Yesterday was a tough, long day. Saying goodbye to a loved one is hard. Saying final goodbye to one of the kindest, accomplished, yet very humble individual was one of the hardest things I’ve even done. Dr. Ramesh Kumar Srivastava was the first plastic surgeon in Athens, Georgia, and the only plastic surgeon in our family, full of medical doctors. Just glancing at the gathering at his funeral, you could get a sense of what he has accomplished in his lifetime.

People flew in from multiple states to pay their last respects on a cold, windy, winter morning. Not a single pair of eyes was dry. None seemed too eager to leave afterwards. Walking by groups of strangers, I overheard so many conversations centered around Masaji. Few reminisced of their travels together, about far away places, some talked about their surgical experiences, and you could see the smile that brought to their faces. A true evidence of a life well lived.

“Masaji” as we lovingly called him, was one of the very few individuals who’ve always treated me with respect (whether I deserved it or not). We shared common interests in photography, and gardening. I never missed an opportunity to learn from our conversations, however brief they may have been. He enlightened us with his experiences of traveling the world, his life experiences, living in India, Canada, New York, Ohio and Athens with his life partner of 49 years, 11 months…Meena “Masi.”

In response to Masaji’s passing, she said “that it is an end of a glorious, and wonderful journey, with a man whom she loved, respected, and will always be proud to call her husband”. I’m sorry; that life is often unjust, and so cruel that it couldn’t even offer them another month of togetherness to celebrate a milestone, 50 years of married life.

Masi means “mother like” in Hindi, and she lives up to, and often goes above and beyond that role. She does so much for everyone who comes in contact with her. She has touched countless number of people in her lifetime, with her generosity, love and kindness and continues to do so, even when she is limited by an aging body. Her body may be getting weaker; her spirit soars as ever.

“It is not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It is our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless (R. Knost)”. True to the saying, what a splendid job Ramesh Masaji and Meena Masi has done in raising Amitabh Srivastava and Anurag Srivastava we lovingly call “lovey” and “joey” dada, respectively.

We mourn Ramesh Masaji’s passing, but more so, we celebrate his life.