The Mystical Flutist-IV

Chapter 4: And ‘now’

“Hmmm. But do I need to go today itself”, Tuhi asked on the phone, sounding a little distracted.

Roma, her manager tried to explain in her high-pitched and fast paced voice that the fund-raising event was next day, and Tuhi had to reach Ooty tonight. Tomorrow morning she had arranged for a breakfast meeting with the founder of the NGO, who has arranged for the fund raising event. Tuhi had asked for this meeting as she was very eager to know more about the organisation and would like to extend her support to them. They were doing very good work by teaching the deaf, dumb and blind children to read, write and pursue a vocation of their choice and capability so that they can be independent human beings. Roma kept babbling how this event will garner good coverage for Tuhi and how the owner of the NGO insisted that no one but Tuhi Banerjee should be the artist performing for the evening.

But Tuhi’s mind had drifted elsewhere. She was thinking of the NGO, and what a noble cause the founder has been working on. In the last 2 years Tuhi has achieved much fame as a singer. Singing had always been her passion, and she didn’t realize when her passion turned into her profession. But for her, her passion is still bigger than any fame. Deep within her heart she wants to do something as selfless as this NGO founder. She wants to spread happiness and smile among those who appreciate life. In her own way she tries to do as much as she can for such causes. Her concert for ‘Banshi’ (Flute) - the NGO was one such effort to do her bit for the little kids.

“Ok, so I will arrange for your tickets to Ooty and mail it across to you”, with that Roma hung up.

Tuhi looked around her desk, and straightened the pristine white photo frame. For a second her eyes caught Ishaan’s smiling face in the photo frame. It was a photo of her and Ishaan at Udaipur, taken last year during their anniversary. She has known Ishaan for 6 years now, and they are married for 3 years. Tuhi always considers herself lucky to have Ishaan in her life. It was not a love at first sight for Tuhi (though she always thought that’s how it will happen). She couldn’t hear any bells ringing, angels singing around her or showering flower petals from heaven. ….all of which she was very sure would have happened when she fell in love with her man. Buts instead what happened was,  for the first time in life Tuhi learnt to appreciate herself, love herself and grow more confident. He gave her the wings to fly.

People who knew them said they had a ‘perfect marriage’. Perfect it definitely is….but still Tuhi cannot understand why at times a grey cloud lurks in her thoughts whenever she sits alone. What is it that she pines for….she doesn’t know. It’s almost like no matter how many accolades and awards she wins and how great she sings….Tuhi knows that her music can never touch the soul in a way ‘the sound of the flute’ did. At this sudden thought Tuhi shuddered. She quickly picked up the phone and dialed a number.

“Hello love. How was your day today?”, a reassuringly kind voice answered. The moment Tuhi heard her husband the frown on her forehead vanished and the dimpled smile was back.

The bus for Ooty left Bangalore at 10:45 PM. As she waved at Ishaan, Tuhi felt pangs of guilt over leaving him alone over the weekend and that too at such a short notice. But she knew that he would understand. As one by one her co-passengers dozed off, Tuhi pulled the shawl closely around her shoulder and leaned against the foggy window. It has been 11 years, since Tuhi last went to Ooty, to her alma mater. After completing her junior college from St. Mary’s School, Tuhi had never gone back to Ooty. Now when she thinks of her boarding school days…it seems like a different life altogether. As she closed her eyes, she saw herself with her two neat ponytails hanging over her shoulder sitting with her best friends sharing ‘imli ka achar’, stealing guavas from Mr. Jame’s immaculate garden or taking the old care-takers cat and painting its tail blue.  Life was carefree and fun. In school they were not afraid to dream, as they had not experienced the pain of dreams shattering. Suddenly ‘the music’ played inside Tuhi’s head. Instinctively her eyes moistened and her heart grew heavy. In these 11 years a lot has changed…..except this. Till this day whenever Tuhi thinks of those ‘eyes the colour of deep forest pool’, her heart twinges and the sharp pain clouds her eyes. She reached out inside her bag and took out the flute. Whenever she goes for any concert the flute is always with her….it is her inspiration. Tuhi held the flute close to her heart and closed her eyes.

Ooty has changed so much over the years that Tuhi almost felt like she has come to the wrong place. The serene and picturesque hill station has become a cluttered town. With people jostling, cars honking and tourists milling around, the earlier sleepy little hill station looks forcefully busy and tired. The car was waiting for Tuhi, the driver, a short round man, greeted her with a big smile. Tuhi reached the hotel, freshened up and got ready for the breakfast meeting with the founder of Banshi. She checked her watch, it was 09.20 AM and her meeting was at 10:00 AM. She told the driver to wait back, as she wanted to walk down to the NGO office.

The road leading to the Botanical Garden has not changed much, except that there are too many shops now along the side of the road. As Tuhi’s feet trudged along the uphill road, her mind walked down the winding memory lane. In school days, during their Sunday trip to the market place Tuhi and her friends used to come here to buy sugar candies and mirchi pakodas (chily fries). A young boy saw Tuhi standing and came to her with packets of colorful sugar candies and imli golis hanging around his neck. She bought 3 packets of candies from him and slipped it in her bag. In her mind she silently gifted them to her best friends Alisha and Veena.

When Tuhi reached Banshi, she was taken aback by the simplicity of the office set-up. It was a modest 2 storied building, with the classrooms on the first floor, and the office and children’s’ residence on the ground floor. As soon as she entered, a big writing on the wall caught her attention:

No voice in this world can be louder than silence.

If anyone can understand your silence.

They can never misunderstand your words.

She walked towards the reception area, where a chubby kind-faced young girl looked at her from behind the desk and smiled.

“I’m here to meet Mr Surjo Sengupta. I have an appointment at 10:00 AM.” The girl quickly typed something on her keyboard, jumped down from her chair and went inside a big brown door. Tuhi stood there, and looked around. She saw a group of children sitting under the big banyan tree in the garden. They looked on attentively as a middle-aged woman wrote something on the black-board and then explained with gestures. A faint sound of piano floated in the air. Tuhi walked across the lobby to the big glass room, and saw a little girl bent over a huge piano. She opened the door and walked towards the girl. The little girl was staring hard at the big sheet of musical note and was struggling with the right chord. Tuhi gently bent over and touched the little girl’s shoulder affectionately. She then hummed the tune and played it on the piano. The little girl clapped out relieved and hugged Tuhi tightly. Tuhi was taken aback by this simple and unadulterated show of gratitude. The girl then jumped off the high stool, faced Tuhi and touched both her palm on her chin and gestured something. Tuhi was completely lost as she doesn’t understand sign language. Seeing her confusion the little girl gave her a big smile, ran to the white board next to the piano and scribbled ‘Thank you so much’. Tuhi was overwhelmed, she walked to the girl and hugged her tight, tears streaming down her cheek.

Just then there was a soft knock at the door. Tuhi looked up to see the kind faced young receptionist. She gestured Tuhi to come with her. Tuhi quickly wiped off her tears and took a deep breath to compose herself. She waved at the little girl and left the music room. While crossing the lobby the writing on the wall caught her attention again – “No voice in this world can be louder than silence.” Suddenly a memory from years back flashed across her mind.

“My name is Tuhi. It means the ‘chirping of birds’. What is your name?” she blurted in one breath and looked up at him.

He stood there in silence…...”

Tuhi quickly tore herself from that memory and walked towards the big brown door. She was really looking forward to meeting Mr. Sengupta. He has been doing some great work, and she would love to support him in whatever little way she could. Tuhi’s mind was soo occupied with the thoughts of how she could change the lives of these kids that she didn’t realize that soon her life is going to be changed forever.

Tuhi followed the young receptionist inside the room. The room was very different from the rest of the building. It had thick wooden walls, and what caught her attention immediately was the 2 walls that had book shelves right from the floor till the ceiling. Right next to the bookshelf was a huge oil painting of a little girl and a boy sitting with their back, on a bench under an old pine tree, watching the setting sun. Tuhi stopped for a second in front of the painting, taking in the warm hues of the canvas. She liked the way the girl rested her head on the boy’s shoulder. She heard a soft rustling behind her, and turned around, suddenly remembering why she had come in here. She was so absorbed by the surroundings in the room, that for a moment she felt like she belonged here.

As Tuhi turned around she saw a huge desk. Behind the desk a tall man was sitting on a chair, bending over some of the papers. He was wearing a blue tweed jacket over a white shirt. He had a strong jawline, and wore black-rimmed glasses. She couldn’t see more, as he was looking down. He signed the papers with a practiced flourish and gestured the young lady to leave. He then removed his glasses and stood facing Tuhi.

As Tuhi’s eyes met those ‘eyes the colour of deep forest pool’, she shuddered and her head reeled. She quickly held on to the chair in front of her and steadied herself. He slowly walked around the table, pulled the chair and made her sit. She looked up at him, and this time she knew that it was him. Her heart is beating so hard that she can feel the pain throbbing through her veins. He slowly walked towards the huge French window and pulled the curtain. As the room plunged into darkness, Tuhi’s mind grew number. ‘He’ was always a puzzle for her….but what is happening now is surreal.

He flicked a switch and a big projector screen lighted up right in front of Tuhi. He walked up to the desk and sat on the corner of the desk…just inches away from her As the familiar sound of the flute started playing…..Tuhi looked up and saw these words flashed across the screen:

“Hi Tuhi, my name is Surjo. It means ‘mighty as the sun’.

I cannot speak. I was born this way, and had made my peace with my silent life…until I met YOU. The first day I saw you near the old tower-house I found what I had been looking for all my life. I found my muse, who added soul to my music. I wanted to hold your hand and bring you to my world and tell you how much I had longed for you. But how could I have told you Tuhi, as in my world there is no voice, no words, no song.

My parents died when I was very young. Mrs James, your history teacher at St. Mary’s was my godmother. She had no children so she took care of me after my parents’ death. I used to stay with her mother at her village house. One year, when I was 14, Aunty James could not visit her village, as she had a surgery, and so I along with Grandma James came to visit her at her quarters in Ooty. It was during this visit that I met you.

I still remember the last day, before leaving for village. I knew I had to meet you once as I knew deep down that you understood my silence. You could read my eyes, and no words could ever express what my music had expressed to you. Do you remember the song I played for you that day? You had tears in your eyes. And when I held your hands you shivered. It was perfect….until you spoke. You asked me my name and my dream burst. I realized, we need words between us…as you couldn’t understand my silence. The very moment that you gave me the meaning of my life…you took away from me the reason to live. I knew I couldn’t live without you, and neither could I be with you.

I knew I would never see you again. But I could not go empty handed. I wanted something of yours that I can keep as my own. So I took your bracelet. I know you were hurt Tuhi…but I didn’t want to hurt you. I had to have something that belonged to you…..if not your heart.

I never played the flute since that day. My music was for you…and it stayed with you.

I knew you had a lot of unanswered questions that you had carried along with you for so many years. I hope I could answer them today.

This school that you see here, is built so that no other ‘Tuhi’ ever goes without getting an answer to her questions. Yes Tuhi, when I met you, had I been able to write or express myself you need not have to carry on this burden within your heart for so long. But I didn’t know how to read or write, as no school entertained children like us. At ‘Banshi’, I give voice to the young people who do not have a voice of their own.

This is all I have to say. Your bracelet lies on the desk. You can take it, as now I have lived you for so many years that I do not need anything else to remind me of you. I’m YOU.”

With this, the projector screen went blank. Darkness filled the room. Surjo walked towards the window and pulled back the curtains. The warm glow of the morning sun streamed in through the huge glass window….softly hugging the two people who sat there in silence.

The END