SS - O Re Piya update pg 19 28th dec

The honey coloured sun was just peeping through the clouds and the morning larks were merrily chirping away, a few of the early birds in the village were making there way through the early morning mist over to the mandhir for morning prayers, the main street was quite as always expect for a few extra people walking to the mandhir, it was deserted and eerily quite like every morning just before the morning rush, all except the mandhir which was becoming fuller their was a reason why the mandhir was busy so early in the morning, because today was Thursday and every Thursday Bani came to do Aarti and when she came the whole village looked forward to listening to her sweet angelic voice,

Her melodious voice ran out and floated through the air like a birdsong, the people living in main street opened their doors and windows to get a better listen, a few late comers tried to find a seat in the now throbbing mandhir.

Getting up he barged down stairs to find the owner of the small guesthouse, dusting his old trophy cabinet happily with a old cloth ( the owner an old man in his 70's had claimed to be a wrestler in his youth ), this amused the guest and he reached out and tapped the owner on the shoulder gently, seeing him almost jump with fright, the guest pointed to his ears indicating the owner to turn his hearing aid up higher.

Confused the owner looked at the paying guest walking around with only boxer shorts and a vest so early in the morning too, Mr Mishra began howling with laughter and the paying guest looked annoyed at first but soon joined in with the infectious laughter

'I'm glad I amuse you so much Mr Mishra, but could you turn the radio down, I'm not in to Arti or bajans at this time in the morning, even my daughter in law at home does them at a decent hour'.

'Mr Bali, I can assure you what you are hearing is no ordinary voice on the radio, its Bani singing arti today and at precisely 6:30 she will stop , so go to sleep back to sleep peacefully or just listen because after today we in this village won't get to hear again for a long time, she's moving to Mumbai to further her studies', the owner carried on lovingly cleaning his trophy's while Aditya listened, grabbing a near by shawl to keep him self warm , the old man carried on, 'I have know her from the time she was a baby, she has grown before my very eyes , so sad when her mother died, she was only a 6 years, that's why Bani is so well loved in this village we have all helped to bring her up,

Bani is a only child and when her Mother died her Father went in to a deep depression and started drinking, she looked after herself and being so loving adopted two orphans called Pia and Rano, those two girls you saw giggling as you checked in, I love all three like my own grand dauhters, you see I never got around to getting married and seeing Bani struggling to look after her Father and to young sisters, Mr Mishra's voice broke, it was heavy with emotions and he stopped, leaving Aditya to fill in the gaps with his imagination, he carried on with a hint of pride now in his voice, I gave them shelter and all the good advice only a grandfather could give, as well as singing Bani is a studious girl, she has won a scholarship to a top college in Mumbai to study music and Indian folk culture,

Aditya was impressed and spotted a servant carrying a steaming tray full of masala tea, Aditya took the glass the servant offered, and took a sip, the sweet and milky liquid sank deep down his throat and his body instantly warmed up, Mr Mishra saw the servant walk past him and stopped his polishing and let out a loud fake cough, the servant ignored it and answered,

'Bani's orders you are to have no sugar, I will bring it in a minute'.

This made Mr Mishra smile and at the same time puzzled him. What would he and his diabetes do when bani leaves.