The singer

Yesterday I was going through my social media feed. I came across a post from one of my friends, Vishal. It was a poster. It read, "hello I am Vishal, your favourite singer. I am now taking orders for weddings, birthdays, family functions, society functions, and corporate events. Send an email and book my services".

At first I thought it was an AI generated image intended to be a joke. But I was surprised to see that it wasn't a joke. I saw that people in the comments have been engaging with the post and he had been asking them to send an email about the details of the event.

It was surprise in to me because Vishal used to work with me in one of my previous organisations. He was an engineer. He was successful. Yes, he was a musician, he was a classically trained singer and pianist. He always use to say that it was his hobby to sing and perform. He always mentioned that he aspired to start a company to create engaging and brain stimulating games. Knowing his ambitions, I saw this post as a stark contrast to what he used to say.

I decided to contact my friend Megha. I wanted to check with her if she knew what was going on in his life because she was close to him. I decided to text Megha, "hi. I came across Vishal's post that he now takes order to perform at various events. I found it strange. Do you know anything about it?"

I waiting for Megha's response. A lot of possibilities were making around in my mind. What looked possible was lay off from his organisation. But I did not want to make an assumption.

Megha replied after a few minutes, "yes I saw that too. It is true. Singing is now his full time career".

"What happened? He always used to say that singing is a hobby and he did not wish to pursue a career with music," I expressed my concern to Megha.

"It is a strange course of events. A couple of years ago he left his job from be reputed organisation. He established a startup company for gaming. He released a couple of games but none of them seemed to work. His business shut down. Then there were some problems in his marriage as well. His wife left him too. He tried getting job but none of the companies where ready to hire him. He tried YouTube, but that too did not work. Finally he had no other way than using his musical telling to earn his living. It is really unfortunate," she replied.

I was stunned to read the reply. I could not believe how risky decisions he had made towards his life and career. I could not imagine how difficult his life must be without the job, business, or family. I felt really sad for his situation. I wanted to help him. I clicked on his email and wrote to him that I was willing to use his services for an upcoming family event. He was quick to respond and accept the request.

I felt relieved to even think that somehow I was able to help a friend who needed the support at this time. Little help is still sometimes in bad times.