Next morning Piyali was there at Mukundo’s place fifteen minutes ahead of time. She was already waiting for him when he walked in at five minute to five. He was startled for a moment because he hadn’t expected her to come back.  But he concealed his surprise well. He motioned towards the Tanpura. She picked it up, sat down on the carpet and tuned it. Then they started the practice.

Mukundo corrected her when needed, demonstrated the improvisations to her. After about forty five minutes, however, he stopped interrupting and just asked her to sing after him. Immersed in the singing, they were soon lost to the world. When they finally came to themselves, it was quarter to eight. Mukundo looked around and saw his other students sitting at some distance from them, listening intently. They must have come at their usual time! Then his eyes met with Piyali’s and confusion washed over both their faces. What had just happened? How did they lose themselves like that?

When Piyali grew conscious of other people sitting in the room, her face coloured. “Shall I leave now?” she asked meekly.

He just nodded. Piyali put the Tanpura back in place and left wordlessly, leaving Mukundo behind to explain, or to not, to his students what had just happened.

—

“If you have to give your life after music, don’t die twice as quickly by working so hard at other things as well,” Debangi Banerjee, Piyali’s mother, was annoyed with her. But she also worried about her.

“What are you saying, Ma?”

“You left at four in the morning. You are coming back at eight. You will fall ill at this rate. Stop giving tuitions in the evening. We can do without that money.”

“I know it isn’t much, Ma. But it, at least, covers Priyendra’s school fee.” She herself had her college tuition fee waived off on a merit scholarship. Priyendra was her younger brother who was still in school.

“You have only twenty-four hours in a day, like all of us. And you won’t give up music. Then stop abusing your body. It needs rest.”

“In two hours, that’s exactly what I am going to get, Ma. And Ma. Please stop worrying. I am not going to be like Baba. This is my promise, not just to you, but to myself too. I am not expecting music to earn my livelihood. It’s less than two years now. As soon as I graduate, I will find a job and you won’t have to worry any longer.”

“Not like him,” Debangi muttered under her breath, when Piyali went away to freshen up, “This craze for music and she is not going to be like him!” Then she hollered, “Will you have tea? Or shall I serve dinner directly?”

“I need tea, Ma. Have to study for a while. Don’t wait on me for dinner. I will take it before sleeping.”

Debangi had been running the family by taking up sewing and knitting for neighbours since her husband had died. Even when he lived, he could not have been bothered with earning livelihood, so occupied he was in his pursuit of music. Music for music’s sake. He could never think of making money from it. But some money kept coming because he always had students, most of whom, thankfully, paid on their own accord. But when he died in an accident, there were no savings to resort to. Financial planning could hardly be expected from someone who didn’t know how to make money in the first place.

Piyali was old enough at that time, about fourteen, to understand all this. She understood her mother’s frustrations; her disappointment in her husband as well as music. But for good or for bad, her father had instilled the love for music in her. It was her life, her soul. She couldn’t have given up on it. Despite knowing how irresponsible he had been, she couldn’t hate her father. She had just vowed to not be like him – in the matters concerning responsibility towards the family.

—

Mukundo woke up at four in the morning as was his habit. Instead to going to the bathroom immediately as he usually did, he stayed put on the bed for a while. He looked at his sleeping wife. What a disappointment his marriage had been. He hadn’t been sure about it in the first place. But it was Pandit ji’s wish. “You are the son I never had,” Pandit ji had said, “She has my blood. You have my music. If you come together, you will carry my legacy forward.”

Mukundo wondered if it hadn’t been too selfish on Pandit ji’s part. To have such whimsical ideas about carrying the legacy. How had marrying Aporna helped him in carrying the legacy forward? As far as he could see, he was doing in single-handedly. She had never been interested in music. She couldn’t tell her teevra ma from shudha ma. She couldn’t even tell sa from re. And Pandit ji, who used to be so strict with his students, had never as much as raised his voice at her. He had essentially let her do whatever she wanted. He was probably too conscious of her being raised motherless and had ended up spoiling her in trying to make up for her mother’s loss.

There was one thing that she liked about music. The glamour that came with it. It had come to Pandit ji and it had come to him. And it was probably to continue to be a part of that glamour that she had married him. The stage performances and adulation that followed had her beaming. She used to accompany her father in all his stage appearances and all his media interviews. She did the same with him after marriage. She would never bother to listen to him when he practiced, but she had her clothes and jewellery ready for every stage performance. She might not have time for him otherwise, but always had time to sit beside him during the interviews as loving and proud wife, adding her charming comments here and there. These days they hardly ever shared an intimate moment. In the beginning, his youth and his romantic and physical needs had made him seek her out. But over time that need had fizzled. The camaraderie that should have taken the place of youthful passion in the relationship had never developed between them. A strange resentment had come in instead. Neither of them could have put their fingers on what exactly they resented about the other. But they did. Outwardly, one could point out that it was because of their widely different feelings about music. But somewhere Mukundo knew that it wasn’t the case. He connected better with many friends who had nothing to do with music than he connected with his wife. Yes! That was it. There was no connect. Not through music, not through anything else. It was a strangely indifferent relationship. He was grateful to Pandit ji for a lot of things. But this was something he shouldn’t have done to him. His guru-dakshina had been too pricey. It had ended any possibility of him ever finding a partner, a soul-mate, or even some straight-forward romance.

—

“Baba,” Sumedha, his eight-year-old daughter peeped out from the adjacent room, when Mukundo stepped out of his bedroom, “Can I join your practice?”

Mukundo smiled affectionately, “You are up already? Brushed your teeth?”

“No. But I can do that quickly.”

“Okay,” he looked at his watch, “You have ten minutes. If you can make it before five, come in the practice room. But if you get late, you must not disturb, okay?”

“Okay Baba. I will not be late.”

Mukundo loved his daughter. She was his comfort and reassurance. She was already making good progress with her music lessons, and unlike her mother, she didn’t mind discipline and hard work. These days, she was even trying to get up early to join him in the morning practice. Today, he was going to get her company. And then there was someone else’s company too! He sighed as he thought of her. What on earth had happened yesterday? He did sometimes lose himself while singing, but that usually happened when he was alone, never when he was with somebody. Well, not until yesterday anyway.

—

To be continued