Harmony Of Broken Souls (Complete)

Chapter 3

Life is so unpredictable. I have witnessed this with my own two eyes. Things change in a split second and we have faced the most unthinkable incidents. My life too had changed its course at different times.  

I am Shehnaaz Singh, lovingly called Sana. Being the only daughter of my parents, Santosh and Poonam Singh, I have been loved and pampered all my life.

We lived in Punjab. Ours was a joint family with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. I still remember the big haveli type house in the village where we used to live. It had so many rooms. Along with such a big family, our house was always filled with relatives, guests and servants. It was so much fun to play, dance and sing around the huge terrace and veranda all day. My voice always echoed in the huge corridors as I sang all the time. My Grand parents used to call me nightangle as they loved my songs and my singing. I knew I would grow up to become a singer.

Then suddenly everything changed. My grandfather died one morning and then the love in the family was lost. The sounds of laughter were now replaced with arguments. I saw my uncles fighting with my father. 

One day Papa, Mummy and Grandma took me and left the haveli. We came to Chandigarh and started living in a small apartment. That was the first change I saw. Life became tough. The comfort and attention that I received earlier was not there anymore. Still life was good and I was happy.

But then something happened that changed everything. I was 12 then. Papa had won the case with his cousins. He had got back his house in the village and the rest of his properties. Everyone in the family was happy,including me. I loved my old house,  the quant village and missed my cousins a lot. 

My grandma and I were returning home from my school in a taxi. I was very excited as we were supposed to visit our ancestral house that weekend. All the way we talked about what we would be doing there. Suddenly we felt being hit with something with a loud deafening noise.

I had lost my consciousness after that. When I woke up, things had changed drastically. I was in bandages, lying in a hospital bed. I was surrounded by a few nurses, a doctor and my parents. They had a worn out expression as if they had not slept for days. 

After a few days when I felt a little better, the doctor came to check me out. And there I realised that I couldn't speak anything. I came to know later that we had met with an accident. Our taxi was overturned by a truck which had resulted in the immediate death of my grandma and the driver. I had miraculously survived. But an injury in my brain had left me deaf.

Then started the struggle of bringing a mute child into mainstream life. My parents decided to live in Chandigarh then. I started getting sign language classes.

I later found out that my own uncles, who had loved me like their own had paid for this accident. 

We purchased a big house in Chandigarh and started living here. I got back all the comforts and more. But I lost my voice forever. 

I was young so I was unable to understand things. I cried every day,  prayed to God to return my voice so that I could sing again. But He didn't listen to me. I started staying upset, aloof from Mummy and Papa. They did their best to cheer me up, see various doctors. However nothing worked.

I was not interested in anything. No food, no toys, no chocolates could make me happy again. I couldn't sing, that was hurting me so much. 

One day I was in the music room, when our teacher was showing us how to play violin. The tune was touching my heart. It was making me even sadder. But I wanted to play it on my own.