Posted:
Hi!
I am a new member here. However, I have been a regular visitor to the forums and have followed most discussions on the serial and its characters. I have been watching BV regularly ever since this show started in 2008. I have been reading a lot of things about Anandi's character ever since J-G track started...I felt strongly about some things so I decided to finally register here and say something...
People either call Anandi an embodiment of ideal Indian woman or brand her as boring. I would say, in my opinion, she is neither mahaan nor boring!
Anandi was shown to be a bubbly, charming child - someone who was intelligent, empathetic, well-mannered...an ideal daughter, friend, student and a lovely human being, who was the apple of everyone's eyes.
The very reason why this show became popular were the questions which little Anandi used to ask about all these so-called customs, gender related stereotypes or expected behaviour of girls whether married or unmarried! I have always believed that it was not so much about the issue of child marriage itself, but the issues of gender stereotyping and discrimination & hypocrisy of society/religion with respect to girls'' and their expected behaviour, the issues which were raised through Anandi's innocent questions...questions which perhaps every woman thinks about, but is never able to get an answer - these things made BV so popular.
Sadly, after the initial months, the makers of this show started focussing on other characters - Gehna, Sugna etc., perhaps because issues of marital rape or teenage pregnancy could not be shown through a child artiste.
Anandi was a sane and balanced human being, who was ruined and whose spirit was crushed by the systematic subjugation and conditioning meted out to her by that tyrant Dadisa! 😡(sorry to call her tyrant...but that's what she is!)
People call her boring or unrealistic and most of us feel irritated as to why she stays silent or why is she taking all this muck without creating any drama. I wouldn't call it ideal or sacrificing either. It's just that she was conditioned to be that way!
Dadisa used to lock Anandi in dark, rat-infested kothris when she was a kid, to punish her in case she did not follow expected norms for a ''beendni''! She literally terrorised the little kid, crushed her spirit by repeatedly scolding her, insulting her parents in front of her, mocking her upbringing, and turning her out of the house and whatnot! Anandi was discouraged from expressing her emotions openly, Dadisa even used to mock her whenever she reminisced about her parents or natal home, she was made to burn her own books, discouraged from meeting her best friends..in fact, discouraged from anything which she tried to do for her own pleasure...DS, with her brainwashing and mental torture, ensured that Anandi could do nothing else, but be an ideal beendni, respectful and tolerant of anything her in-laws or husband do to her, do all house work, participate in all traditional stuff quietly without raising any questions...It is DS who converted a cheerful, inquisitive child into a ''Jee Dadi Sa...'' bolne wali robot!😡
People talk about Gauri's trauma...I'd say, if anyone has seen BV, from the beginning they'd have known how much trauma and crappy conditioning little Anandi was made to go through, at the hands of this Dadisa! DS even used Anandi as a punching bag, taking out her anger towards others, on Anandi! She found reasons to blame Anandi, no matter what! Whenever any misfortune fell on the family or even when Sugna was widowed...DS would bark at Anandi and blame her!
Anandi as a kid, never took any shit from anyone. She'd even fight with little Jagya for equal share of laddoos prepared by Sumitra! She'd remind Jagya of his mistakes if need be. She'd defeat Jagya and even his friends, when she got a chance to play with them all (when Badi Jiji was around). I mean, woh muqabla bhi kar leti thi...kabhi kisi se peechhe nahin rehti thi.
As a fan of the character of Anandi, I find it sad how it was ruined...
Her parents were no better. DS hurt her father's ego many times, by publicly insulting them, mocking them for their poverty, or for not ''teaching anything'' to their girl. She hurt them by throwing away Anandi to their house quite a few times (when A was younger), saying she didn't need such a beendni. Khajaan Singh 's character was also ruined...from a loving father, these guys made him an obsessive man, who was possessive about his daughter and her happiness and somehow wanted to prove a point to teach a lesson to this Dadisa...[he got into all these illegal things too, only so that he could make money, and bring expensive gifts whenever he visited Singh family!]
Anandi became a plaything in the hands of her own father too. I remember once, her father took her away from her sasra (after, of course, a showdown caused by DS!). And little Anandi was all tears...she could not stay happily in her natal home, and would keep thinking about her sasuma or dadisa. At that time, even Jagya was traumatised and fled from his village to meet Anandi!
It's so strange...when she was all attached to her parents, she was uprooted and sent to sasural. When she finally adjusted in sasural, she was sent to parents' home!
Earlier, they played this ''kabhi idhar, kabhi udhar'' game due to DS/Khajaan, later they played this game again with Anandi, due to Bhairon's concern about controlling Jagya's ''hormones''!
Everyone talks about either DS, Bhairon, Jagya or Khajaan Singh or anyone else, but has anyone even bothered about Anandi? How much people have played with her emotions and confused her psyche?!😲
DS told Anandi to give her a padh-pota, the very day she learnt about Anandi attaining puberty!! 🤢
Whereas Bhairon's ideals were stirred and he doesn't want Anandi to suffer the same fate as Sugna! So he packed her away to her parents' house, without even giving a proper explanation!
The worst thing is that even characters like Teepri and Mahavir Singh used Anandi...so that they could take DS into confidence and interfere in the matters of the Singh family!
I clearly remember that Mahavir Singh commenting to DS about keeping her beendnis under control. And Teepri left no stone unturned to prove that Anandi had lost her mind (simply because she had learnt of Teepri's plans and actual intentions!!), and that DS should get a new beendni for Jagya!! That Teepri is the root cause of the mess which Jagya, Gauri and of course, Anandi are facing today!
Everyone interfered in Anandi's life. No one ever asked her what she wanted. No one even let her do what she wanted to do. Mr. Bhairon is against child marriage, but he himself bribed the local policemen and silenced the activists who came to stop Anandi-Jagya's child marriage! Anandi is also a victim of Bhairon's on-and-off, flickering sense of morals and ideals!!😡
In such a scenario, having endured so much since such a young age, and without having any support of a sane family member (like Gauri's bade papa), what is Anandi supposed to do?!
She has to be silent, she can't speak much against Jagya...coz she was conditioned to be so! She knows it is not going to be of any use, even if she goes to her parents. Her father is already nursing a much-bruised ego, his possessiveness and protective streak about his daughter is only going to bring out the worse in him! I don't think her father will handle this thing in a balanced or even a rational way! He is bound to go hysterical! And I guess Anandi knows all this, from previous experience, so she is avoiding to talk to her parents about it.
Whatever little freedom or rights or even a bit of solace she has ever had in the Singh family, has come from her Sasuma and Bapusa. I guess she is only too thankful and feels indebted to them...so she doesn't go against them or blame them or anyone else. DS - anyone knows that saying anything to her is akin to beating a dead horse! She usually feigns a panic attack or heart attack, or leaves the home in case people try to assert themselves or question her! So Anandi knows DS is never actually going to support her and even if she does support her, it will be for the ''izzat'' of the family, and not for Anandi!
It is not mahaanta, it is not being boring or stupid...on Anandi's part...
What she is going through...is called ''learned helplessness''! She is all confused (she has to be, after all she had to go through) and can't see any way out!
She was never weak or stupid. She was ''trained'' and brainwashed to be like this. Her spirit, her thoughts and dreams were ravaged by everyone. She was made to follow orders of DS, Bhairon, her own father and whatnot! She had a sane and balanced guide in her Teacher ji...but a teacher can influence only to a limited extent in a person's life.
Anandi shouldn't have stayed silent when she learnt about Jagya's deeds in Mumbai, but then...even if she had told about Jagya...would anyone have believed her? Especially DS would have only shouted at her and refused to believe her! But yes, the only thing which was truly disappointing, depressing and bothersome, was that Anandi did not study further during those ''leap years'' and was shown having spent all those years waiting for Jagya on her terrace! 🤢
She had declared that she would study...and I was so overjoyed when I heard her say this with such a firm resolve. It's sad that Anandi only stagnated and did nothing in those years...
I wish they bring in her Teacher ji or the character of Badi Maasi/Badi Jiji (played by Farida Jalal), some sane, rational and balanced person, with a progressive outlook, someone who understands Anandi, becomes her guide and helps her stand on her own feet in her life.
[P.S. - At times I have come across posts, which say that no one bothers about this character or that this show is getting high ratings only due to other characters like J or G...all I can say, is that J, G or DS have been around since the last few months or so. But the TRPs have peaked now, because majority of audience is concerned about Anandi's fate and watches the show wondering what will become of her. Just my two cents.]
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