Masterji and Newsboy the Buri Khabar

Masterji is the last living octogenarian of my village. But he still prefers to buy multiple newspapers to keep himself updated with the worldly happenings.

He is a polyglot who spends most of his time with newspapers, with bluish smoke wafting from a hookah by his side. And a wife to taunt him endlessly.

The newsboy who delivers him the newspapers is the son of his wife’s brother.

After delivering the newspapers, the boy often exchanges words with her aunt — Masterji’s wife. Unpacking the sorrows of his home, sorts of how Dad was sick yesterday, how Mom catches the fever, how their cow is not feeling well, and things like that.

This would trigger the wife of Masterji to tears and shrieks, and Masterji would reshuffle his papers aimlessly and wait to let his relative newsboy go. He would swiftly embrace his wife to console her.

This would happen on daily basis. The boy would, every morning, prick his aunt to wails and leave her to the care of a fragile Masterji.

Finally, Masterji reflected on this recurring incident and devised a strategy.

Next morning, he shut his gate to wait for the boy out on the lawn. As the boy arrived at the door with the newspapers, Masterji asked him to throw in the bundle over the gate.

When the boy tried to reason out why, Masterji nudged him with his walking stick and said, “you are the newsboy and I expect you to bring good news to the threshold of my door but you, instead, always trigger my tender-hearted wife to tears by unpacking your household woes to her.

Masterji henceforth named him as ‘Buri Khabar‘: walking bad news.

This continued afterwards. Masterji would often check his wristwatch and whisper to himself, “time to shut the gate; Buri Khabar will be arriving.”

Masterji was ravaged by the fragility of all sorts but he was beating with a young heart brimming with love that never tolerated to see his wife in tears or even a frown.

They lived a very happy life just by a simple life hack — keeping a personified Buri Khabar away from their home.

But the Buri Khabar (sad news) here is that the newsboy is now ‘officially’ named as Buri Khabar in the village and is recognised by the same name, only!