Meet the only cobbler at Wokha, a 15-year-old boy

WOKHA, NOVEMBER 23: Since the beginning of the year – for every single morning – at a corner of the sleepy little town of Wokha, near the police point at the town centre, a 15-year-old boy has been taking his pride of place. Only, his is not the pride of place that we normally associate with. The 15-year-old is Nyanbemo Humtsoe. And since the beginning of the year, every single day (except on Sundays), he has been arriving at Wokha town centre near the police point. To mend shoes. The 15-year-old boy from Changsu village is the only cobbler at Wokha. The place he works at now belongs to his uncle, Khyothungo Shitiri. Till last year, it was the uncle who had the distinction of being the only cobbler in town. The mantle, or rather the needle, has now been passed on to Nyanbemo. He told Eastern Mirror recently that he learnt the trade of mending shoes from a cobbler during a 3-month stay at Dimapur in 2015. Then he returned to Wokha this year and took over the job from his uncle. Painfully shy and miserly with his words, he said that it was his father – a farmer by trade – who keeps on encouraging him to work hard and ‘keep the good faith.’ Asked how he feels about working at such a young age, Nyanbemo said he was excited to earn for his family while, at the same time, serve the people of the town. On good days, he said, the number of customers reaches 100 while dry days would feature only 10-15. His job mostly involves stitching shoes and repairing soles, for which he uses tubes from old car tyres. The tubes are the only solution, according to him. Because of the customers’ reluctance to pay more money when finer materials were used, he said the tubes from car tyres were the best option. His uncle had tried using better materials, he informed. Most of the customers like his work and appreciate him for working at such a young age, he said with a smile. The only problem, Nyanbemo said, was having had to deal with some of the customers when they come in an inebriated state. This is where he has to be “aware” and be smart enough to “deal with any situation”, according to him, while admitting that it was not always easy to do so. The 15-year old hopes to own a shoe repair shop of one day. According to him, though no one prefers to engage in manual jobs, it is such jobs that actually are sources of high income – we only have to value them.