Chapter 11

When Mr. Naman was a child, (yes, just to clarify the purists, Mr. Naman was a child once and he is not a child anymore), his parents had arranged for him to learn music. They were, from the day Mr. Naman turned 5 years and 45 days had known that their child will not become anything of any consequential importance to society. It is believed that such a thing came to Mr. Naman's mother in a dream and when she revealed this to Mr. Naman's father, he believed it even before she had said it.

So began her attempts to defy destiny and among her various attempts, one of them was music. She arranged a local musician to teach Mr. Naman music. This local guy was a harmonium player and a vocalist and was of the opinion that you cant do one without the another. So it began 3 days a week, the days of week chosen for such a blessed event were Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As when the clock strikes 8 pm on saturday, every child, every person in Ugar switches on the Doordarshan channel to watch the weekly movie, on these three days, all gods in all the three worlds abandon their work and dedicate all their attention to capture this event live.


Anyways, this local musician came the first day, with his harmonium and introduced himself. He got boy Naman's introduction and had general conversation explaining the way he will be conducting his tuition and what is expected of naman in his absence. All this conversation was being followed by boy Naman's mother with utmost attention. On his second day, he started with the basic practice,commonly known as riyaaz with he and Mr. Naman sitting in an isolated room.

Now this local musician teacher beside teaching music also was an astrologer by profession. He claimed to be an expert in palmistry and during the third day, he could not resist merging both of his professions and asked Mr. Naman to show his hand so that he can read it. That was it! His eyes could not believe it. His face was glowing, his heart was full of emotion. Was it joy, one can not be sure about such two-faced emotions.

He urgently called boy Naman's mother and broke the news to her. "Madamji, your son, this boy here, i have read his hand and he has a very bright future, super bright future. He is going to become a very big singer. Fame will come to him. His name will be as known as Lata Mangheskar or as Kishore Kumar. His voice is going to be immortal."

Boy Naman's mother who had heard of this guy's astrology skills was very happy, she believed him instantaneously. She knew that her prayers will be answered. It was all happening for her. Boy Naman was also very excited because he had surely heard of Kishore Kumar and liked his music. Overall, the atmosphere in the house can be compared to the atmosphere of a class whose professor has just announced that due to some unavoidable circumstances he will not be taking lectures the next week. In other words it is known as "nirmal anand" or pure bliss.

And so the weekend passed with great anxiety. In those days, every woman who lived at a two stone's throw of Naman's house had heard this news. And now dont think that boy Naman's mother was throwing stones at other's homes.

Time passed as it usually does and then came the next Monday, the day of the next class and the clock struck 5 pm but the musician was not there. Slowly, slowly the clock struck 6 and the musician had still not arrived. "May be he was not well today" though the mother and waited for Wednesday. But same story was repeated on Wednesday and Friday. After probing for the musician's whereabouts it was revealed that due to some financial problems he has run away after taking the month's advance fees from all his clients.

And upon hearing this news, needless to say, Naman's parents were crushed but for some reason boy Naman was happy. And that was the end of Mr. Naman's musical career. Deep down, Mr. Naman's mother still carries a thought that there is still time and may be his prediction will come true. Mr. Naman on the other hand is glad and when anyone compares his voice to a crow, his answer is simple - Do not judge me now, it is predicted that i have the potentital to be the next Kishore Kumar.