Fortune Cookie

She sat in the balcony, sipping hot coffee and watching the sunset over the sea. The wind was blowing with all it’s eternity, swishing the leaves of the balsam plant which she had planted the year before. Her tresses swayed and her fingers played with them, shoving a lock of them behind her ear. Those were the evenings she enjoyed the most. She was in complete solitude and she could reminisce back to those struggling days, where she had taken baby steps to reach her goal.  She was Sahana Mrinalini, the 23 year old popular singing sensation in Bollywood. The thought that she was finally a singer, brought a smile on her lips. She held a piece of paper in her hand and was keenly reading the lines written on it.

“You will be happy for the rest of your life.”

She had acquired that from a fortune cookie served at a local Chinese restaurant. She was overwhelmed by those words and she remembered how her life had changed after she received a particular fortune cookie.

*****

“My name is Sahana…”

“Tell your full name.” prompted her mom.

“Sahana Mrinalini. I am interested in learning Hindustani classical music.”

“Very good! You have a sweet voice child. You could be one of our great disciples. Please register with your name here.” The music academy receptionist handed over an application form.

“Mom, I don’t know to fill this form.” said the meek 10 year old.

“OK, give it here. I will fill it for you.” replied her mom.

Soon, the application was filled and Sahana was admitted to the music academy. Thus began her Hindustani music journey and so began her hardships and challenges in life.

Days after her classes had begun, she was termed as an average singer who couldn’t get her gamakas right. She was mocked by her ‘singing’ mates, who had better quality of natural voice. Her teacher Geetha tried hard to make her reach her notes correctly. But she was met with failure each and every time.

“Sahana, your voice is derailing from the rest…”

“Sahana, that note in that Shesha line is wrong…”

“Sahana, when will you try to learn all these?”

Those were the repetitive statements which she used to hear in her otherwise tranquil music academy. Soon, she was stamped as a girl who would never move forward in Hindustani music. She was a solid fiasco in singing.

*****

“You are not good at singing. At least you could be good at studies. But you are neither. Hell with you!!” yelled Sahana’s mom, throwing the less scored answer sheets at her.

Silently sobbing, Sahana picked them up and entered inside her room. She bolted the door and turned on her home theater system. She selected the playlist ‘A R Rahman’ and increased the volume. Because he was the only composer who had a song for each and every mood of hers. She considered him to be the God of Music. She listened to Ek tu hi barosa song from Pukar movie and admired Lata Mangeshkar’s honey-dipping voice. She slowly began to practice the song. To her surprise, her voice was sounding sweeter than before. She began to regain confidence in herself.

From then, she took up Bollywood music and began practicing many songs in her voice. Her parents never knew about her new found interest. She used to lock her room’s door and then practice. She wanted to anonymously prove that even she can sing quiet well.

*****

Sahana’s dad was skimming through the morning newspaper. That was when he heard a sweet voice crooning his favorite number Tujhe dekha tho ye jaana sanam. He stood up and moved towards the direction of the voice. He found out that it was coming from his very own bathroom. At once he knew that it was his daughter. He was dumbstruck with her singing. He had mixed emotions in him. For a moment, he regretted to have called his daughter an useless singer.

Sahana came out of the bathroom and was surprised to see her dad standing in front of the door.

“Dad! What happened?”

“Nothing dear.”

She threw a suspicious look at him and moved away to get dressed. Her dad too followed her and watched her combing her hair. She started humming a song and her voice was flawless. It was then that he realized he had a committed a mighty mistake of stopping Sahana’s music lessons. Sahana saw her dad in the reflection of the mirror and turned around.

“Dad, do you want to ask me anything?”

“Yeah..well..how is your ninth grade classes going on?”

“It’s getting tougher dad. How much can a 14 year old stuff into her mind? I think I need tuition.”

“Ya, you need a tuition.”

Sahana saw her dad with a remorseful look. She felt sad that her dad had already termed her as an average in academics and that he wanted to join her in a tuition.

“But dad…”

“I said you need a tuition for singing. I will find you a good tutor. Not for Hindustani classical music. I will find a good orchestra singer to train you in Bollywood songs.”

Sahana beamed at her dad’s words. She ran over to him and engulfed him in a tight embrace.

“Thank you soooo much daddy. But how did you know that I could sing well?”

“Ha! A dad knows his daughter well. I heard you singing in the bathroom.”

“Oh! Thank you dad. OK, I am getting late. I need to grab my breakfast at Chinhuoa restaurant.”

“Why? Didn’t your mom cook?”

“Dad, have you forgotten? Today is Thursday and I ought to get my fortune cookie.”

“OK dear. Go ahead. Bye.”

Sahana reached the restaurant and the waiter threw her an acknowledging smile. She received her fortune cookie in no time. She broke the cookie into two halves and pulled out her fortune. She unfolded the paper and read,

“Brighter times are ahead. Keep smiling!”

Sahana smiled to herself and finished off the cookie.

*****

“Yes, the next song will be Tum paas aaye. Get ready.” The band organizer told Sahana. She was in a grand wedding reception. It had been six months she had joined the orchestra. She was an amateur singer and she was undergoing training from the orchestra’s head. She started rehearsing the lines of the song that she was about to sing. Her co-singer Damini was a renowned high profile orchestra singer. She was throwing dirty looks at Sahana.

“I don’t know how Ashutosh could select you for singing Tum paas aaye. I had been singing that song for the past eight years. How dare you tread in my path?” Damini asked her rudely.

“Mam, I don’t know. I..I..can si..sing that song well.” Sahana began stammering.

“I will never allow you to grow as a singer. I am the one who will rule all the orchestras. I would never allow anyone else to be in my place. Do you understand you meek silly girl?”

“OK mam.” That was all she could reply. Damini was powerful and she could do anything if Sahana spoke back.

“The next song is Tum paas aaye from Kuch kuch hota hai” announced the organizer. Sahana felt happy. Though it was her third song of that evening, she could feel her enthusiasm bubbling within herself. She stood up to go to the center stage. To her surprise, the organizer signaled her to sit down.

“I call upon Ms.Damini to sing the song along with me.” Sahana felt a knife pierce deep inside her heart. Damini stood up. A devilish smile played on her lips as she turned back to look at the offended 14 year old. Sahana’s eyes welled up with tears. But she fought them off as she had more performances. She delivered a few more songs and left the place with a heavy heart.

On her way back home, she remembered what the fortune cookie had told her that morning,

“You will face disappointment for some period of time.”

“Maybe the fortune cookie speaks the truth. It knows what will happen to me. I think I would face much more disappointments.” Sahana murmured to herself and began sobbing.

*****

Sahana was in the waiting hall with a group of ten other contestants. She was participating in the most prestigious reality show Sensational Singer. As it was a South Indian show, she had traveled all the way to Chennai to contest in it. She had practiced her song a thousand times and she felt sure that she would get selected for the next round. She remembered what the fortune cookie had told her the day before.

“Good or bad, don’t take it to your heart.”

So, she made up her mind to accept whatever her fate would be. She had decided neither to delve in too much happiness if she got selected nor to feel disheartened if she got rejected. But she never knew that things could take interesting turns and that she could meet cruelty in person.

Her name was called and she entered the audition room, with prayers on her lips. She was met by a couple of judges who were popular South Indian singers. That was the first time she had practiced a Tamil song. To be on the safer side, she had selected a peppy western number as she was comfortable with such songs. She started her lines and the judges keenly listened to her. After she finished, she looked at them with expectant eyes. Just then, a worker entered inside the audition room and placed two cups of coffee on the judges’ table. One of the judges threw a hungry look at his cup of coffee and turned to face Sahana. Then, he spoke, “Sahana, your voice is good and you have sung well. But can we wait-list you? After this coffee break, we will call you once again.” Though Sahana felt disappointed, she hoped for the better. She moved out and joined the other wait-listed contestants.

“Hi, so you are also wait-listed?” one of the contestants asked Sahana.

“Yup..I…” But she stopped short. Sitting beside her was a popular contestant who had participated in many other music reality shows.

“What? You? Why did you stop speaking?”

“Hey, aren’t you Gautham? You have appeared in many shows. I have seen you.”

“Yes, I am the same.” Sahana shook hands with him.

“So, even you are wait-listed eh?”

“Ya, I was shocked.”

“I don’t know how a popular contestant like you could be wait-listed.”

‘Arey, they received their coffee. They wanted to devour that first. That’s why they wait-listed us.”

Sahana laughed at his sense of humor. Soon, the anchor of the show beckoned them both to enter inside the audition room.

One of the judges spoke, “OK, Sahana and Gautham, we give you another chance to sing. Have you prepared your second song?”

Both of them nodded and gave their performances simultaneously. After the session, the judges were silent for a few minutes. Then they said, “Sahana and Gautham, both of you have sung so well. It’s difficult for us to select one from you. But as per the show’s rules, we have to select only one. So….” There was a pause and a great amount of anticipation built up in the air.

“It’s SAHANA!! You are selected for the next round!!!”

Sahana jumped up in joy. She ran over to receive her certificate. But then, she was stopped by the show’s organizer, a lady in her 40s. The lady went over to one of the judges and whispered something in his ear. Sahana couldn’t make out what they discussed. Then the lady moved back to her place. The judge spoke, “Sahana, please go back to your place. Gautham, it’s you who is selected for the next round. Come and get your certificate.”

Sahana’s face drained out of color. She stood there like a statue and everything else around her turned blank. She began crying and the judges consoled her.

“Sahanaaa..we are sorry..but..”

But Sahana could not take it anymore. She dashed out of the audition room. It was raining outside but she did not dare to take her umbrella out. She allowed the rain to drench her in pain. The raindrops were piercing her cheeks and her own tears were being washed away.

“The world is so cruel. I never knew there were so many politics going on inside reality shows.” She thought and vowed to herself that she would never participate in anymore reality shows.

*****

Six years later…

Sahana opened the fortune cookie. It read,

“You are going to be famous from today.”

“What? Is this some kind of joke?” thought Sahana. She had lost interest in her life after that reality show incident. It took many days for her to come out of the pain.

She folded the fortune and placed it inside her bag.

That evening, she attended her orchestra in a wedding. “Hahaha…Ashutosh told me everything. You know, he can’t keep a secret from me. I judged well. You can never become a singer Sahana. Don’t ever think about it” tyrannized Damini. Sahana kept quiet. She had faced enough in her life. She didn’t have the courage to respond back to Damini.

“I call upon Sahana to sing Tum paas aaye along with me” announced Ashutosh, the band organizer.

Sahana felt glad that she was selected to croon that song. It was one of her personal favorites. She turned back and gave a sarcastic smile to a shocked Damini.

That was the last song of the wedding. As the band was packing their bags, a man came up to the stage and greeted Ashutosh. After exchanging pleasantries, the man asked, “I need to meet that girl. She has a beautiful voice. I have decided to make her sing for my next movie.”

“Whom? Is it Damini?”

“I didn’t notice her name. Please do call her.”

“Damini! Come over here.” Damini walked towards Ashutosh and the man, who was an upcoming music director.

“Yes, here she is. Damini, meet Mr.Rajiv Sharma. He is the music director of an upcoming big budget movie.” Damini felt elated. She secretly wished that she would sing for that movie.

“Sorry Mr.Ashutosh. But I did not mean this girl. The other one. I think she might be in her 20s. I did not like Damini’s singing. Her pitch got derailed in many places. She might be popular. But she has got no talent. As for the other girl, she sings with her soul and heart. She would become a great playback singer. Please call her.” Both Ashutosh and Damini were shocked.

Then, Sahana was called. She met Rajiv Sharma and her life changed completely from that moment. She devilishly smiled at a dumbfounded Damini. She took out the fortune which she had placed inside her bag. She reached her home and pasted it on her personal diary. She wrote a caption below it,

“A fortune cookie can change your life. But your own perseverance and efforts can bring a change in how you see yourself.”

She then pasted a photo of herself and wrote beside it, “Singer Sahana Mrinalini”.

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