We must combine the toughness of the serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.
Martin Luther King
The room was cool and quiet as memories moved like ghosts, giving him a slide show of what had been and what is now. Avdesh stops abruptly, his face drawn as he looks at himself in the mirror. The sherwani chosen by his wife so lovingly now mocks him and brings home his reality. That because of him his wife was in jail. His face crumples with sadness, anger and overwhelming guilt....Forgive me, Arpita, he brokenly asks...He picks up their wedding picture and hugs it tightly to his chest, the way he longs to hug his wife.
To the world he is Bahubali; strong and invincible. Nothing is too much or impossible. He fears no one and is feared by all. He had faced his first limit today and watched as his wife was taken away like a common criminal. The pain and the anguish he was suffering at this had been clear on his face, yet he could not stop it. His love for his wife was the chain that had tied his hand, showing him his limit.
He left rapidly his aim to be by his wife's side....The guests left behind were reassured that Bahubali will have his wife out within minutes, the bride herself gave assurance...that Bahubali would have Arpita out before the guests left. The faith and unshakeable belief in Bahubali was given without a second thought. But the cost to Bahubali's soul was never considered at all. Except by the one taken; Arpita - Her every action was geared towards saving Bahubali's soul even when faced with public scandal and being led away by the police.
At the station the media surrounded Avdesh, Arpita and the officers...how could Bahubali's wife be arrested? Were the police not able to arrest Avdesh Singh Thakur and so targeted his wife instead?.... Both the police and Avdesh had ignored these questions. Avdesh only had eyes for his wife, her tear-stained faced seeking his presence just as a plant sought the sun. Avdesh had steamrollered his way through the milling press his eyes fixed on the red sari-clad woman taken inside.
Once more he was forced to face his limit as RV stopped him from entering the station. His fury had lit like a supernova when RV taunted him "come at visiting time to visit your wife...sorry your criminal wife!"....In a blink of an eye, his fist had been poised an inch from RV's face ready to smash and cause pain twin to the one burning within him. And like before his loving wife intervened, consistently thinking of him and his wellbeing he knew, and just for a moment anguish had flared in his honey brown eyes as he looked at her over RV's shoulder. The promise he had given her earlier stayed his fist even though the need to lash out made the tensile muscle tremble. Once again Avdesh showed that only for his wife will he turn away.
At the haveli he had been too full of volcanic fury, his control tenuous as his feet seared a path in the courtyard, his mind whirling with hasty thoughts and actions. Even when ordered to calm down by Bahuji, Avdesh could not suppress his anger at her and his own helplessness. Slamming the car door violently he had rushed inside finally at his breaking point.
Now he stands silently in the middle of his room the veneer of bahubali gone and leaving only Avdesh, the man behind, who was missing his wife like he was missing one of his limb. He stands there cradling the picture frame tenderly next to his beating heart, his head moving as if resting against another head. He closes his eyes and whispers that Arpita will be out soon. Very soon.
Commentary:
Ppeople's perception of Avdesh was as one; that as he was the bahubali his wife would be released pronto. The reasons and expectations were different, some gloating (MC), some admiring (Simple). But one and all dismissed the arrest of Arpita Singh Thakur as something trivial which will be sorted out by her husband without any fuss or muss.
Only the people who really loved her had grave misgivings, her husband and her mother. They both grieved for her in their different ways but had to show another face to the world. Her mother showed her feelings unable to grasp that her daughter had been bundled off like a criminal but was soon ordered by her husband to stop that.
Avdesh for his part was the bahubali, fearless and full of fury. Only in the privacy of their room did he shed his persona and showed his true feelings - his fear, his sadness, guilt and grief at what his wife was facing because of him. His tears fell for the only person who knew him inside and out and felt his pain like their own. He needed her warm arms twined around his back, needed her head resting on his chest heart to heart to show him that he was not alone. So he cradled a cold piece of wood and dreamt that it was his beloved wife, comforting him just as he was comforting her.
For despite his way of life he had beheld a wondrous gift in his arms. Her name was Arpita. And today that gift was in danger of being taken away from him, and all the while he had to be the strong bahubali, hiding away his own heartbreak. Now faced with a long and lonely night knowing his wife was in a dirty cell, scared and terrified he could no longer contain his grief nor the true face of bahubali. The face of a man called Avdesh Singh Thakur, full of faults and mistakes for which his wife was paying the price. ......The price of loving him above all else.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Indian Mythology
Chakravarti Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan
Shiv Shakti
Anupamaa
