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| Kusum Shrestha: Teen Nepali veg seller shoots to fame online | Kusum Shrestha: Teen Nepali veg seller shoots to fame online |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A few weeks ago, social media made an overnight star of blue-eyed Pakistani tea-seller Arshad Khan. | A few weeks ago, social media made an overnight star of blue-eyed Pakistani tea-seller Arshad Khan. |
| Now a pretty Nepali vegetable seller has shot to fame as the internet's new darling. | Now a pretty Nepali vegetable seller has shot to fame as the internet's new darling. |
| Kusum Shrestha, 18, was photographed carrying vegetables at a local market. | Kusum Shrestha, 18, was photographed carrying vegetables at a local market. |
| When the photographer posted the shots online, the hashtags #Tarkariwali and #Sabjiwali - "vegetable seller" - quickly started trending on social media as admirers praised her looks. | When the photographer posted the shots online, the hashtags #Tarkariwali and #Sabjiwali - "vegetable seller" - quickly started trending on social media as admirers praised her looks. |
| Handsome Pakistani 'chai wala' turns model | Handsome Pakistani 'chai wala' turns model |
| Model charged over 'body-shaming' photo | Model charged over 'body-shaming' photo |
| Miss Shrestha comes from a farming family based in Bagling, Gorkha, some 55 miles (90km) west of the capital, Kathmandu. | Miss Shrestha comes from a farming family based in Bagling, Gorkha, some 55 miles (90km) west of the capital, Kathmandu. |
| She told BBC Nepali she is a student in the nearby district of Chitwan, and was helping her parents during college holidays when the snaps were taken. | She told BBC Nepali she is a student in the nearby district of Chitwan, and was helping her parents during college holidays when the snaps were taken. |
| In one picture, the teenager smiles as she carries crates of tomatoes over a bridge. In another, she is talking on a mobile phone while selling them at a market. | In one picture, the teenager smiles as she carries crates of tomatoes over a bridge. In another, she is talking on a mobile phone while selling them at a market. |
| Photographer RupChandra Maharjan told a Nepalese blog, the Gundruk Post, that he photographed Miss Shrestha at the Fishling suspension bridge between Gorkha and Chitwan. He reportedly works for a company that organises rafting on the local Trishuli River. | |
| 'Cuteness and hard work' | 'Cuteness and hard work' |
| The young woman told the BBC she had found out about the pictures from a friend. | |
| "First my friend asked me if I am the same girl whose photos became viral on Facebook. But I didn't know," Miss Shrestha said. | "First my friend asked me if I am the same girl whose photos became viral on Facebook. But I didn't know," Miss Shrestha said. |
| "Then she sent me the pictures and when I saw them, I found it was me. On that day, I came to sell the vegetables to help my parents. When I was on my way to sell the vegetables, RupChandra (the photographer) took my picture - but at that point of time, I didn't know that I was being photographed." | "Then she sent me the pictures and when I saw them, I found it was me. On that day, I came to sell the vegetables to help my parents. When I was on my way to sell the vegetables, RupChandra (the photographer) took my picture - but at that point of time, I didn't know that I was being photographed." |
| Many observers on Twitter and Facebook commented on the teenager's work ethic, with one user, @SabyasachiPuhan, saying she combined "cuteness and hard work". | Many observers on Twitter and Facebook commented on the teenager's work ethic, with one user, @SabyasachiPuhan, saying she combined "cuteness and hard work". |
| One fan even suggested the now-famous chai wala and Tarkari wali would make an ideal couple. | One fan even suggested the now-famous chai wala and Tarkari wali would make an ideal couple. |
| In an interview with the BBC, Miss Shrestha said she was thrilled with her newfound fame. Asked if she would like to take up modelling like tea-seller Mr Khan if the offer comes, she beamed and said: "Yes, I will go." | In an interview with the BBC, Miss Shrestha said she was thrilled with her newfound fame. Asked if she would like to take up modelling like tea-seller Mr Khan if the offer comes, she beamed and said: "Yes, I will go." |
| Her father Narayan Shrestha, 43, told Nepalese news site myrepublica.com: "I hear that her photos have become popular on the internet. Who had imagined that she would get such publicity? My daughter has always been a shy girl; she is a girl of very few words." | |
| 'She wants to be a nurse' | |
| Mr Shrestha said his daughter was studying management, although she really wants to train as a nurse. | |
| "She is my only child. I should educate her to the extent possible," [sic] he said. "But I also have to consider my financial situation. I could not admit her into a nursing college though she wanted to study nursing." | |
| He told reporters he thought the interest in his daughter showed that the public respects farmers and their hard work. | |
| "This is what I feel. There is nothing else that I expect," he added. |