Written by Destiny and Etched in Blood: A FF (Ch 54: Pg 100 NEW) - Page 3

Yes! Something like this could definitely happen in the future. But something like this may never happen as well. Some of these issues or aspects may never be dealt with on the show. They could just get pushed beneath the carpet. But at least when we have the freedom and creativity to explore something different we ought to do it at least here on the forum. Glad you liked my take. I wish the rest of the updates will also please you!

Shailaja my dear,

This is a remarkably sensitive piece of writing. I am marking in blue the lines that stayed with me, and which stand out as proof positive of your understanding of the mysteries of the human heart.

But these are your Nandini and your Chandragupta. And your Mura as well. Whence my reservations, which I am listing out below;

For one thing, I cannot imagine Chandragupta achieving a state of such detachment vis a vis his murderous bride, even after she nearly killed his mother instead, and this no matter that he had killed her brothers (he knows that her father is still alive, but it seems that she does not know that as yet).

Similarly, I cannot really grasp how Nandini has arrived at the state of bothering about what Chandragupta thinks about her. Is that only because the guilt at having nearly killed Mura has been eating away at her from inside? But how would that affect her attitude towards Chandragupta?

Secondly, does your Nandini , after she has seen for herself that Mura is almost a saint in human form, wonder at all about why her beloved pita maharaj kept her chained like a dog in the open for 20 years? I see no indication of any such thought process in this Nandini, though it would be the most logical thing for her to think about, and even to admit the possibility, horror of horrors, that her mother might have been right about her pita maharaj after all!

Lastly, does your Mura know that it was Nandini who tried to kill Chandragupta with the haldi? (The onscreen one does not.) If so, does she learn of it before the marriage - in which case I would be dumbfounded at her permitting the marriage, and risking her son's life - or only after it? And is her attitude towards Nandini not altered by this knowledge? I find this too hard to digest.

I shall be looking out for the next chapter, my dear. Very good going👏, and I am sure it can only get even better.

Shyamala Aunty

QUOTE=shailusri1983]Hi, I'm Shailaja. I am a regular on this IF forum. I usually make analytical and discussion posts. When either the story or any character leaves me frustrated or sets my teeth on an edge, I tend to attempt parodies, writing OS, SS, or FFs to get over that frustration and as a kind of wish fulfillment of what I actually want to see on the show but never got to see. You may like this attempt or not. But please do get back with a comment why and what you liked about this piece, if not why and what irked you about this piece. I can do a better job of my writing only with feedback and constructive criticism.

Yes, in the next chapter you will get to see more of Chandra's point of view. I am halfway through it. It will be posted before tomorrow night.

Aunty I loved reading your response. Moora does not know that Nandini poisoned Chandra's Haldi. She is in the dark about it. If she had known, my Moora would never have countenanced to get Chandra married to Nandini at any cost. Except Chandra, nobody knows that the flower pot was also a misfired attempt of Nandini. They all think that it is an accident. More than Chandragupt himself as a person mattering to Nandini, it is primarily her guilt and then the severe blows to her ego that his words cause, that she is actually nothing and has no identity of her own, that work upon her.

She seems to think the world about her and feels that the world revolves round her. She places herself and her motivations on such a high pedestal. She thinks her feelings, her claims, and her revenge are justified while the others's feelings, claims and revenge are not. This accidental attempt makes her feel guilty. All this while she was claiming the moral high ground and consoling herself that her revenge was grand and noble. But she ultimately finds out that it is cheap and also stupid at some level. She could very well have killed an innocent lady trying to kill Chandragupt.

She is flying high on wings of pure foam and no fuel. Chandra clips them off in one single second. So she is bereft of her bearings and thus feels hurt at his words. It is not her hurting over his words because she cares for him and his words hurt her. She really does not care for him at this point in time. She still hates him but she finds it difficult to ignore the truth in his words. This truth hurts her and scorches her and not Chandra per say! Regarding your other points, I hope the next chapter will reveal further and answer some of those questions and queries.

Originally posted by: sashashyam

Shailaja my dear,

This is a remarkably sensitive piece of writing. I am marking in blue the lines that stayed with me, and which stand out as proof positive of your understanding of the mysteries of the human heart.

But this are your Nandini and your Chandragupta. And your Mura as well. Whence my reservations, which I am listing out below;

For one thing, I cannot imagine Chandragupta achieving a state of such detachment vis a vis his murderous bride, even after she nearly killed his mother instead, and this no matter that he had killed her brothers (he knows that her father is still alive, but it seems that she does not know that as yet).

Similarly, I cannot really grasp how Nandini has arrived at the state of bothering about what Chandragupta thinks about her. Is that only because the guilt at having nearly killed Mura has been eating away at her from inside? But how would that affect her attitude towards Chandragupta?

Secondly, does your Nandini , after she has seen for herself that Mura is almost a saint in human form, wonder at all about why her beloved pita maharaj kept her chained like a dog in the open for 20 years? I see no indication of any such thought process in this Nandini, though it would be the most logical thing for her to think about, and even to admit the possibility, horror of horrors, that her mother might have been right about her pita maharaj after all!

Lastly, does your Mura know that it was Nandini who tried to kill Chandragupta with the haldi? (The onscreen one does not.) If so, does she learn of it before the marriage - in which case I would be dumbfounded at her permitting the marriage, and risking her son's life - or only after it? And is her attitude towards Nandini not altered by this knowledge? I find this too hard to digest.

I shall be looking out for the next chapter, my dear. Very good going👏, and I am sure it can only get even better.

Shyamala Aunty

QUOTE=shailusri1983]Hi, I'm Shailaja. I am a regular on this IF forum. I usually make analytical and discussion posts. When either the story or any character leaves me frustrated or sets my teeth on an edge, I tend to attempt parodies, writing OS, SS, or FFs to get over that frustration and as a kind of wish fulfillment of what I actually want to see on the show but never got to see. You may like this attempt or not. But please do get back with a comment why and what you liked about this piece, if not why and what irked you about this piece. I can do a better job of my writing only with feedback and constructive criticism.

Chapter One: The Power to Hurt

Nandini was looking out of her window lost in deep thought that she had not observed the arrival of her husband, the Emperor of Magadh, Chandragupt Maurya! There were many days and nights when she just felt soiled to be united in name and relation to the person who had literally destroyed her maternal family. To owe her body and soul to the very person who had snuffed them out was an insufferable pain that was eating away her inner vitals. This Nandini was a complete stranger to her former self. She was just an empty shell.

In the initial days before and after her marriage, she made two disastrous attempts to assassinate the person whom she held responsible for everything that was wrong in her life. Due to his mother Moora and Guru Chanakya's watchful care, he survived both these attempts. Even she too could realize what a fool she must have made of herself doing whatever she had been doing. Why she couldn't bring herself to properly kill or dispose off someone! It takes guts to slash somebody as pitilessly and mercilessly as Chandragupt Maurya had done with her father and brothers before her own eyes in one fell sweep.

What did she do in return? Poisoned his marriage Haldi. Ridiculous isn't it? Curiously the Haldi came back to her and she was the one who had needed saving by him. She detested that she owed her life to the person whom she wanted to kill.

This saga did not stop here. After their marriage, she dropped a flower pot on him from a height. But the person who got hurt in this foolish attempt was Rajmata Moora. She had never wanted to hurt the kind and old noble lady. She and all the ladies in her family owed it to her that they were treated with kindness and their self-respect and self-esteem was not trampled upon day in and day out by the others.

As Chandragupt held his bleeding and unconscious mother in his arms, his eyes a picture of shock and dread at the thought of losing his mother, disbelief and incredulity at how such an accident could happen to her, his quizzical and inquisitive glance at her face on which guilt was plainly written, realization dawning on him that it was her behind everything, and finally his cold-blooded hatred and smoldering glance which seemed to tell her, "Now you're going to pay for this lady! Not just you but the remnants of you leftover family."

Moora was removed to her room and placed under the most able physicians in the country. As she looked into Chandragupt's deep, drowning and bloodshot eyes, she just could not decipher or decode what scenes or thoughts were playing there. She thought that she and all the ladies in her family would be called to treason or punished. Oddly enough they were not. They were just ignored.

She, Nandini, ought to have been happy that her Nemesis, Chandragupt was is such pain and trauma. But she was not. Her revenge had not played as it should have. She wanted to hurt just him and not any of his family, much less Moora! She was not allowed to see or meet Moora and shut off from anywhere near the old lady. She wanted to atone for her mistake by nursing back Moora to health.

Her husband summarily dismissed her to her room. He neither questioned her nor sought her explanations. He knew the truth. It somehow pained Nandini that her husband instinctively knew her truth without the need for explanations. How badly he must be thinking about her or her character. Of course it should not have actually have mattered to her what Chandragupt thought about her. But it did! That was what she realized now! She could not let him think that she could wantonly kill or try to kill his mother like that.

Nandini's days were tainted with worry that she would have to carry the guilt and blood of an unjustified murder throughout the rest of her days, and nights in sleeplessness, as Moora vacillated between life and death. That was when she realized the futility of her revenge. She, who could not give a life to somebody, had no right to take one as well. Just as her father was her lifeline, Chandragupt was the lifeline for those around him. Could she snatch it away from them? No definitely not!

But then could she forgive him for all his atrocities against her family? Every time she wore sindoor at the partition of her hair and looked at the barren foreheads of her sisters-in-law and her mother Avantika and Badi Ma Sunanda, the white or colorless sarees they wore, and their unadorned, uncared and ungroomed appearance, she felt a lump forming in her throat. She felt ethically and morally conflicted, and spent out. She could not forgive him at any cost.

How could her hands pray for the welfare of that husband whom she wanted to see dead? She was a failure in every way she perceived herself. She was not a good daughter, not a good sister, not a good wife, not a good daughter-in-law, not a good friend, and above all not a good human being. She could just not bring herself to love her own self. She hated herself and her life every way. Others's hatred and dislike for her now seemed immaterial. Her life as a treasured and pampered daughter seemed to belong to some other life time.

Nandini was startled for a tiny instant to see Chandragupt in her room. Was he here to accuse her or punish her? Of course he could not punish her more than what she was doing to herself.

Chandragupt began speaking abruptly without any preface, "I was informed by the Daasis that you have been starving yourself these three days without food or water and that you have not slept even a single minute. I have sent for some food and drink for you."

She was astonished as she blurted out, " I almost killed your mother and yet you..."

Chandragupt spoke carefully without giving away anything in his expressions, "Yes! But she was not your target. I was!"

"Does this mean you are forgiving me?" asked Nandini.

Chandragupt said, "No! I don't! I still hate you! But the pity is that I understand you!"

Nandini was confused and perplexed to the core. The color was leaving her face as she enquired in a barely audible voice,"Ardhath?"

Her husband after a long and pensive pause continued, "I know and you know the truth. Nobody else needs to know. Do you get it? Ma is out of danger."

Nandini questioned, "Don't you want to punish me and see me suffer?"

Chandragupt gave a dry laugh and said, "What will I get out of your suffering? Happiness? Get a life, Lady! I'm no sadist or devil incarnate, though you love to visualize me as one. My pain and pleasures are very different from yours. You don't know me neither do I expect you to try doing so."

I would have marked the above para too, but I cannot really grasp this degree of saatvikta in Chandragupta. What has made him so Mura-like?

Nandini stared on wordless and unable to grasp whatever was happening around her. Were she and Chandragupt the same people she knew? These were unsuspected depths. She was drowning in them.

Before she could react to any of this, he departed from there saying, "Bhojan karlo warna mrithyu ko prapth hogi! Agar tum margayi iske karan toh mere paas toh tumhe dene ke liye ashroo tak nahin hain! Teri sari jeevan kuch kiye bina hi wyarth jayegi, teri asisthva sthapith kiye bina hi. (Chandragupt gave a long pause at this juncture before he continued) Kya ho tum? Nand putri ya Chandragupt ki rani? Kaalo aur phir samay mile toh sochlo! Kuch samay iske baad mile toh Ma ko milne aasakthi ho!" (Have your food, or else you will die! If you die as a result of it, I don't have even tears to waste over you. You will have died leading a redundant life without establishing your own identity. What are you? Nand's daughter or Chandragupt's queen? Eat; and if you have time; think over it. If you have some time left after this; you can come and meet Mother if you want!)

That he thought bad about her was clear. But it was heartening to know that he still believed in her to let her see and meet his mother after everything that had happened between them. His words stung her and tortured her to the core. Was her life really so aimless and futile? Was she really nothing on her own? She should not have cared about his words. But she did. He and his words had the power to hurt her as nobody else's did!

Helena seems to be more Witty than the show and Durdara is as usual naive

And Chandra wanted to forgive nandhini if she rectify her mistakes😉does it means he has soft corner for his lady😆

Nicely penned akka😊

Googly tha na! None of you seemed to be expecting this reaction from Chandra. All of you thought that he forgave her for her crime. No, how can he forgive somebody who almost killed his own mother though unintentionally? The clues for this were there in the previous chapter itself where he tells that though he hates her, the pity is that he understands her. Understanding automatically doesn't entail forgiveness. Even a judge or policeman investigating a crime tries to understand the criminal and the motives behind his/her crime. Similarly there was another clue in the same chapter. The angry glance he gives Nandini the moment he realizes that she is behind this fiasco. It seems to tell her that he is going to destroy or raze down everything in his anger. But just like all of you, Nandini also seems to be misled by his concern for her not having her Bhojan. This is going to be a love story. How, when and where, all of you will have to wait and watch.

All? None of you? Don't count me in this multitude, my dear, or I shall be forced to protest strongly!

I did not buy this line of thinking, which was why I wrote: I cannot imagine Chandragupta achieving a state of such detachment vis a vis his murderous bride.

I loved the Sisupala-Krishna parallel. More tomorrow, in my reserved slot.

Shyamala Aunty

Never thought it would come in this way but am very happy with chandra's attitude...😃

I think there was a clue in previous chapter in form of that scene where chandra said , " Agar tum margayi iske karan toh mere paas toh tumhe dene ke liye ashroo tak nahin hain " .