a work of fiction ...

The renowned Shanmukhananda hall was filled to capacity . ….. barely any standing room .

After all , the greatest  singer alive Ustad Bade Asif Ali Khan was going to give one of his rare performances .

As he came on the stage , the crowd stood up clapping and cheering until he raised his hands to hush them…… make them sit down .

 Amidst  hushed silence  , he sang one song after another with the mastery of Bhimsen Joshi and  deep melodious voice of Kundanlal Saigal..

He was known to be very arrogant and proud , but at his level,   he could do anything and the music loving public still worshipped him.

As he was ending the last raga .. a Bhairavi ..before the intermission…. a disturbance was heard in the back row . An old ancient looking man was coughing and trying to get out to avoid disturbing the singer . He was being cursed by all around him

The Ustad stopped singing .The crowd looked back angrily at the stumbling old man , giving him more verbal abuse .

Though the Ustad was a decent human being, he made a sarcastic remark “ Perhaps the man wants to finish my Bhairavi for me . ‘

The crowd laughed and jeered along .

When the noise quietened down , the old man who had stopped coughing turned around and said , “ You have not yet learned to put your soul into your singing . “

Ustad Asif Ali , red in the face , quite annoyed , retorted , “ Perhaps you ,old man need to show me how “

For a full ten seconds there was silence . Then the old man started slowly walking up to the stage. At first it appeared to be some sort of a joke ..

But to everyones’ surprise , the Ustad moved out of his place to make room for the old man .

The crowd clapped . This intermission was going to be entertaining .

As the old man sat down , he turned his wise opaque eyes towards the Ustad, saying ,

“I gave up singing 60 years ago , the day my master  died. The day before that , he asked me to sing one Thumri for  his guests , one of them being your Guruji,,  the great Bade Gulam Ali Khan. I will sing that Thumri tonight .for you .”

The Ustad felt in his heart something remarkable. He lifted his hands to silence the crowd .

The first few words that emerged from the old man’s vocal cords  were

“ Prem –agan Jiyara “.. ..Bade Gulam Ali’s favourite Thumri

A hush went through the audience. The Ustad turned to face the old man , in rapt attention ..

As the old man sang , his melodious voice started penetrating not just the ears , but the heart and soul of his listeners . There seemed to be magic in the air .

His audience lost all sense of time and place . The statues in the hall  seemed to cock their ears to listen.

It was getting dark but the golden rays of the sun , through the window panes kept glowing as if Lord Surya wanted to hang on a little longer .

A small tear started trailing down the right cheek of the Ustad . He was unaware of it . It seemed there was a path to heaven after all and this ancient old man was lighting the way.

The Thumri finally ended and the old man stood up to leave .

The tearful Ustad grabbed the old man’s feet , touching his head to them and asked again and again, ‘ Who are you ? “

As the crowd stood in pin drop silence , the old man whispered something for a full minute in the  Ustad’s ear and quietly shuffled out , never to be seen again ..

After  he had left , Ustad Ali Khan explained,

“Those who are present tonight  are most fortunate…..just  as I am , because as long as we live , we will never hear such beautiful music again .

The old man you just saw came from the secret gharana of Tansen , 400 years ago ..from Akbar’s time ..
Only a handful of singers are trained in every generation .They do not sing publicly.

When they do sing , it is only before great classical vocalists of their time .

So beautiful is  their  music . it seems to come from the heavens ….Swarga  itself .

 Like the old man told me , music has to come from the soul . "