I don't really know what to say. I'd been worried about this chapter...and I'd been looking forward to it. This thing has lurked in the shadows too long and the only way for it to go away for good is for it to come out once and for all.
But I guess I hadn't been prepared for the ugliness of it.
I feel...angry and frustrated, of course. But most of all, I feel grief. Because what is happening is sad and a whole lot of people who aren't really responsible for a situation, are made to face the brunt of it anyway.
Khushi...God, I can't even imagine what she must be going through. To have Manya say the things she did, the way she did and then have her parents respond the way they did...this is the sort of thing that may actually push someone into doing something foolish and dangerous.
Lavanya-- we all know she's mentally unstable and enough has been said about her. But I find myself feeling a lot less charitable towards Manya. I understand grief and pain and anger all too well, and being a fairly protective older sister myself, I also understand this need to lash out and punish the easiest person to blame.
But where was this protection when Lavanya was dealing with months of clinical depression? With Lavanya getting medical help, her condition cannot have been a secret. Manya also knew that this marriage was over and it was not going to work out-- Arnav had made that abundantly clear. So while knowledge of Khushi's existence may have pushed Lavanya over the edge, she had been teetering on it for months. The depression, the paranoia, this hiring a PI to investigate Khushi (in gross violation of her privacy)-- she may have been Arnav's colleague for all she knew! Manya knew about both Lavanya's fragile mental health and the impossibility of a reconciliation with Arnav. And yet, she chose to go and pin the blame of her sister's suicide on a stranger, whom she has no knowledge of.
On impulse, I'm sure, but thoughtless, deliberately cruel and irresponsible.
She doesn't know jackshit about Khushi and her situation with Arnav. The PI's report is all the information she has-- it may be unreliable, misconstrued, heck, it could be fabricated!
I think Manya is deeply guilty. Guilty that she wasn't there when her sister needed her and that she couldn't do anything to stop it. And while I do understand that, I cannot forgive it. No matter how deep your pain or guilt, saying what she said to a complete stranger is unforgivable. Arnav? Yes. I wouldn't have been remotely surprised or overly judgmental if she had delivered the same castigation to her sister's ex husband. But Khushi-- whom she doesn't know, whom she knows nothing about beyond her sister's paranoid musings? Unacceptable.
Which brings me to Khushi's parents, I guess. All I will say is that I'm so so thankful that I have the sort of parents I do. If I were in Khushi's shoes, my parents wouldn't have allowed Manya to continue beyond the first sentence. Physically, if necessary. They have always been the most supportive and even if they feel that I've erred, that is ALWAYS between me and my parents. No third person would ever be able to walk into my home and call me a s**t. My parents would never 'feel ashamed' because I didn't meet certain arbitrary societal standards. I know how rare that is, ofc, and Khushi's parents are really no different from the other twenty million or so parents in India (more supportive than most of those 20 million, I'd venture). I can only feel sorry for them that they put certain archaic norms and expectations above their own daughter's happiness and self respect. It's going to come back and bite them in their ass, and I perversely look forward to it.
As for Arnav, he has to make a choice now. Protect Aarav's dead legacy or stand up for the woman he loves and reveal the extent of Lavanya's duplicity and 'insanity.' I can see how he'd hoped to do both, but Lavanya has left him no choice.
I am glad Khushi's going away. She needs a clean break from this toxic environment. There is only so much a person can put up with. She needs to go away so that EVERYONE (including her own self) has a better perspective on this.
(I don't ever want to dictate plot or anything, but can we please have some Aman-Anita soon? They're a breath of fresh air in this darkness!)
You're doing so so well with this, Jen, I've been hooked from go and even after the break, this story is as compelling and sensitively written as it ever was. To make me feel this level of emotion for non-canon characters is difficult!
Hope the bachchas are doing well, and much love! :)
Arjun
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