For on Saturday, on Bhai Tika, 208 of her ‘brothers’, from all over Nepal, and abroad, will be gathering inside the sanctums of the Kasthamandap Temple, at Basantapur Durbar Square, and she will apply tika on all their foreheads. Maskey has been doing this every Tihar for 16 years now.

Maskey, who is 70 years old, says she wants to make use of Bhai Tika to connect everyone in a chain of brotherhood and to be a surrogate sister to men who don’t have their own sisters. She is not doing this for want of a brother. She has one. But these days, he has had to learn to wait his turn. “It’s only after I have performed the puja on all the others that I come to my house and put tika on my biological brother,” says Maskey. “He doesn’t mind the wait, though. He is supportive of what I do.”

Maskey takes seriously her role of being a universal sister to one and all: she does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, religion or social hierarchy. Over the years, even prime ministers have shown up to her ceremony, but, she says, everyone, from prime ministers to porters, is the same to her. This year, the ceremony will see men coming over from places as far as Dharan, Biratnagar, Birgunj and Gorkha. Also present will be nationals from countries such as Australia, the US, the UK and Japan.

Maskey does not expect any gift, in any form, from the men. In fact, when Maskey started this ritual in 1998, she had to spend close to Rs 20,000 out of her own pocket for all the sweets, garlands, coconuts and other items so essential to Bhai Tika. Today she spends around Rs 40,000 on all the sagun. “I don’t care about the costs involved,” she says. “I’m just happy to wish my brothers health and longevity.”

But as with most undertakings of this kind, she has her detractors. There are some who call what she does a mere “publicity stunt”. “Some people even think I am doing this just to earn money. I don’t make anything from it. I am doing this because it keeps me happy,” says Maskey, who been giving food and clothes to the needy at Bir Hospital for 25 years now.

Maskey doesn’t need the Tika dakshina anyway. Both her son and daughter-in-law are doctors in the UK, and her family are pretty well off.

There will be 208 mandaps at the temple this Saturday and the Tika ceremony will start at 1:30pm. Anyone who wants to take part in the ceremony can register his name at as shop named Ju Ju Dhau Pasal in Basantapur, right in front of the main entrance to the Kastamandap Temple. “But it’s not mandatory that you have to register your name. I’m ready to play the role of a sister to anyone who shows up.”