Chai Wala Arshad Khan, Pretty vegetable seller Kusum Shrestha sweeps the Internet

 Chai Wala Arshad Khan, Pretty vegetable seller Kusum Shrestha sweeps the Internet.The hot tea hotty has a rival! Pretty vegetable seller, 18, sweeps the Internet after she is spotted carrying goods to the market in Nepal 

• Kusum Shrestha, 18, was pictured carrying crates of tomatoes in Nepal
• After picture of the 18-year-old was taken it has gone viral on the internet  
• Comes after Arshad Khan set internet alight with snap at a Pakistan market
• One fan said the tea merchant and veg seller would make a perfect couple

The dreamy blue-eyed Pakistani tea seller has a rival.

Weeks after Arshad Khan, 18, set the internet alight with a broody picture at a market in Islamabad, a pretty Nepali vegetable seller now has social media users swooning.

Kusum Shrestha, 18, was photographed carrying crates of tomatoes at a local market, and it has gone viral.

One fan has suggested the now-famous tea merchant and veg seller would make the perfect couple.

+5

Kusum Shrestha, 18, was photographed carrying vegetables at a local market in Nepal 

+5

The 18-year-old was on the way to sell the vegetables when RupChandra [the photographer] took her picture

Miss Shrestha hails from a farming family in Bagling, Gorkha, some 55 miles west of the capital, Kathmandu.

She is studying management and was helping her parents during the holidays when the pictures were taken at the Fishling suspension bridge between Gorkha and Chitwan.

Share this article

Share

The 18-year-old told BBC Nepali she learnt of her new-found fame from a friend.

She told the broadcaster: 'My friend asked me if I am the same girl whose photos became viral on Facebook but I didn't know.

'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.' 

Miss Shrestha said she was thrilled by the publicity and would jump at the chance to follow the Pakistani tea seller into modelling. 

+5

Arshad Khan, 18, became an internet heartthrob after being photographed at work in Pakistan

Mr Khan, 18, was manning a tea stall at the Itwar Bazaar market in Pakistan's capital city, Islamabad, when aspiring photographer Jiah Ali captured him working.   

Only four days after the image was posted on social media, Mr Arshad bagged himself a modelling contract with online retailer Fitin.pk. 

In the candid photograph, posted on Instagram, Mr Khan was pictured preparing Pakistan's ubiquitous milk tea, his blue green eyes staring into the camera.

It set social media alight, with the 18-year-old's image shared tens of thousands of times since October 14.

Days later, the market was swarmed by dozens of girls eager to catch a glimpse of the handsome young worker. 

+5

The photographer Jiah Ali, pictured above right, returned to the market where Arshad works to take a selfie after her photo went viral 

+5

Mr Khan said: 'I was aware that I am handsome but you can't do anything when you are poor'

He said: 'I was aware that I am handsome but you can't do anything when you are poor', adding that the image has 'changed the way I think.' 

Light skin and eyes are the attribute of many Pashtuns, tribal inhabitants of northwest Pakistan and southern Afghanistan, romanticised as warriors by the British. 

The third of 17 children, Khan never went to school and hoped his newfound fame would allow him to 'move forward'.

Vegetable seller Saeed Ahmed worked in the market alongside Mr Khan. 

'His eyes were so beautiful that we used to make fun of him and call him "cat eyes"', he said.

'But we never even thought that he would one day become famous like this.'  

One user wrote: 'India and Pakistan are divided by terrorism and cricket but are united by hot chai wala. Funny but true.'

'This chai wala is more popular than Mamnoon Hussain', said another. 

On another post, next to a picture of him sporting his trademark blue top, reads: 'Meet the steamin' hot 'chai wala' from Islamabad (Pakistan), who's going viral as we speak.'