NNSC’s च्याउ दिदी is perhaps the brand ambassador of the famous Bollywood dialogue: नाम में क्या रखा है? [What is in a name?] A person who single-handedly made the mushroom harvest a pioneer project of the home and made children fall in love with agriculture is the beloved दिदी we all admire at NNSC. But nobody knows her name, and thus, making use of our creative liberty, we have named her च्याउ दिदी.
Just five minutes from the home, there is a Mushroom farm. When talked to the owner of the farm about maybe using the NNSC excess land for mushroom plantation and harvest, he seemed pretty on-board with the idea. Thus, with his initial help and a plethora of youtube videos, we went on our shopping spree. Bamboo, plastic, hay equipment, we had managed to buy everything necessary for this endeavor. However, it was tough to coordinate timings with him and the project seemed to be going nowhere. That’s when our savior दिदी came into the picture. We met her when she was selling mushrooms in the vegetable market. After a few conversations, we explained the entire project to her and she instantly agreed. She was also available at times most beneficial to us and so, it became quite an easy process. She started with a daily wage of NRs. 800 and gave her all to make the plantation a success. Whether it was about creating the organic manure from hay, processing and making use of the seeds, or managing the temperature inside the shed using different types of plastics, she was involved in every single part of the process. We produced button mushrooms which became the kids’ favorite. After all, it was something they had produced. The mushroom harvest resulted in a tremendous success as the excess of the harvest was even sold in the market. Our च्याउ दिदी would buy them for 300/kg and sell it in the market for 350, the profit which we would share. We also gifted our closed ones the mushroom and they enjoyed authentic organic mushrooms grown with the utmost care and love by our children. And even after all this, च्याउ दिदी’s identity remains a speculation.
One of the reasons mushrooms are so popular among our children is the efficiency with which they grow. The time from spawn to harvest for button mushrooms typically takes about 3–4 weeks under optimal conditions. This is a very short period to have the impact of efforts visible and thus, the children seeing the growth of these mushrooms became very invested in agriculture: something we had tried for months before, but couldn’t really succeed. With mushrooms, they were attentive to whatever दिदी would say about the cultivation and harvest, and with every mushroom dish they made looking at youtube videos, their love for agriculture became prominent. Today, they tend to tomatoes and cauliflowers with the same care and interest, and this has taught them the significance of patience and work.
Indeed, what is in a name? It doesn’t matter what name च्याउ दिदी answers to; it doesn’t matter what we call her. All that matters is that she gave NNSC an agricultural foundation, and that is what we hope NNSC children aspire to: understanding that answering the call of work is way more important than the names we want to be called.