Sana stands mesmerized listening to her favourite singer, singing only for her. Yes she was not imagining, Sidharth was singing only for her. He was not looking at anyone but her. His songs were about his feelings for her.
Sidharth ends his songs with a thunderous applause. He gets down from the stage and is surrounded by people who come to congratulate him. His eyes start to search for her. She was standing at the back, looking at him. She loved his songs, he could feel it. He could feel her heartbeats, calling his name. He could feel the connection with her. He has to talk to her. Tell her what he feels, tell her what he wants.
It took a few minutes for Sidharth to cut through the crowd to reach her. It felt like eternity for him. But when he finally reached her, she was gone. He keeps looking around for her.
Sandip comes and says, “Wow! That was mind blowing. But what happened to you? Why does your face look so pale? Did you see a ghost or something?”
Sidharth instead of answering him, goes to search for his mother. He finds her talking to someone.
“Mom. Mom, I need to speak to you. Please can you come with me.”
He holds her wrist and takes her to the corner, “Mom, where is Shehnaaz?”
“How would I know? I introduced you both and you went to sing. I haven't seen her then. There are her parents. Go and ask them.” she says pointing in one direction.
Sidharth finds her parents chatting with a music director. He gathers his courage and goes near them.
“Hello Mam, Hello Sir! Hello Ajay. Ajay I think Vishnu was asking for you.”, Sidharth says to the music director and he excuses himself to go.
“Mam did you take anything? Sir why don't you take something to drink? Waiter!” , he says.
Poonam says, “It’s okay Mr. Sidharth.”
“Sidharth, call me Sidharth. Where is your daughter? I mean she was with you right?”
Poonam replies, “You also call us aunty and uncle. And Shehnaaz, yes she was with us but she left. She was not feeling well.”
Sidharth was disappointed, “Oh!”
With a sad smile, “You both have something please.”
“Will you tell me anything? You were so happy a few moments ago. You meet your dream girl right. Sheh..Shehnaaz, right. Then what happened? Go and talk to her.”, Sandip says to Sidharth who sits on the bar stool holding a glass of water.
He looks up to him, “Shehnaaz is both.”
“What? What both? Bro please say everything clearly.”
“Shehnaaz is both my inspiration as well as my.. I mean she is the same girl. My neighbour as well as that girl I met in the morning. ”, Sidharth says.
Sandip gets excited and says, “What? I mean that's the best thing I have heard. Then why are you so disappointed? Go and talk to her. Where is she?”
“I felt she could read my lips, understand what I really wanted to say through my poems, through my songs. I felt we had a connection as I looked into her eyes while I was singing. I wanted to hear her voice, tell her what I felt. But when I went back to where she was standing, she was gone. Her mother told me, she was not feeling well so she left.”
Sandip confused at everything says, “So what? You now know who is your neighbour and you now know her name. You can meet her again. What is there to get upset?”
“How? Where? I don't know.”
Sandip puts his arm around his shoulders, “When Sandy is around, nothing to worry. I will find something, a way to bring the love birds together.”
Sidharth shakes his head, “Love birds? Seriously it's too much now.”
Sandip starts to laugh.
“Can we go back now? I am feeling sleepy?”, Sandip says sitting on a bench with his eyes closed.
“You only said, you are ready to sacrifice your sleep for me and now you want to go home so that you can sleep. Very good. What a friend!”
Sandip opens his eyes, “I genuinely want to help Sid. trust me. See I woke up and came with you na. But it has been more than an hour now. I think she will not come to walk her dog today. I promise I will plan something. Let's return home now. I can still get some sleep. I have hardly slept an hour at night.”
They return back and Sandip immediately hits the bed for a slumber.
Sidharth goes to his room and peeps from his balcony. There was no sign of her.
He goes to his corner where his drum set is placed. He sets his microphone and sits in front of it. Taking a deep breath, he starts singing the song ‘Crush’ by David Archuleta.
“....Why do you keep running from the truth?
All I ever think about is you
You’ve got me hypnotized, so mesmerized
And I just got to know
Do you ever think
When you
Re all alone
All that we could be
Where this thing could go?
Am I crazy or falling in love?
Is this real or just another crush?...”
And as he gets engrossed in the singing, he hears her. She is playing synthesizer, jamming it with him. They start creating magic again. The lyrics of the song finishes but they keep playing.
They stop at a high note and Sidharth opens his eyes with a smile. He gets up from the stool and goes to the balcony. There she was standing. She was waiting for him to play. She understood what he wanted to say. He knows that but he has to hear it from her. Tell her to be her partner, if not in life, just for the music.
The rush of adrenaline makes him go excited. He does not think twice and jumps from the balcony of the first floor. He has to talk to her right now. He can’t tell her he likes her but he will ask her to be with her in creating new music. He looks up to see her worried face. He waves his hand and smiles at her. He then runs towards the gate. He needs to ask her if she really will be with him, creating music for the world to listen. He has to take the permission of her parents. And he can't wait any longer. He can't wait to recreate magic with her.
Sana looks at him horrified as he jumps from the balcony. She wanted to scream, stop him from doing the crazy acts. But it was too late, he jumped at a speed of light and landed on his feet on the grass. He looked at her to assure her he was alright and then ran towards the gate. She knows he is coming to meet her.
Sana was lost in his songs the previous night. Her dream to see him perform live was coming true. And what made it even more special is the fact that he was singing for her. When he finished, she could see him coming towards her. And that made her nervous. She couldn’t face him then. Perhaps she wanted to hide the fact that she can’t speak. She had left that night before they could be face to face again.
The same nervousness had stopped her from going for a walk in the morning. But she knows she can’t avoid him forever. He will find out eventually. Maybe he won’t like her anymore. Yes, she knows he likes her. The way he was looking at her, his songs everything told about his feelings for her. But she has accepted that she can't speak and if that means she has to stay alone all her life then it is fine. Somewhere inside she knows that is not actually not fine.
Sana knows that Sidharth also wants her to play together. The jamming sessions are incredible. They are really good together. But he is yet to tell her anything face to face. He is coming to meet her perhaps to ask her that.
Taking a deep breath, she goes to her parent’s room. Poonam is awake. She finds her daughter at the door and smiles at her, signalling her to come in.
“You were playing, I heard. Was Sidharth singing? He has such a beautiful voice. You both play very well together. ”
Sana using sign language tells her. “Mummy, Sidharth is coming now to meet us.”
“What? I need to change. I can’t let him see me in a night dress. Santosh, wake up. Sidharth is coming to our house. Baby, tell Kumudi to make a special breakfast. We must tell him to have breakfast with us. Santosh, wake up now.”
Sana stops her and says, “Mummy stop. He is coming to talk to me. Ask your permission. He has no idea that I can’t speak. What will happen?”
Before Poonam could say anything, they heard the doorbell.
Poonam and Sana go to the living space to find Sidharth standing at the door with a smile. Poonam goes to him and says, “Why are you standing outside? Come inside. ”
Sidharth enters the room and says, “Good morning Aunty. Good morning Shehnaaz. Sorry for coming so early in the morning.”
Poonam says, “It is fine. Please sit. Kumudi, go and make breakfast and tea. Sidharth, please have breakfast with us today.”
Sidharth, still standing says, “No aunty. Actually I need to ask Shehnaaz something. I need your and uncle’s permission too. ”
Poonam’s face brightens up, “We will talk on the breakfast table. Sana, in the meantime take him to your room. Also take him to your music room and show him your instruments and prizes that you had received in various competitions. You know Sidharth, my Sana is so talented. She plays so many musical instruments. You must have listened. She was playing something this morning. You were singing too. I heard.”
Sana stares her, signalling her to stop talking. She smiles and says, “Sana, go now. I will send Kumudi once breakfast is ready. Let me wake up Santosh.”
She leaves and Sana nods her head at Sidharth. She starts walking and Sidharth follows him.
He says, “Can we first go to the room where you play?”
Sana turns back and nods her head. They enter a door that opens to a nice size airy room. The room has several musical instruments arranged nicely. The grand piano is placed near the balcony. He goes towards it and lifts the cover. He pushes a few keys making nice music.
"So this is where you create those beautiful melodies? You are very talented."
Sana smiles.
"You know why I am here. Right??"
Sana nods her head.
Sidharth gets excited, “I knew it. I knew we had a connection. I knew you would understand my songs.”
He comes closer in the same excitement in order to hold her but stops. He lowers his head and says, “I am sorry. I.. just want to ask if you really want to make music with me.”
He looks at her waiting for an answer. With passing moments, his heart was beating faster.
What will be her reply? Will she say no?
She just smiles at him. Unable to understand he asks, “Please say something. I want to hear from your mouth.”
The smile disappears from Sana’s face.
“What? Shehnaaz. Tell me. I know you loved when we were jamming together. It was just magical. Don’t you want the world to get to experience the same ecstacy? Just answer me.”
Sana comes a step closer and holds his hand and puts it over his heart. She stares into his eyes and points at her mouth and shakes her hand signalling him that she can’t speak.
Sidharth looks at him confused for a moment then asks, “What do you want to say? You can’t speak. That’s what you want to tell me?”
Sana nods her head slowly. Sidharth does not say anything more. His face goes expressionless. Sana could not understand what he felt.
Is he upset? Is he angry? Will he hate her?
The silence is broken when Kumudi calls Sana to come downstairs for breakfast.
Sidharth immediately leaves the room and goes out of the house without saying anything to anyone.