Super Woman: 132 or 96, Basra Bibi lives on with the spirit of a fighter

Recently survived a second brain haemorrhage which her doctor says she will recover from.

ABBOTABAD: Walking cattle on hilly terrains might be a tedious routine for some; for 132-year-old Basri Bibi, this labour of youth has come to her aid, in the form of longevity.

According to her family, Basri Bibi is the only super-centenarian woman living in the world and this was achieved through sheer willpower, a healthy diet and an active daily routine. Keeping in mind the lack of dependency on documentation back in 1880—the year she is said to have been born—her age is still a matter of contention.

Although she suffered a brain haemorrhage a week ago and was hospitalised at Nazir Hospital, her physician, neurosurgeon Dr Nazir Bhatti, says she is improving fast as she has a strong immune system.

Basri Bibi was born in a small hilly village of Behsa overlooking the famous Lake Lolupatsar in Kaghan Valley. This information comes from her great-grandson Mehbood Ghazi who was quoting his paternal grandfather, Basra Bibi’s son.

Age matters

The conflict lies in the information provided by her old identity card and the newer CNIC; the former suggests she was born in 1880, putting her at 132, claims supported by her great-grandson. But the newer identity card says she was born in 1918.

However, Ghazi brushed off the difference as he did not have other documents to prove Basra Bibi’s actual year of birth. He maintained his great-grandmother is the only living super-centenarian woman, as a French woman claimed super-centenarian by some was 121 years of age.

Delighted as the family is about the longevity of Basra Bibi’s life, her elder son Ghulam Jeelani, who is in his sixties, justifies the contradicting years of birth on the manual identity card and CNIC. He says the year has been mistakenly changed because all of them are illiterate and could not check it when the CNIC was being made.

Longevity in the family

Taking a long live to be a family trait, Jeelani says his mother is the fifth generation of their Gujjar nomad family and his father Ahmed Jee also lived for over a century till 1992 when he died during a flood.

To prove his claim about his mother’s age, Jeelani shares stories of her early life. He quotes his mother, saying Basri Bibi was married as a child and when her marriage was solemnised, her father bought 30 kilogrammes (kg) of rice for a rupee and 16kg of jaggery for one paisa, rates which cannot even be dreamt of in today’s expensive times.

“Baibay talks to us about Partition, when she used to visit a small bazaar in Balakot which only had eight shops, all owned by Hindus,” he adds.

He says his Baibay—a term in Hindko for mother—was also around for World War I and World War II.

Basra Bibi is the mother of seven sons and a daughter, all of whom are alive, and the total count of family members, including grand-and great-grandchildren, goes up to 87. Basra Bibi has outlived her three brothers and the same number of sisters.

Fit for centenarians

Another son of Basra Bibi, Mir Alam, says her healthy diet has kept her system strong and going.

He says she does not have any caffeine and prefers having a meal of maize bread and saag (a dish prepared with mustard leaves) and goat milk is her beverage of choice.

She used to walk her herds of goats and cows over  many kilometres in the rocky terrains of her area, says Alam. She continued this rigorous exercise until 2005 when they relocated to Bagheer Dabran village after the earthquake.

Whether it is her healthy diet free of preservatives and many other additives or her non-sedentary lifestyle, Basra Bibi is also still blessed with sharp eyesight. She reads the Holy Quran daily without feeling the need to wear reading glasses, adds Alam.

The mythology of age

Basra Bibi’s daughter believes her mother is even strong enough to remain unaffected even by “evil spirits”.

At the hospital, Basra Bibi confirmed her age and the rest of the statements given by her sons, but she could not speak much as the doctor has advised her to rest and not talk.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2rd, 2015.