A sense of excitement that Arnav never knew he was capable of experiencing, had started to build when he had left for the venue and gradually increased by every passing minute, which finally reached the threshold level when he entered the hall with his Nani. And when he thought he could no longer handle it, he was finally bestowed with a sight he was dying to behold ever since he had left her at SPARC all those days back. Dressed in an off-white Anarkali suit with intricate Magenta and gold work at the neckline and magenta patch work at the flare and sleeves, complemented with churidaar pant and dupatta that went with the border, Khushi stood with Lavanya, smiling at something she was saying. But the moment he spotted her, Lavanya looked in his direction and told her something, to which she almost immediately stiffened. As Arnav led his Nani towards the first row, his mind barely registered that Shashi welcomed them and NK and Payal took blessings from the elders, his gaze fixed on Khushi who was now led to them by Shyam. He drank in her appearance like a parched traveler in the hot deserts of Sahara and came back to Earth when she was introduced to Devyani. She bent down to touch Devyani's feet when the elder woman stopped her by her shoulders and took her into a motherly hug. Arnav looked on with a warm smile as Khushi was hugged by Manorama and Anjali and blessed by Manohar. Just as he was about to greet her and make his presence known, Shyam whispered in his ears to accompany him and Shashi to meet the press before the commencement of the programme. Arnav nodded his head, but before he left, he came near Khushi and said softly,
"Khushi ! Hi ! I need to meet the press briefly. I will talk to you when I am back"
Khushi knew he was there even before he spoke, Lavanya had told her about the arrival of the Raizadas. But the impact of his presence hit her when he spoke and all she could manage to do was to stutter a greeting and nod in the affirmative before he turned around and left with Shyam.
By the time Arnav came back, the stage was set for the chief guests and other dignitaries. The event started without further ado with Devyani lighting the traditional lamp to mark the inauguration followed by a rendition of invocation song by Veena. Payal welcomed the gathering and introduced the dignitaries on the dais to the audience while kids of SPARC presented each of them with a flower bouquet. Shashi, then, addressed the audience and explained the journey of SPARC briefly followed by playing a video on the activities and future plans of SPARC. A few children who had cleared eligibility tests for treatment for restoration of sight, but couldn't afford the expenses associated with the surgery, were presented with cheques by some of the patrons of SPARC. Then Shyam gave a powerpoint presentation explaining the objective of the proposed non-profit residential school for Children with special needs. Shyam highlighted AR's contribution and association with the project and stated the philanthropic gestures of many of the patrons who had volunteered to help SPARC with the project. He appealed to the gathering to make their generous contributions through various options listed in the project brochure given to them at the entrance. Finally Arnav gave a short and to the point Chief guest address, lauding the Guptas for their initiative and vision for a noble cause. He specified humbly his plan to be associated with the residential school project and surprised the hosts by announcing that a percentage of every purchase made on AR's products would be contributed to the project. Khushi listened to his speech attentively and her heart flowed with pride at his plans. She recalled the evening he had come home to apologize and how she had convinced him to attend the fundraiser and unknowingly caressed her phone with a smile playing on her lips. When Arnav concluded his speech, NK thanked the dignitaries and requested them to occupy their assigned seats in the audience and sit back to enjoy a variety entertainment to be performed by the students and staff of SPARC. Arnav and Shashi were the last to get down from the stage and Arnav noticed that the seats next to Khushi and Devyani were vacant. His awareness of being among the family prevented him from occupying the seat next to Khushi, not wanting to raise unnecessary suspicions among the overenthusiastic members of his family and proceeded to sit next to Devyani, but Shashi stopped him and asked him to take the seat next to Khushi as he wanted to explain the proceedings of the programme to Devyaniji himself. Arnav just wanted to hug Shashi for always helping him, but instead nodded and settled down next to her. Ten days of sheer torture finally paid off, he thought sighing blissfully.
The variety entertainment began with a colorful dance by children with hearing loss mimicking Payal and staff of SPARC on a cheerful medley featuring popular Bollywood songs including Bum bum bole', Gun gun guna re' and Itni si hasi'. Arnav was giving a running commentary to Khushi.
"Khushi ! The kids are dressed in colorful clothes and are wearing different animal masks. There are huge cut out of trees forming the backdrop giving the picture of animals having fun in the forest. There are fans set on either side of the stage which make the leaves look like they are..." He was about to say ruffled by the breeze, when she said, "dancing flames"
That was when he noticed that Khushi was looking without a wink in the direction of the stage which was brightly lit as the kids removed their masks and bowed to the cheering audience before moving towards the backstage as the song came to an end. Arnav was confused.
Why did she say that? It was as if she saw it. If he were to assume that she did some guess work, given that she had eyesight for some years of her life, it puzzled him since he never mentioned to her that the leaves of the trees in the backdrop were orange and yellow in color and not green as it is expected to be assumed if not mentioned specifically. But she said dancing flames. Why?
The beginning of the next programme brought Arnav out of his reverie. It was a skit played out by the students of SPARC, beautifully depicting a difficult journey of a visually challenged boy from losing vision, struggling through the hardships of life including adjusting to the changed environment, social and family relationships, education and job, economic woes and to finally getting back his eye sight through treatment financially aided by an NGO. Three students of SPARC, a kid, a boy and a man in early twenties, played the role of the blind person portraying his life spanning his childhood to adulthood. The inspiring song Yeh safar bahut hai Khatin magar na udaas ho mere humsafar', one of the last musical creations of R D Burman, was chosen as the back ground song that played through the difficult stage of the boy and a picture presentation played in the background stressing the role of government, NGOs and philanthropists in making the dream of many such people come true, leaving no dry eye in the audience. Before it ended, NK came and took Khushi with him much to Arnav's displeasure.
While the audience was still reeling under the impact of the emotions the play had invoked, Arnav became thoughtful. Amidst the emotional interplay that had assailed his senses, Arnav couldn't help but recall what Khushi said during the dance. With the progress that he had made with Khushi, he was still unsure of approaching her directly about her condition, as he knew well that the accident that led to the loss of her eyesight was a risky subject and he didn't know what to expect. He decided that asking Payal or Shashi Uncle was a safe option. At that moment, the curtains were raised once again and the dark stage came alive with a single focus light revealing NK in the center of the stage sitting in front of a musical key board and Veena and another girl sitting on his either side.
NK played the opening notes of what looked like a prelude to a familiar musical piece. Four beats later, a second focus light came alive on a flautist, who Arnav recognized as the boy Madan from SPARC. There were two visually challenged children on his either side too. He began to play on his flute, the renowned Bombay theme music'. Madan sincerely and quite successfully reproduced the internationally recognized sensational musical genius of AR Rahman. Arnav had always had a penchant for soul stirring music like his mother. He remembered this particular musical piece as the one that ruled his favorite list as a young boy.
Shyam looked on as his thoughts went to a summer many years back when NK had come to stay with them and had started college. He had learnt keyboard in Australia and wanted to buy a keyboard here to practice and play in the college band. A young Khushi was slowly coming back to normalcy after the accident, but was not completely out of her shell yet. Shyam and NK were leaving for a music shop when Shyam asked Khushi if she would like to accompany them and to his surprise, she had immediately agreed. As NK was looking into the various models of keyboard, Khushi stayed by Shyam's side when they heard an instrument being played out and he found Khushi tugging at his hand and pull him towards the direction from where the music was coming from. The music led them to a middle aged man playing some notes to test the quality of the instrument. The man stopped and turned to look at a very curious Khushi who asked,
"What instrument is this?"
"Do you want to learn?"
"But I cant see"
"You don't need to see."
Shyam was shaken back from his memories as the flute part came to an end.
NK played the brief prelude to the subsequent part and a third focus light came alive, stunning Arnav beyond words. There sat Khushi on a high chair holding a violin elegantly, her chin resting on the chin rest of the lower bout of the instrument that was placed comfortably on her left collar bone. A boy was seated on her left side on a wheel chair. She took over from NK's prelude to her part and glided the bow over the strings while her fingers deftly moved over the finger board to reproduce the magical notes. Skillful coordination of her fingers over the fingerboard screamed of inherent talent, expert guidance, years of learning and constant practice. But what stood out was her flair for her instrument that looked like an extension of her body. Her fingers caressed the strings on the fingerboard like a mother caresses her fast asleep child. Khushi easily shifted from the higher octave strings to the lower octave strings as she moved on to the subsequent notes. It is impossible to reproduce music of such scale with limited number of instruments, but NK tried his best by supportively playing the notes on the keyboard to create the effect of multiple violins used in the original soundtrack. Lavanya felt something akin to pride sweep her as she watched NK play the keyboard. Khushi moved back to the higher octave and played the notes to perfection leaving an unexpecting audience stunned. Arnav watched Khushi playing her instrument with passion and unwavering focus, he realized that whatever was his expectation from the evening with her, it was certainly not this and could not have been more gratifying than this.
When Khushi shifted again to the lower octave, Madan joined her on his flute for the closing notes, contrary to the original track, as the kids sang the verses of the song Aankhon mein Ummeedon ke sapne' that were originally tuned for the film Bombay' in accordance with the opening lines of the theme music, leaving the audience enthralled. The closing notes faded away and so did the lights on the stage and the audience promptly broke into a standing ovation to the talent laden evening of entertainment and emotions.
As Arnav stood there putting his hands together to applaud the performance, he found himself experiencing a new found sensation that coursed through his existence giving him a sense of liberation from his self-imposed confinement of sentiments. And that experience paved way for a life changing realization.
Arnav Singh Raizada was falling in love with Khushi Gupta.
-----------------
Please scroll down for Part 2 (b)
Music Corner
346