Song of the blues

I saw "loss" again...
My landlord was sitting in his usual push-back chair; probably the same one which has aged 75 years with him. He held his hands together and has fixed his gaze on a tiny spot on the flooring. I could not comprehend his object of mediation; but soon realized it was not in a material state anyway.
His daughter was young and dynamic. She rouse to popularity as a singer and mesmerized great many youths of her time with her enchanting voice. Abdul was one of them. But Abdul was also one in many. He himself was an accomplished performer and had fallen for this girl. The journey of courting and getting married was difficult... But it bore sweet fruits. Both toured the country singing and performing, thus adding the fanfare wherever they went. The epitomized the sweetness of a relation across religions. They were both revered and awed at.

The graph of their success was soaring high and to top it up, she bore a child. The boy grew up in wealthy singers family; full of bounty, security and stability. He had the best of both the families.
Fourteen years were a joyride.

"Where did he go? Did you see him? ... Oh, weren't you there!!?? Where were YOU!???...", she asked as she realized that the boy was not to be seen. Abdul was puzzled as her. Both were at the performance venue and the boy had accompanied them; but was nowhere to be seen. The mob attempted looking for the boy. Announcements were made... The people were helter skelter. But there was no trace of the boy.

A " mantrik" was eventually brought to the scene to predict where the boy had gone. The mantrik solemnly said after his reading; " wherever he is, his feet are above the ground. His feet are not touching the earth... " nobody really understood. The search was on.
Finally; after three days of search, the boy's sandal was recovered from the drain. And after a special search in the waste water drains, the boy's body was found.
The boy had fallen off in the drains which carried sewage from various chemical plants in the area, this becoming a viscous dark fluid which made it impossible for the boy to escape.

Abdul was shattered. He took to drinking and lost his life on just a month. She was left alone.
She was soon detected with juvenile diabetes.

She sat listless in an arm chair days after the incident. She has lost the week to live. Her husband and her son had left the face of the earth in just a month leaving her behind with their memories... Alone.

The landlord was restless to see the plight of his daughter. He gave up everything he owned and we've to stay with her.
She needed people the most. And not the Munshi mansion she and her husband had built... Or the fame she basked in; which also reminded her continually of him.

She still sings. She says it is for Abdul.
But the landlord knows, it is indeed for her. That alone is what has kept her going.
Her voice has won hearts and people , abs now the voice alone is saving her from going mute.

The landlord woke from the trance as he finished his sentence and looked up at the walk with a photograph. It was of a small boy, about fourteen years of age; sitting by Uncle Mac at Mc Donald's grinning from cheek to cheek. The smile was so potent that it had given all the happiness to the world around in just those tiny years.

As i rose to leave, i heard her sing... "Na yehgum jaega... Chehra yeh badal jayega... Meri awaj hi pehchaan hai... Agar yaad rahe..."