in the evening. In an average day he
sells statues and jewelleries of about Rs. 15,000 and setting aside rent for the shop and the
commission of the craftsmen from whom he buys his products; his monthly profit comes up
to be Rs.60,000.
“Since my monthly rent is Rs.30,000, I can cover that cost in two days of good
business”, he says with a smile so wide that all his front teeth show and his eyes almost shut.
“But the exhibitions are the real goldmine”, he tightens his posture and lifts the index finger

3. of his right hand to explain. “For exhibitions, the galleries buy many expensive statues and
don’t bargain over price also. Plus, they give credit to me and my shop in their displays
which is great advertisement.”
The latest exhibition which was in Munich, Germany in May of last year brought him
Rs. 1,50,000 and he was also invited to visit there with all expenses paid by the exhibition
organisers.
He also has contacts with tourist guides to bring their tourists to his shop only to buy
metal statues and silver jewellery.
“But they are expensive and take 20 to 25% commission,” he cringes his nose.
His customers, most of whom are devout Buddhists from various Asian countries, give a
smile when they see the real-like face with the iconic Buddha eyes and the blushed cheeks of
the statues. The hair is so intricately carved on metal that its locks and the way it is combed
makes one feel like it’s the real hair of a living man. The statues look like they could almost
stand up and come talk to you.
This view is shared by his customers as well. Gaan-daa Amphoe, a Thai tourist, says,
“My tourist guide brought me here and I’m so glad he did. I’m a practicing Buddhist and
keeping these Buddha statues at my house would be like having the real Lord Buddha with
me because they are so real and life-like. I will surely buy at least one.”
But Shakya doesn’t hog all the credit. He compliments his craftsman Sitaram Ghatani
for the beauty and glory of his statues and jewellery. He praises him greatly and even
recommends him to his fellow handicraft shopkeepers.

4. Ghatani is also highly appreciative of Shakya and says, “Mr. Shakya covers my
material costs and gives me my fees at once as opposed to installments that other Sahus do.
He also recommends my name to others that helps me get work. So, I am thankful to him.”
Shakya complains that the business is now unnecessarily competitive because castes
other than Shakyas and Bajracharyas are also entering the field and shops are opening on
every nook and cranny.