Folks,
I don't know about you, but at the end of Episode 17, I felt like a runner gasping for breath after a 400 metre dash.
The tale was unfolding at such a rapid pace that before one knew where one was, puzzles that I had expected would drag on for 10 episodes were disposed off in a jiffy, like the fate of Nandini's suraksha kavach , while new, unexpected elements surfaced from the deep, like Chandragupta's long lost sister, saved by her uncle from sharing her father's fate at Nand's hands.
Shailaja, where are you? This sister, whose resurfacing you had anticipated, might not have an army to boost her brother's military resources, but she is there all right, right in the enemy's lair, burning with long suppressed rage and the yearning for revenge on the murderer of her father.
Most dramatic of all, the years that Chanakya spent in cobbling together a coalition of the willing to fight against Alexander - for now, and later, though he keeps this to himself for the present, against Padmanand and Magadha - were seemingly telescoped together into an instant of dramatic revelation. The Messiah that Chanakya has been promising his reluctant and skeptical royal recruits finally emerged from the shadows, looking for all the world like a young warrior prince and a nirmohi yogi rolled into one. And was introduced by his guru with all the panache and flourish of an experienced master of ceremonies: I give you, CHANDRA!!!
In between all these high octane developments, there were interludes that were so beautifully written, and even better enacted, ki dil khush ho gaya! Like the stages thru which a fascinating relationship develops between Chandragupta and Helena. Let us begin with this one.
Benaam rishta: By the end of episode 17, it was very difficult to say exactly what the state of play between the two of them was.
If one were to sum it up in one word, it would be camaraderie.
The earlier mistress and subordinate relationship between them was already dented when Chandragupta, in an ostentatious demonstration of solidarity, brings Helena Nandini's suraksha kavach, and tells her that after losing it, Nandini would be feeling wohi peedha jis se aap abhi jhoojh rahi hain.
Whatever remains of it is gone for ever , and is replaced by equality between partners, from the moment when, faced with a hysterical Helena who has slashed her wrist in a suicide attempt, Chandragupta yells at her and lectures her on how to go about getting her pratishodh against Malayaketu and Nandini. And insists, with remarkable, rock-hard self confidence, that even if no one else would, he would help her take her revenge, for this common soldier would very soon become the Magadha Samrat. A pronouncement that is, predictably, greeted by her with angry derision.
He then, having no alternative route for getting to his goal, decides to risk all on a single throw of the dice. As I held my breath in amazement and dismay at his chutzpah, Chandragupta tells Helena, in plain terms, that he had come there only to learn the Greek art of warfare, and that he wanted to use it to fulfil his promise to his Acharya, to get the throne of Magadha and to destroy Nand.
Helena, whatever the appearances to the contrary, is no fool, and she poses the key question : Why only Magadha? But Chandragupta dodges that neatly, and draws her, smoothly and swiftly, into a partnership to attain their saanjha lakshya.
In the process, he makes sure, his eyes holding hers in a steady, unwavering, unreadable gaze, that it does not even occur to her to wonder about the possibility that he would later use it against her own countrymen.
Guru shishya: So we move on, and if one were to use two words, they would be guru shishya.
In the abbreviated but dramatic practice session of a spear attack on horseback, and its follow up, what I loved the most was Helena's enunciation, after seeing Chandragupta wobble in his saddle after she dodges his spear throw, of her taraka mantra for success in this art.
Yeh jitna aasaan dikhta hai, utna hai nahin. Tumhein apna poora dhyan lagana hoga..Samajho ki tumhare haath mein yeh bhaala nahin, tum khudh hi yeh bhaala ho..Aur tum is bhaale ki aankh ho, jise sirf apna lakshya dikhayi deta hai!
Thus did the great Dronacharya train his peerless pupil Arjuna, whose concentration became so fierce that he saw only the target, the eye of the bird, and nothing else. No wonder then that, as the narrator intones, Chandragupta, Helena se Greek yuddh kala seekh kar, wo sampoorna yoddha banne ja raha tha jise itihaas kabhi nahin bhula sakta.
Ah yes, we also get to know Chandragupta's Greek name, the one used for him by Greek historians: Sandrocottos. Sansar tumhein kisi bhi naam se pukare, Helena ke liye tum hamesha Sandrocottos hi rahoge.
Unfailing solidarity: If one wanted to go in for three words, they would be unfailing, protective solidarity. Right now only on Helena's side, but one day, this will surely be a reciprocal sentiment and commitment.
When Chandragupta's first successful subversion campaign directed at the Indian soldiers in the Greek army ends in disaster, with his being spotted, captured and hauled before the ailing Alexander, Helena watches the proceedings in blank dismay. As Chandragupta sinks deeper and deeper into the volcano of Alexander's rage, her face is still and expressionless, but one can practically see the wheels whirring inside her head as she plans her next move.
The scene that follows in the makeshift kaaragriha , where our hero is trussed up like Veerru in Gabbar's lair ( in Sholay, folks, surely at least some of you have seen it?😉), is a classic display of dominating feminine resourcefulness. Helena shushes Chandragupta's foolish objections to running away, reminding him of the dictum that Samajdhar wohi hota hai jo mauke ka fayda uthana jaanta hai!, sets him free, and tells him to be off on the horse she has kept ready for him. It is then that the real essence of the scene surfaces, making it a rare delight.
Helena does not answer Chandragupta's question as to why she is saving his life by, in effect, betraying her own people and her king. Her Haan, kyonki har cheez ki ek keemat hoti hai, and as for the price of her saving his life - which she then quickly switches to a guru dakshina - waqt aane par mein khudh tumhein bataoongi, is hardly clear. What is clear is that she wants him to be beholden to her. Why this is so is perhaps something that she herself does not know right now.
That her manoeuvre has succeeded beyond even her expectations is revealed when Chandragupta, normally so reticent and almost wordless, especially while dealing with women, suddenly opens up, and how!
Adbhuth ho tum! Maine aaj tak tumhari jaisi stree nahin dekhi, jo itni samajhdaar aur itni saahasi ho!
One might carp that his acquaintance with strees is so limited as to make this statement very weak, but the fact is that our boy is swept away by genuine admiration for and gratitude towards his unfailingly loyal and resourceful partner. The look in his dark, deep set eyes as he regards her speaks for itself. This said, let us not be led astray by familiar motifs. This is not a romantic sentiment. It is the admiration of one comrade for another, who simply happens to be a woman.
It is Helena who, grabbing Chandragupta by the front of his jerkin, drives this point home, adding a strong tadka of assertive feminism. And what lovely lines she has been given!
Ek aurat hoon, isiliye bahadur hoon. Agar ek mard hoti, to dhokebaaz hoti us Malayaketu ki tarah, ya bhole aur bewakoof tumhari tarah.. Isliye aurat ko kabhi kam mat aankhna!
Now comes the core message for our hero, which I hope he takes on board and assimilates properly for all future eventualities!
Kyonki ek aurat jab kisike dil par hukumat karti hai, to wo uski soch par qaboo pa sakti hai . Aur jab wo kisi ke dimaag par hukumat karti hai, to wo us par qaboo pa sakti hai! Samajhe?
These are inescapable and pretty heavy hints for things to come. If Nandini will come to rule Chandragupta's heart and to influence his soch, Helena clearly intends to be the one to rule his mind, and thus to control all of him. In the midst of all this, and with Durdhara too hovering in the wings, who is to protect our poor, bhola, bewakoof Chandra? 😉
All that lies hidden in the mists of the future. Right now, Chandragupta rides off, his heart and mind brimming with high regard for and gratitude towards this adbuth stree who is his partner. And the foundation of a unique and very strong bond of belonging together has been laid between them.
Seleucus-Helena: Now this was another crackerjack of a scene that popped up when I least expected anything so pleasing.
Not one line of the many that Seleucus voiced was out of place, not one line was illogical, not one line failed to make perfect sense. He contested every stubborn, hysterical protest of Helena's with unshakeable paternal authority and decisiveness, and it was an added pleasure that he spoke with perfect clarity despite the thick, Greek accented, Persianised Hindi. It was probably another thorn in her flesh that many of her father's words about her real status unconsciously echoed Malayaketu's sneers, and it was not surprising that by the end, thwarted on every side and threatened with immediate deportation to Greece, Helena becomes desperate and suicidal.
It is as well for the success of Chandragupta's mission that his first attempt at sowing dissension among the Indian soldiers flops instantly, for otherwise he would never have spotted Helena storming out of her father's tent and into her own. He can hardly let the goose that is to lay golden eggs for him do something stupid and harm herself, so he rushes after her. The rest was clearly in line with niyati's specially written script for this Odd Couple.
Chandragupta: A rough diamond: If there was one thing that these episodes brought into sharp relief, it is that though his courage and his military prowess are both incomparable, apna hero still needs a lot of polishing, of coaching and supervision if he is not to tumble from one scrape into another.
For one thing, after having listened with close attention to Chanakya's aadesh that he had to carry out his twin missions - of subverting the Indian soldiers and learning Greek warfare tactics - simultaneously and with great care, koyi chook nahin honi chahiye! , what does Chandragupta do? He does not organize a secret meeting some place with the frustrated Indian soldiers, who are, at long last, ripe for rebellion against their arrogant and abusive Greek superiors. Instead, he starts lecturing them loudly and openly, as if he was a Hyde Park soap box orator in full flow. 😡
No wonder then that he ends up before the ailing and thus irritable Alexander - who reminded me of nothing so much as the Before segment of a Strepsil ad 😉- with his mission in tatters.
I would not blame Chandragupta for what he says in front of Alexander. Even if he had said nothing, the end result would have been the same. And he does try to explain away his instigation of the other Indian soldiers by citing the persistent humiliation and contempt heaped on them by the Greek soldiery as the trigger for his resentment, and insisting that the Indians too can fight bravely if given the chance.
But the point is that our young prodigy is constitutionally incapable of feigning fear and faking submissiveness, of begging and pleading for his life, in the hope of thus being able to survive to fight another day and to salvage as much as possible of his mission. When the insults to his race become unbearable, his blood boils and he literally explodes into defiance and open rebellion. It is not without reason that Helena calls him bhola aur bewakoof!
Also, when he is intent on something, he becomes rash and unmindful of his surroundings, which is hardly a trait that befits a warrior. He not only does not spot the two spies trailing after him when he is on his way to meet Chanakya, but last night, he is so busy washing his face in the river that he does not notice that his horse has been spirited away (by Chanakya, of course, and driven off in one direction to mislead the Greek posse into chasing after it). And a little later, Chanakya is able to get a knife to his shishya's throat without his reacting in time to seize the knife and stop him.
Chandragupta on the field of battle might already be a sampoorna yoddha, but he needs a good bit of retraining in the more mundane areas of the ongoing struggle to save the motherland he loves above all else.
Nandini:Glimmers of maturity: There were a number of points concerning Nandini in these two episodes where I, undoubtedly to your great surprise😉, felt quite in charity with her.
-Instead of beating around the bush or having recours to go-betweens, she deals with Malayaketu is a very sensible, open, and straightforward manner, and secures what she wants - a two month postponement of their wedding - offering a plausible excuse that does not bruise his ego.
-Even earlier, when Malayaketu claims, falsely, as she knows, to have been the one who saved her and Helena from the dacoits, Nandini's reaction is discretion personified. She only permits herself a tiny, secret smile, but does not betray any other feeling.
-When her precious suraksha kavach is lost in the water, Nandini is clearly frantic with self-reproach. But unlike the turbulent, uncontrolled Helena, she does not throw things around and wreck her room in her rage. This undoubtedly bodes well for our Chandragupta, who need not fear having vases and the like thrown at his head during their future marital spats!😆
-During that highly emotional scene with a visibly disturbed and worried Avantika - now she is one gorgeous looker, is that lady, every inch a real queen! - Nandini is serious and optimistic, even if somewhat forcedly so, and not in the least OTT. Her face in the closing shot of that scene, as her mother's words: Ho sakta hai ki jo tumse sabse adhik prem karne mein saksham ho, tere saamne aaya ho aur tum use pehchan bhi na sakhi ho!- echo and reecho in her mind, is a study in confusion and near despair.
-In contrast with the above, I was disappointed with one more instance of Nandini's blindness towards what goes on around her. This was when the Chandragupta's sister refuses to accompany Nandini to the Pataliputra palace to work on her wedding trousseau on the spot. Dhananand's statement to the girl, in Nandini's presence , Agar Nandini yeh chahti hai to tumhein aana hi hoga!, is plainly threatening. But Nandini does not object to this threat, or say anything to reassure the girl. She gets up and leaves, as her brother asks her to do. No wonder that, given this stance, like that of Gandhiji's three monkeys, she floats blissfully above all the atrocities inflicted by her father and her brother on their hapless citizenry.
OK, folks, this is it for today. Please do not forget to hit the Like button if you think that is warranted.
See you all again on Saturday.
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