Originally posted by: sashashyam
Helena: Firmly territorial: The little scene between Helena and her junior sauten - no other adjective fits Durdhara as well as this one!😉 - was both revealing and unexpectedly funny.
Helena is like a lioness, an animal which always demarcates its territory and guards it ferociously. She thus makes it clear to the hapless Durdhara that Chandra par kewal mera haq hai! It is not a question of good or bad; she is like that only. Having received frantic and heartfelt assurances from Durdhara on this point, she sashays off smugly.
It is another matter that both her self-confidence on this score, as also Chandra's naive statement later to Durdhara: Wo tujhse nahin jalti! .. and his smug comment: Yeh achcha hai! Patniyaan aapas mein samjhauta karke chalein, ek doosre ko samajhayein, to bechare pati ki samasya hi samapt!, will soon prove to be ill-founded.
Helena, for all his regard for her as his margdarshak, will soon find, if she pushes him beyond a point, that he is no rabbit like the unfortunate Argus. Chandra too will find out that his earlier concerns about matrimonial stresses and strains were justified after all, but probably not just yet. Not till his equation with Nandini changes drastically.
Durdhara: Unalloyed delight: She is more childlike than I would have believed possible in a TV serial female. And this without any slipping into childishness.
I was forced, somewhat to my regret, to abandon my earlier theory of her having conned Chandra into agreeing to marry her by cooking up that story of a wife beating, much older bridegroom that her father had selected for her. This Durdhara is clearly incapable of even such mild deviousness.
She is like nothing so much a sheet of glass that has been thoroughly treated with Windex: transparent, gleaming in the light of the sun. One cannot find the least spot of anything dubious soiling the perfection of her simple, unaffected nature.
The whole of the wedding night scene between her and Chandra is written with such an impeccable comic touch that, coming on top of the earlier such scene between Helena and Chandra, it makes me feel somewhat reassured about these CVs. They are clearly superior to the ordinary run of their tribe, and one can thus harbour some mild hopes about what lies ahead being better, perhaps even much better that what we all fear.
Chandra: Show stealer: In all of that marvellous scene, it is Chandra - with his initial dismay at this strange new creature that his old friend seems to have become, his recovering from that and finding a way back to their old, easy relationship, and finally with his affection and protectiveness towards Durdhara - who steals the show.
The indulgent affection with which he watches her open laughter as she plays the cowrie shell game with him. The wide smile on his face after he has finished reliving their childhood skipping game with her.
The at times wide eyed, at times mock serious, but always amused look on this face as she tells him about her fear of Helena, and then declares that unlike the common run of queens, she will not fight over him with Helena.
The suppressed mischief with which he threatens her that if she does not behave, main use bhej doonga ! (Strongly, if anachronistically reminiscent of Doodh pee lo, nahin to Gabbar Singh aa jaayega!, from Sholay).
Finally, the gentleness with which he pats her head in parting, adding So jao, so jao. And once outside her tent, stands there for a moment with a reminiscent half smile on his face, before Chanakya and the task that awaits him take over once more.
Later, he listens to what she tells Helen about her being har kshetra main mujhse sarva shreshta with calm approval, for he is probably of the same mind, and is also relieved at the absence of catfights between his wives😉. But the special gentleness and affection he has for Durdhura are evident when he takes leave of her, taking pains to reassure her of his early and victorious return, and caressing her cheek in an additional comforting gesture.
Emotional sanctuary:Durdhara, it is clear, will be his oasis, his refuge from the storms that he might face in life. The only one with whom he can be relaxed and, even if only briefly, be free of care. A refuge that he is, tragically, to lose all too soon.
But even in her passing, she will, by awakening in Chandra the need for such an emotional sanctuary, open up a place for her successor in his hriday.
OK, folks, this is it for today. Please do not forget to hit the Like button if you think that is warranted.
See you in two or three days, depending on the developments in the tale.
Shyamala/Aunty/Akka/Di
Its tough to get real friends who are so selfless as dhurahara in life, chandra knows that. Even friends change with time depending on what you can give etc but not childhood friends, usually childhood friends is only friendship that stays for life(apart from siblings) and most childhood friends stay with you till end.
Shiv Shakti
