Posted:
My comments in blue!
Originally posted by: sashashyam
No, no, my dear Shreya, I am not running a class to which students have to report on time! 😉
Point Taken 😉!Plus I always enjoy your comments, and I always respond to them at some length.🤗
Here, I do not agree with your criticism that Chanakya's plan had too many loopholes. No such plan can be foolproof, for there are too many imponderables, in this case Parvatak's bizarre decision to tender his son's apologies to Padmanand in person.
Whatever Chandragupta might have barked at Nandini about her having got him caught, and Nand's chortling about that earlier, as I had made very clear in my post, Chandragupta was exposed only because of this mishap, the unexpected arrival in Pataliputra of Parvatak. Not because of Nandini's detectivegiri.
It is only Shailaja who seems to have grasped this point even while lamenting about the incomprehensible folly of Chandragupta in babbling to a daasi about his secret plans. He does try to retrieve lost ground by explaining that he wanted to imprint every detail of the palace in his mind, but that comes too late. But this did not lead to this exposure. If Parvatak had not come, Chandragupta would have talked his way out of the trap.
Do also take a look at my response to Lavanya on page 3 above, which she does not seem to have read. I do not know why I take so much trouble to respond to folks who then do not read the responses at all. Anyhow, for immediate reference, here is the relevant extract.But do try and read the whole exchange.
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"Look, kid, you are asking for too much. Chanakya made sure that Malayketu did not escape from the gurukul, make his way to Pataliputra and trip Chandragupta up. How on earth could he have provided for the bizarre decision of Raja Parvatak to personally land up in Pataliputra to apologise to Nand? No self-respecting king would have done that. He looked and sounded more like a chamcha of Nand's than anything else. It was just a bit of very bad luck and it floored poor Chandragupta.
You have not thought the situation thru either. Does Chanakya have an army of tried and trusted spies that he can set to shadow Parvathak on the odd chance of his taking it into his head to go to Pataliputra to tender his son's apologies? And then apparate into Pataliputra before Parvathak gets there to warn Chandragupta? Have a heart, my dear.He must be having only a handful of trusted acolytes, of whom Chandra is the best.
If you had watched the 1990 Chanakya, you would have realised with what infinite patience, effort, and untiring, relentless persuasion Chanakya built his coalition against, first the Macedonians left behind by Alexander, and then against the Indian allies of the Macedonians, beginning with Purushottam (aka Porus) - whose daughter, married to Ambhi of Takshashila, was a devotee of Chanakya's - and finally against Magadha. This narrative is like shorthand already, and here you are, wanting Chanakya to be, not one of the greatest strategic thinkers ever, but a ruddy magician!"
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Hmm...I don't think that Parvatak landing up at Magadh is bizarre. Padmanand was a powerful king, and I do not think anyone would want to rub him the wrong way. Even if Parvatak hadn't gone to Pataliputra, he would have sent out a message to Padmanand. Either way, I agree with you that the only thing that Chanakya could have done was to somehow keep Malayketu in Takshashila and hope that Chandra would be able handle a scenario which would expose his fake identity. And Chandra does exceedingly well there.
As for Chandragupta being angry with Nandini, in the deadly danger that he is in then, do you expect him to applaud her for being loyal to her father? And if he had had the time to watch her behaving like a Roman era cheerleader waiting to see a gladiator being slaughtered by her Dhan Bhaiyya, he would have been even more livid.So far, I always have had the feeling that Chandra's temper cannot be easily baited. In fact when Padmanand talks about Nandni's cleverness, I almost expected a smirk from Chandra. I really did 😆.Atleast there is someone who can rile him up. For a moment I forgot that it is a hate-to-love story, and if destiny proposes hate, there will be hate at all times 😉!
They do not remind me of sparring kids. He looks at her as if she were a wildcat he needed to look out for, and she looks silly, staring at him with that tic of pressing her lower lip. There is zero chemistry at this stage, and how on earth should there be any? He stops himself just in time from socking her one good and proper.Wild cat ...this species has a habit of letting loose wild cats on humans under the pretext of saving innocent animals 😉...I am already weary of Nandni 😆
Someone was complaining, without thinking it thru, that she is a fighter, and so she should have been able to get out of his grasp and do something better than bite him. They forget that she is an archer and a swordswoman, not a jijutsu practitioner, who can get out of even crushing physical holds.
And so it goes. Pretty soon, given my typing problem, I shall give up on trying to correct such ill considered critiques. It is too fatiguing, and pointless, for very few take on board what I try to explain. It is exactly like the rock of Sisyphus. I hope you at least will be one of the few exceptions to this Sisyphean rule!😉
Point taken 👍🏼
Anyhow, I am glad you liked this one.
Shyamala Aunty
