Arshi FF: Hopes and Ambitions. Thread 3 - Page 77

Shwetha, I promised you in one of my earlier posts that I would be writing a comment on Khushi's character & here I am with it. :)) Sorry about the delay, have been a bit busy...

Firstly, I want to applaud you for your portrayal of a what a woman should be through the character of Khushi... The more you reveal her character to us, the more I am in awe of the depth of the character of Khushi. It is truly inspiring to say the least. It is truly laudable the way you have depicted the silent strength of a woman, so beautifully through her. Is it any wonder that only a woman is called Shakti i.e. strength, & not a man. Even though men are physically much stronger than women, they are by far the weaker of the two sexes. And I am seeing this trait of a woman's strength evolve so beautifully in her. So hats off to you lady.

Before I begin, I want to give Khushi's parents a huge applause for bringing her up the way they did... It is even more commendable given the place they did it in. Their hard work paid off & it is the main reason why Khushi is the way she is & that is because of her forward thinking, noble minded, caring & supportive parents, who understood the value of education & liberal views & imparted them to Khushi. Even though she spent all her life in a rural & rustic setting, where views are so oppressive & conservative, she herself is progressive, well-informed, poised, courteous, sensible and well-balanced than many a city bred person IMHO. She did not build foolish castles in the air, rather was completely realistic & grounded.

She was one of the few girls in the village who was educated to a certain degree & used that education for a worthy cause i.e. to in turn impart that knowledge to the children of the village & instill in them the value of a good education, even if hers was stopped prematurely due to lack of facilities despite her wish to continue further... But that didn't mean, she didn't want to others to pursue what she could not. That is her noble mind right there.

Cannot say enough about her poise & fortitude in handling the tragic murder of both her parents. She at no point displayed her tragic emotions & feelings to the public & made a huge fuss out of her anger or grief. She handled her grief so stoically it is applaudable...

She was phenomenal in the way she hit out at Arnav in her home for his attempt to politicize her immense personal grief & cash in on it. She came across as a roaring tigress lashing out justifiably at an over zealous, over ambitious & opportunistic politician. Not many people I know, with multiple degrees both in India & abroad would have the guts to do that, let alone an orphaned village lassie... She didn't want charity, she wanted fairness, she wanted justice in a world, where justice is a far cry.

And she was realistic & sensible enough to realize that her chances of getting a fair deal from such a male-dominated society were next to NIL, so she took the helping hand offered by Arnav with grace & gratitude. A testament to her intelligence IMHO. Though, she did take the hand offered, she in no way, sold her soul to him. She maintained her own identity & dignity, by remaining as independent as possible from Arnav under the circumstances... She underwent the grooming cum training sessions on how to look & behave as a royalty should from Payal & her trainers, so as to be able to blend in as much as possible in her new home yet she maintained her intrinsic qualities of intelligence & compassion. She wanted to do more than just deck up & preside over luncheons & decide menus or oversee flower arrangements...

In all this, the thing that irked her the most was the way Arnav ignored her. She wasn't a piece of furniture lying around. He had married her & she wanted him to treat her as a wife should be treated. Period. I just loved the way she lashed out at him... "But unfortunately for you, I come from a place where a wife is not treated like a wallflower. She is not a thing you tie a chain around and restrict to a cage, gilded or otherwise!"

Then quite deceptively, the enigmatic & charismatic charmer started to slip under her armor & raise hopes & expectations in her where none should have existed. He quite unexpectedly offered her the position to lead their family NGO & Khushi's joy knew no bounds. She suddenly had a reason in life to look forward to. That it earned Arnav the title of "The Human Samaritan" was a strategic & convenient bonus for him.

I will never forget the way she asked Arnav to never humiliate her with his liaisons as personal pride is all that she has been left with. "What matters is no one ridicules me, pities me, or has a little fun at my expense, especially for the deeds that I didn't play a role in. Pride is all I have and pride is all that I want to keep." And I loved Arnav's promise to her to never do the same.

Little things like this, started making huge inroads into Khushi's heart for Arnav. She slowly developed a keen interest in her husband, quite hesitantly in fact, always, scared of being disillusioned by him in the process. But to her surprise the more she learnt about her enigmatic husband the more she started respecting him, the more she started trusting him & the more she started liking him, to the point that her feelings slowly matured into deep love for her husband when she saw first hand how he went to protect a hapless woman from his own brother. He was the first person to advocate Payal to press charges on his brother at the risk of ending all he had worked so hard & dearly for his political career.

When Khushi went into a physical relationship with her eyes wide open, she knew very well, that her husband was a gentleman through & through. No man who could protect another woman so gallantly would ever harm her or disrespect her. So she took her marriage to the next level in the hopes of rousing Arnav's emotions into love for her. Nowhere did she compromise on her ideals or beliefs. Here was a young woman deeply in love with a man who was all heart, which she herself had the privilege to witness & experience firsthand and had hoped to make him fall a little in love with her as well. :)