“Hmm…” Mukundo was impressed, but held back on his appreciation. “Too much praise, too early, goes to a young student’s head. It is the job of a guru to be critical so long as there is anything to be critical about. That’s how he pushes the student towards perfection,” Pandit ji, his Guru, had told him. Everything Mukundo knew about music and teaching, he had learned from him.

Piyali’s nervous and questioning eye met his. She had big eyes, the most prominent and alluring feature on her thin, oval face. Her wheatish skin was smooth and had the radiance that betrayed her youth despite the maturity of her singing.

“What do you do?” he asked. She had just sung Raga Marwa for him.

“I am studying. B. Sc. Mathematics. 2^nd year.”

Eighteen, at most nineteen years old, Mukundo guessed. Her music education till then had been good, as was evident from her performance. And she was still young enough to be coached into scaling further heights. He could take her under his wings.

“You will need a lot more practice.”

Her face clouded over. Can’t take criticism? Mukundo wondered inwardly. But Gayatri Devi would have been a strict teacher too.

“I will do my best, Mukundo Babu,” she replied looking determined. The cloud had passed.

He nodded. “You can come at six in the morning.” It was the time he gave to his best students. There were only three others in that group right now. He was placing her there. Piyali’s heart leapt at the idea. But she stayed composed on the outside. “We generally practice till nine,” he added.

The cloud came back and this time he couldn’t ignore it. “What happened? You do realize that learning music is hard work. And I don’t like compromises.”

“It’s not that, Mukundo Babu. Just that at 8.30 I have to…”

“Come at five, then. If you can…” Mukundo threw a challenge her way. It was a good opportunity to test her sincerity. He had almost expected her to withdraw. Other students in his morning batch barely managed to come at six. They would still be sleepy when they walked in. If they did come in time, it was only because of his reputation for being strict and turning away the students who reached even a minute late.

She looked at him agape for a moment. Five in the morning! Did he really mean it? Did he wake up by then? He appeared impassive. This was no joke! She took a deep breath and said, “Fine. I will be here at five.”

—

“Sonali. Sonali! Guess who is going to teach me from now on?” Piyali was exultant when she met her best friend on the way to college.

“Mukundo Babu accepted you?”

“Yes! And in the morning batch.” Sonali knew exactly what that meant. Ever since the possibility of Piyali joining Mukundo Thakur had come up, not a single day had passed when Piyali wouldn’t fill her up with all kinds of information about “Mukundo Babu”. Undoubtedly Mukundo Thakur was the most adulated classical singer of his generation in the city, and probably in the entire country. But Piyali’s veneration bordered on obsession.

“Congratulations! And how exactly are you going to manage all of it?”

“I managed with Gayatri Ma, didn’t I? It was she who spoke to Mukundo Babu’s mother about me.”

“I know that. But you yourself accept that Gayatri Ma has always been extra-ordinarily sweet to you. She adjusted her own time for you…”

“I know, Sonali. I know all too well. But anyway. I am going there at five in the morning. It won’t clash with anything else. Even the first tuition I have to give is at 8.30. I will leave at eight…”

“Five in the morning?” Sonali was incredulous, “How will you manage?”

“I will. Don’t worry.”

“And what does Kaki have to say about it?”

Piyali sighed, “You know very well. Ma never likes anything I do about music…”

“And still, you do…”

“So, what do you think? I am a bad daughter?” Piyali smiled sadly.

“You know what! Sometimes I do think that way. But then, most of the time I just marvel at you. Despite everything, you do not give up on music. Your classes, housework, tuitions to help run the house… And you still find time for music lessons and practice! I wish I were that obsessed about something.”

“I can’t give up my music. I love Ma, Sonali. You know I do. At least you should know that I do. Without her, we would have been on footpaths. But I am my father’s daughter too. And music is my life, my soul.”

“Sorry!” Sonali smiled in embarrassment, “I sometimes take the arguments too far. But you have my support. Don’t worry.”

Piyali also smiled. Sonali and she had been friends since childhood. Sonali always questioned her decisions. But at the end of the day, she did have unconditional support from her friend.

Piyali’s jubilation had vanished the next day.

“What happened? You went to Mukundo Babu, today. Didn’t you?”

“He turned me away.”

“Why?”

“I was late.”

“Late?”

“By two minutes!”

“Arr… For two minutes? At five in the morning…”

“I said the same thing and he had a reply ready.”

“Which was?”

“In music, if you are late by two seconds, you have missed the right time for the right note… and everything is spoiled.”

“What the… Even for all his reputation, this is…”

“But he is right, Sonali…”

“Come on. This is ridiculous…”

“This is discipline. And not only music, everything in life needs discipline…”

“What now?”

“I have one more chance. If I get late again, he won’t teach me.”

“And you are going to go back, of course?”

“Of course.”

—

“How was your new student?” Mohima Thakur asked her son during dinner.

“Not disciplined for sure. I had to turn her away today.”

“She was late?”

“Yeah.”

“By two minutes, Ma,” Aporna, Mukundo’s wife, interjected. “And he turned the poor girl away. I don’t know about music, but Baba has definitely passed on his fanaticism to him.”

“Aporna! If you can’t be respectful towards your father, at least be respectful towards my Guru,” Mukundo glared at her. Aporna just shrugged.

Mohima sighed. May God be with the girl, she prayed for Piyali. Gayatri Devi had sounded so fond of her. She had known her father and after his death and taken over as her music guru. But her own health was failing her now. “I don’t care so much about others, Mohima. But this girl deserves the best. She still has a lot to learn and she is keen to learn. Pandit ji is not alive now. So, I can only look to Mukundo. He should hear her sing once. And then he can decide whether or not he wants to teach her,” she had said.

“But Ma. You know that all my students start early…”

“She hasn’t been sitting around, Mukundo. She has been training since she was a child. First under her father, then under Gayatri Devi.”

“So what?”

“Don’t be so arrogant, my son. Gayantri Devi and Pandit ji were good friends. They respected each other so much. If she is recommending her, you should give her one chance, as a gesture of respect towards Gayatri Devi. She deserves that much.”

Mohima had a point and Mukundo had to agree to her.

“She won’t be able to pay though.”

“You know I don’t care about that.”

—

To be continued