Chapter 4: A singer and a budding poet

Gal: Not sure… I always liked the sound… At times, I used to not sleep but just listen to the sound of rain falling on the ground… Or the sound of the wind… Voice of the birds singing… And I think that’s how I caught… It was like the world is always singing… and I heard… Then I tried to participate in it…
Guy: Hmmm… You do sing very well… Did I tell you that?
Gal (laughs): You know, you don’t have to say that, it is understood.
(Both laugh)
Gal: I argued and cried to my parents for allowing me to learn singing… They agreed… But the real war was when I said that it would be my career, my life, my passion…
Guy: Hah…
Gal: How was I to give up? If they decice how I want to live, then why should I live at all, let them right it on a piece of paper and read it every day… I never gave up… and they had to give… You have no idea how much I had to fight for my basic quality… quality if any human life… freedom…
Guy: I know… Have been there… but…. Well… you go ahead…
Gal: So here I am… there might not be a single music company in this state who would not have received my cassette… (Laughs)… My voice… it is everywhere.
Guy: I thought so… I heard you before… somewhere…
(Both laugh)
Gal: So I still live with them… But I make a living or make a life... Singing in shows… I am part of 2 bands… then there is always Java Café… Enough for my subsistence...
Guy: That is great…
(Guy looking at MG Road, he nudges her)
Guy: I love this road…
Gal: Why so?
Guy: Some time back… actually 5 years back… A young man used to come here… Kind of sad…. He used to sit on the steps on the pavement… Ahh… the seat is no longer there… they are constructing the metro.
Gal: I remember it… But this city needs it.
Guy: They need to improve the infrastructure… It is so unplanned and chaotic.
Gal: Hmmm… So you were saying… A young man?
Guy: He used to come and sit on the steps on the pavement… Actually, he would walk around Brigade Road, Church Street, and finally, come here (/go there) and sit… All the while listening to songs… MLTR, Kenny G, Yanni, Hindi films songs, anything that would stir your soul…
Gal: Have you heard of Carpenters? I love them…
Guy: I don’t think I have heard of them…
Gal: They are… Ohh so sorry… I am interupting… So he used to listen to music and…
Guy: Hmmm… he used to sit right in front of Foodworld… You know the opposite side… He cannot hear the world… he cannot hear what the people are saying next to him or behind him… Nothing…. Not even the vehicles, the cars… anything…
Gal: Hmmm…
Guy: As if it was a silent movie… Just looking at the people… Not trying to analyse… Judge… nothing… just seeing… hmmm... life as it happens… Really… It is interesting… Those moments… were so private… I mean… he cannot even explain it properly… Those evenings were kind of life altering for him… he would always get up a wiser man… I mean… It meant much more to him than all the knowledge he had gained during his academic years… you know… Imagine sitting next to this road and it satisfies you more than any school, college and library…
Gal: Life as a teacher… World as a school.
Guy: Yes… Something just like that… Sometimes it used to be as if he was sitting somewhere in the middle of 2 worlds… Like In front he would see a very different world… People who are having the sweet corn…. Having Chaat… having snacks… People coming out of Foodworld with bags full of groceries… it would contain like fruits, vegetables, you know as if they are feeding their colony… And then… There used to be those behind them sitting on the footpath… So poor… Little children begging… Adults all tired after a day of labour probably… Tinge of sickness… and sometimes how it used to cross over… he would see these people crossing the road… but nothing changes… they look at all that is going on… wide eyed… sometimes jaws dropped… He would see all this... Life would go on just like that….
Gal: I am trying to imagine it…
Guy: Yes… After one similar night like this… This guy, he returns home… Fortunately, does not find his roommates at home… Takes out a diary… and dishes out 4 poems… one after the other… He never has written a poem… But that night… he writes a poem right… that too… not 1 but 4… Can you believe that?
Gal: Must have been some experience.
Guy: I know that is great… I mean moments like these sure happen to everyone, right? I believe so… Just that I think we forget that…
Gal: Yes… So how do you know this guy?
(Gal is looking at the guy; guy is looking ahead intensely)
Guy: I just know him… He used to be with me… I think I have lost touch with him now… Probably need to make a contact.
Gal: So is that what you are doing?
(Both look at each other and grin)
Guy: You know it is so wonderful… I mean I forgot the last time I spoke like this… I mean… In office I always wear a mask… I am a complete stranger… I sometimes fail to recognize myself… I too engross myself in unnecessary gossip and chatter.
Gal: Ha… Don’t punish yourself… I think anyone who works needs that… Otherwise you would see some injured managers or bosses or whatever you call them all around
(Both laugh)
Gal: I am hungry… I am starving… So if we are going to paint this town in red the whole night… lets have something to eat first…
Guy: Sure… There are so many restaurants here… We can hop into any 1… Hmm… You do not want to drink, right?
Gal: Huh… Not if I have to stay the whole night out in Bangalore.
Guy: Funny you are.
Gal: Why?
Guy: I never said the whole night… But you believe it is.
Gal: I know it will happen… Why, wouldn’t you love the idea?
Guy: I do.
(Guy stands and does not move ahead; Looks at the gal lovingly, and joins the girl again)