Music Lovers

The Nepali watchman 'Thapa' was a great favourite with all men and women in the big colony. He couldn't be called handsome but we know handsome is what handsome does. Thapa was always ready to help people and be of use to others. One day my wife was chiding me for my laziness. There were no vegetables at home and she was furious with me. Thapa who was going past my house thoughtfully just stopped and cast a smile at me. 

He insisted to us to allow him to buy us some vegetables from the nearby vendors. My wife didn't like the idea. But I gave Thapa rupees one hundred and a big polythene bag which lay on the backseat of the car. Thapa was all smiles.  My wife didn't like my depending on others for my or our benefits. If we visited a relative's house, she would pressurize me to eat something in a roadside Dhaba so that the relative might not be given any unnecessary anxiety on our account.

 My nephew is the only one who now lives in my native village. He and his wife take particular care to cook something special for me. Mami, my nephew's wife, and my daughter-in-law has mastered the art called cooking. My daughter Mansi also excels in cooking. My wife Mrunmayee is critical about them contending that spices and oils are bad for a fifty-plus man. I say all this because when people are eager to serve you in any way you must oblige them with your willingness to respect their feelings. This is common sense. 

Thapa came back in half an hour with a lot of vegetables. When he was going to return me twenty rupees, my wife told him to keep the money. Though a little reluctant, he accepted it after a little persuasion. My wife lauded him and his sense of buying quality vegetables at the right prices. According to her, vegetable vendors always cheated me with bad vegetables at high prices. Thapa was famous for his generosity and friendliness. They were numerous examples of how he had helped people. 

However, Thapa's bad days started after a year or so of his marriage to a girl he loved. His wife Sheetal was attractive and fun-loving. She was always found chewing betel leaf and busy. She had started working at people's houses to supplement her husband's meagre income. This she did against her husband's wishes. The day he saw a costly mobile phone in her hand witnessed a big conflict between Thapa and his wife Sheetal. The suspicious watchman even beat his good-hearted wife. Sheetal ignored her suspicious husband and kept working as if nothing had happened. She took enormous interest in singing and soon became a sensation in the colony. People requested her to sing a Bollywood hit and often tipped her a ten or twenty rupee note. 

It was Pitabash Nayak who had gifted her the mobile phone. It was a beautiful Samsung J 7 Max which had cost eighteen thousand rupees. Nayak was a retired music teacher who had worked in Kendriya Vidyalayas all his life. He had lost his wife at the age of fifty. He had a daughter. One day the nineteen-year-old girl went to the marketplace riding her scooter and never came back home. Thirty years had passed since her disappearance. Mr.Nayak was a highly talented singer who thought he had been a failure in life. 

When he taught in a school in Pune, he frequently visited Mumbai and had developed acquaintance with some music directors. When he was about to achieve his long-cherished breakthrough,mysterious phone calls started coming to him. He lost his morale and didn't try his luck any further. He was intensely and bitterly critical of the film industry in Mumbai.

While cleaning and washing the utensils Sheetal would hum to herself the popular Bollywood songs. The seventy-year-old lover of music liked to overhear her singing. One day he said to Sheetal,"Lassie, you have the promise to distinguish yourself as a singer. I have been listening to you since day one of your work in my house. You have a good voice." She was astonished to hear the kind words of the lonely old man who was uttering his words with difficulty. Her eyes became wide with surprise when he handed her the costly-looking wonder. She couldn't believe her eyes...! Next, she said she didn't know its use and operation. He urged her to take the phone and said, "If I were a young man now, I could prove my talent and industry to the world. Now there are opportunities in plenty for aspiring singers. Singing is no more the monopoly of a few.It gives me immense pleasure to think about it."

Getting the valued gift, she found herself in a new world of colours and beauty. She would ask the children every now and then how to operate the phone. She decided to give her husband a big surprise but her hopes were wrong. 

She was accused of adultery. An extramarital relationship with a retired music teacher. I too had seconded the rumour as genuine. Eighteen thousand rupees was too much to be parted with. 

Later I knew the phone was a gift from a former student of his who was now settled in the Netherlands. 

Quarrels became an everyday affair in Thapa's house. He and his wife lived in an outhouse on a plot of land belonging to a bank manager. Thapa kept watch over the iron rods, bricks, cement, etc when a contractor was building the manager's house there. Thapa's beautiful young wife agreed to do whatever he wanted her to on the condition that he would stop drinking and quarreling. Thapa told her not to go to the music teacher's house and assured her that he would do all the household chores and the cooking she had been doing in the music teacher's house. Thapa kept his pledge and sincerely did all the domestic things in the music teacher's house. The old man soon struck a friendship with the watchman. He never forgot to remind the watchman to encourage his wife to practice singing. He even offered that he should buy her a harmonium and engage a music teacher for her. Thapa didn't attach any seriousness to the old man's words. 

When Thapa had completed one year of work in the music teacher's house, he was puzzled to hear the teacher telling him to take his motorcycle and use it. He said, "Sahab, where shall I keep the motorcycle? I live in a very small house, just having room for two people. It is very very congested,Sir.."

The old music teacher said, "Boy, what shall I do with so many of my belongings...my house, my bank balance, car, etc when I am nearing my end...? We foolishly acquire lots of costly diamonds and riches. Are they of any use in the long run..?No...

I am disposing of all my things. The people living downstairs are vacating the house. You can come and stay there. I am not going to charge you any rent.."

When Thapa was trying to leave, he said, "Take the motorcycle. It has been out of use for four years. 

A mechanic has recently fixed it. What shall I do with it... ?"

The watchman came back having assured the old man that he would surely take the motorcycle and use it. But he needed a little time to do so...Why?

Sheetal was astonished to see a sudden change in her husband's odd behavior. She kept wondering if Pashupatinath was ending her cruel times. 

After a week, people saw the couple in the music teacher's house. It appeared they were doing a lot of work there. They kept the house incredibly clean. Thapa went here and there riding the old man's motorcycle. Now the ownership of the two-wheeler had been transferred to Thapa. It was a magnificent Royal Enfield Bullet.

It was a matter of great fun to see Thapa rehearsing dance in a peculiar way to the accompaniment of his wife's singing. Although their big hopes proved futile, they became popular in the colony. They performed on small occasions like weddings, birthdays, death anniversaries, etc, and earned a bit to meet their day-to-day expenses. 

The old music teacher passed away leaving his house to the couple. Thapa and Sheetal were stunned to find out that the music teacher had been suffering from stomach cancer for the last eleven years.