In fact, the septuagenarian lives by this adage. In a small, modest and old curio shop in Thamel of Nepal, Navin has been transforming someone else's trash into someone’s treasure for the last 45 odd years.
“You have to have a knack and eyes for finding the treasure out of trash,” said Navin.
The setting of his shop - dimly lit, dusty and smelling a bit strange - has created enough mystic charm to bring out the philosopher inside Navin every now and then.
Carved Hindu ceremonial masks and wooden animal sculptures; delicate glass vases, shaman necklaces with beads, talismans and protective idols which are stacked in numbers in the age old shelves of the shop, only add appeal to what he says.
“This is not just my business, this is my home. I live with these old goodies,” he said
A stranger from a remote village
Navin came to Katmundu valley with his father from a remote village in the Solukhumbu region during the 60s.
“Katmundu was like a dream to me then. In our remote mountainside village, just going to the water source on a regular basis was an hour-long task through the hilly trails marked with dead leaves and pebbles. When I first saw that water can come out from a tap, a whole new world opened in front of me.”
Navin said that his father was a porter by profession. “When Everest expeditions were in its peak in the 50s, my father had a lots of work, as he worked as a porter up to Everest base camp during the expeditions. Now you can take a flight up to Lukla and start from there. Previously, you had to start from Jiri and cross the hills and mountains for seven days to reach Lukla. We were accustomed to see our father gone for months during expedition season.”
In one climbing season, he came home early with a broken rib. He suffered for months before he could finally stand on his feet. However, the option of being a porter again had been lost for him.
“The lands in our village were arid. Most of the residents in our village used to work as a porter. Finding no other option, my father took us to Katmundu,” he said, adding that his father tried a lot of professions but none of them clicked.
An eye for antiques
During the 60s, the three major towns located in the Katmundu valley - Katmundu, Patan and Bhaktapur, underwent a lot of changes. Freed from the anarchic Rana regime and aristocracy, inhabitants of greater Kathmandu region tasted democracy for the first time, with a monarch still as the head of the state.
Thus, the modernisation of city begun, and with it came changes in ifestyle. Many aristocratic households in the Katmundu valley started to change the interiors of their house. As the first step, they tried to get rid of the age old junk they had.
“My father started buying trivial things - a carved wooden leg from a century old Palank (bed), small statues, dusty paintings from those household, and started selling them in makeshift shops on the streets of Katmundu. The buyers were mainly Western foreigners who found those fascinating. My father made a good fortune within a very short span of time. He then bought this little house comprising the shop in Thamel - the tourist district of the capital.
Observer of change
The late 60s and 70s marked the moment when Kathmandu became a global city. The influx of hippies and followers of the Bhakti movement first arrived in the 60s via the Silk Route. Their unconventional lifestyle brought a wave of westernisation and liberalisation among locals.
Kathmanduites started building pop joints, selling drugs, donning western attire, and branded apparel and automobiles became a fad amongst the group. “Not only that, the business of antiques reached its peak then. A lot of curio shops were opened, and items like wooden carved mangalsutra and idols were sold like hot cakes.”
Navin said that the wave of Western tourism didn’t end there. “The 80s started with a bang, when travel agencies and tour operators first started selling treks and tours in the unexplored regions of the country. It made Nepal an ultimate adventure travel destination.”
He said that commercial and other Eight-Thousander peaks flourished. The concept of trekking in high altitude regions of the Himalayas took over like a storm, and vacationers craving adventure started flooding the city.
“All of this helped my business flourish. I also started buying things like indigenous musical instruments, wooden boxes, copper vessels, primitive figures, bells, manuscripts, clothes, bhote talchas (antique locks), mana pathis (set of eight measuring vessels of Licchhavi period), and dhungros (milking pails) from remote villages and monasteries from all around of Nepal.”
The traits of antique business
Navin said that it was nearly impossible for anyone to know the age of an object. "Previously, we used to go by its patina (the sheen on the object or its handle due to years of use), but that too is not a reliable criteria today, as it can be manipulated.”
Prices of curios vary widely. Musical instruments can cost anywhere from a few hundred to ten thousand rupees. A 'kangring' (small trumpet made from femur bone of humans), costs NRs 6000 at the Antique Gallery. A set of eight 'Mana Pathi' measuring vessels can cost from Nrs 6000 to 10,000.
He said that people now also go to him with goods to sell, and if he likes something he names a price depending upon current trends. “I can't sell with unreasonable margins as there are too many shops around nowadays and competition is stiff. Right now, I am purchasing any 'dhungros' (milking pails) that are on offer. Dhungros from eastern Nepal (especially Dhankuta) are quite old, while those from Kavre are newer."
He added that when dealing in antiques, dealers have to be most careful when trading in metal statues. There is a lot of hassle involved, since one could unknowingly be breaking the law regarding antiquities. Stolen idols of Nepal have often been in the spotlight.
In earlier years, news about precious idols stolen from temples and elsewhere used to be a regular feature in the papers. Even caretakers, including priests, were said to be involved. It was a fact that such misdeeds occurred under the protection of many high placed officials in government and law enforcement agencies, so dealing in such antiques is less favoured these days by dealers.
“Before 1950, many antiques were taken abroad due to lack of definite legislation. The Ancient Monuments Preservation Act was passed only in 1956, which put a hold on exporting any artifact more than a century old, and idols worshipped even if for a day were not to be taken out of Nepal, because they were part and parcel of the living culture.”
An eye for antiques
The traits of antique business