The Gurti Conundrum!

Before I set out, let me make a few things very clear. I have no answers to the conundrum. I know neither personally and, obviously, I am not the God who made them. All I am attempting here is to not solve the conundrum but rather to try and analyse why the conundrum is currently driving so many of us crazy. I am not going to pontificate and I am not going to judge. I am no practising psychologist either. There, I am done with listing out all the statutory warnings. So now, you can proceed at your own risk if you still want to!



Does Gurti exist? Did it exist? Does it matter one way or the other? Will it change our lives either way? Why do we feel so strongly about it? Why do we feel cheated when we hear that it did not exist or that it may not exist? And last, but not the least, why do we speculate so much abou them?



The above are a few questions that I have been encountering quite often in the last few days ' both within my own head and also from friends who are trying just as hard to crack the puzzle. Yes, puzzle is what it is! And that brings me to the first reason or answer to all these questions. It is a puzzle that challenges us all, a story the end to which we don't know. And we are like the proverbial dog with the bone, we don't want to let go until we get to the bottom of it all! So Gurti is our own crossword puzzle, Rubik's cube or the riddle that confounds us all! We want to crack the code so we can then move on with our lives. Yes, our lives wouldn't have changed, we'd still be the same but at least, we would have our answer. Aren't we all fond of getting the right answers after all??!!



How many of you cried when Amitabh died in Sholay? How many of you heaved a sigh of relief when SRK pulled Kajol aboard the train in DDLJ? So, did any of this change our lives? Why did we feel so strongly about it in that moment? Would we have felt cheated if Kajol had not boarded that train? The answer to these questions is just the same as those to the Gurti conundrum. We have become emotionally engaged. In a film, the engagement lasts for the space of the two hours or so. In the case of a television soap, it lasts for much longer, a year, two or maybe even more! So, don't we feel depressed when Maaneet are separated, don't we root for their romance, don't we shed tears at their agony? And this, when we are aware that Maaneet are completely fictional! So, when circumstances have led to or even encouraged a certain perception of Gurti, is it surprising than that Gurti's existence or otherwise and their perceived happiness or grief moves us so much emotionally?! There is a certain element of catharsis involved here. We are living and experiencing vicariously through these characters, be they Maaneet or Gurti. I am deliberately equating the two because one is as real as the other to us and just as far removed! Gurti might well be fictional too for all the connect that we have with them in real life! So, Gurti is as important as Maaneet coming together. Tomorrow, if they don't, we would probably be heartbroken for a few days before we moved on. On the other hand, if Gurti were indeed a reality and they came together forever, we would rejoice for just the same number of days before moving on! Either way, the emotional engagement would have put us through the wringer before we get on with our lives!



How many of you went out on the streets and danced when India won the World Cup? How many of your hearts were broken when India lost the last match against England at Lords? So, why does it matter? Will India's win change our lives forever? Will it solve world poverty, bring about global peace or will it spell out a cure to a terminal illness? None of this and yet we rejoice! For their success is ours! And also their defeat! Why do you think we rush to hail our cricketing heroes when they win and burn their effigies when they lose? We win when they do, and lose when they do too! And we don't want to lose, do we?



When our favourite couple kiss before walking off into the sunset holding hands, it fuels our hope for everlasting love and makes us believe that we have a chance at it. And, if we have loved and lost, it gives us the hope of a second chance maybe. When the couple break up, it shatters our dreams and hopes. We don't want to live without hope now, do we?!



So, like the villains and vamps in movies and shows and the members of the opponent team is sports, anybody perceived as a threat to the success of our dream is reviled. Shoaib Akthar's ball tampering charges, and Murali's suspect actions became weapons that we held out against them when they played against us. Similarly, when we find chinks in the armours of opponents to the Gurti dream, we gleefully grab at them and expose them with all our might!

Nobody promises us anything. Neither the actors, filmmakers nor the sportspersons! Yet we hail them when they fulfil our dreams and lash out when they fail to do so. We feel cheated even when no express promises were made. Some of us stop with cribbing, some of us burn effigies and some even stone the houses of these people. But then there are the extreme fans who self immolate or die of a heart attack, unable to bear the loss of their team or even the natural passing on of their idol! A certain, almost unnatural, attachment had been formed and just as political power/super stardom are the benefits that accrue to the stars from this attachment, the excessive engagement is a price that they often have to pay!



Sensible and smart film/sports stars would probably take all this in their stride. Reason why we only see a Dhoni appeal for calm, rather than rant and rave at disappointed fans! Or why Amitabh Bachchan has not reacted after decades of media/fan speculation over his relationship with Rekha! They know it does not last forever. And, like in Hollywood, they could probably take a restraint order if there is a physical disturbance.



So, anyway, the bottomline is there is no cause to worry, no cause for concern! This is a phase, this too shall pass! Enjoy the phase while it lasts. When it comes to an end, rejoice or grieve for a while depending on the outcome! And then move on to the next target, if not shift focus on to real life concerns. Vicarious living is not all bad; it does help in letting out a lot of emotional baggage. Just so long as you gain this perspective and don't let your obsession mess with you beyond a point, you are good to go!!!

You should have done a lot of thinking to post such a clear-cut view of this maaneet/gurti obsession we have developed. I know it is a phase and i am with this fictional phase as longgg as it lasts 😊... I do not want it to end abruptly with untied lose ends like some others soaps🤢

When this show signs-off, I want that to be done on a very high note with style and substance so that it stays as a great memory in our hearts.

*Tanu reads the post.. n jaws hit the floor* 😲

Originally posted by: pippa

...but I can't quite recall the catch and pull train sequence of SRK/Kajol.

Wonder what that says about me? Bad memory or just not romantic enough? 😆

Originally posted by: pippa

Pata nein, yaar Tanu...

I'm usually a mystery/suspense film phanka...but I have to say that Maaneet's managed to bowl me over...sorry if i hurt your phankapan re Srk/kajol😭😆...not a phanka of the former but love the latter.


Maaneet almost makes me believe in romantic love...so please, cvs..give us more and more Maaneet style romance and save this unromantic bandha from lifetime of void and emptiness!😆