She lived lively!

                                                         
Contributed by: Arushi Shukla, Rajasthan

I don’t have her photo, so couldn't share it.

I don’t even know her name, but we used to call her “budhiyaa masi”, as she belongs to the same
village as mother of my grandmother (quite long relation). Lack of communication technology was the
cause of that sheer happiness that could be found in even extremely extended relations back then.

She is one of those snap-shots, which come to my mind while reviving my childhood days back there (my
native village).

I don’t know what she used to look like in her younger days, all I remember about her is a small,
thin, dark colored woman with a fascinating smile between lots of wrinkles on her face. She was
bent around her waist due to old age.

“buiiiiii- bhaag eehaan se babuaa” [Run away kiddo] she used to say if anyone tried to interrupt in her work and the missing teeth in her upper side teeth gallery used to get revealed.

She worshiped her work! Not anything in particular, but everything she did. Budhiyaa Masi was also the fastest women in the village and an informer too.

In our traditional-village, barbers are on high demand, especially during occasions. Budhiya Masi also came from that caste. She used to be a very busy personality as I remember.

Her workaholism was not just limited to special occasions. Even in the month of June, in the peak heat of summer, when everybody tries to get some sleep in the shade, she used to run on the burning black road bare foot. My little brother and I, bored of relaxation and with nothing left to entertain us, used to peek out of the window, to watch the empty road. But she was always there.

“eeee….masiii-budhiyaa” we used to shout and in reply she showed us her hand in slapping style with the teeth-gap-revealing smile.

I don’t know about her husband, she was a widow as I remember. People said that her husband was a
renowned barber there. But as I saw, she was an abandoned by her children.

My grandma had very good relations with her. She used to say that Masi is very lucky as she is
all fit and fine in such an old age. However, because of her age, people used to avoid giving her any work. But one could never know how she could easily find work in one's home.

“This should be done in this way beti”, “It is not at right place” “oh! It isn’t done yet” There were plenty
of reasons and you couldn't deny them, a minute more and she would find some work for herself to keep herself engaged.

Although she was a babbler and fast speaker too, she used to speak in a funny style. It was hard to
catch every single word of her sentences. She used to carry a small dirty bag with herself. While eating any food she used to put some of it in her bag. Later we came to know that she had a favorite grandson, and she used to store the food for him. Her son once yelled at her for giving those things to his child. But she kept doing that.

Then, for a few days she disappeared. We got to know that she was suffering from fever.

“She is not going to recover this time, she is getting weaker. Time beats everyone” a women was telling
my grandma about Masi's condition. “She is  luckier than all of us, she lived a good life, full of
energy”, grandma replied.

But Masi recovered, not back to her usual, fully-charged self, but she did try to live the same way.

But time did beat her…..

While crossing a road one day, she fractured her left leg and right arm.

She survived that accident too, but she became incapacitated and she couldn't survive that.

She kept fighting for six months of misery, and after that she died.

But all the years she lived, she indeed lived lively!