Yep, his aakhri umeed is gone. It's different when a loved one passes away because you know that they can't come back, but Minnie is very much alive but so far from him. I completely agree that he's just going to 'survive'. If he wanted to, he could have emotionally blackmailed Minnie into staying and methinks he may have even succeeded. But he won't because he loves her as his child. I once again remembered the scene where he was telling her how fathers want their daughters to do better than them. He knows that he can never give her that kind of life or opportunity with his modest income and that she deserves this chance.
I just got thinking and don't take this the wrong way... When HS was talking about the kaunse janam ki preet, bandhan, etc... They finally showed us what soulmate means.
They were kindred spirits. The fact that they were able to find each other at all is a miracle in and of itself. There's absolutely no denying that they touched each other's souls in an irrevocable way. No one else could have done this and no one else ever will.