nikhils father - Page 2

Hi. Very well written and all valid thoughts. A few comments:

Nikhil's agreement to a life altering decision was in essence due to an emotional extortion by strangers, his grandfather and himself. Could this gentle and 'nadan' boy have lived with the knowledge of having ruined (yet) another persons life ? By making him responsible for a stranger life they applied a force as effective as a physical coercion.

It is easy to think that if Ishana was not around, Nikhil and Laajo would have had a chance to explore their marriage. But even if she had disappeared physically, in Nikhil's thoughts and his being she would have remained essential to him.

Perhaps Nikhil and Laajo could have learnt to love each other but there was no such intention even to attempt that on Nikhil's part. Because as Laajo said very aptly, one cannot fill a cup if it is already full. Nikhil had woven his future with Ishana. His dreams his desires;she is part of each and every thread. Unless he purges his mind, his heart and his soul of Ishana, there can be no room for another in that regard. Admittedly he enjoyed Laajo's company in isolation but the moment he came back to his own world he yearned for Ishana.

It was inevitable, with his privileged background, that a young person like Nikhil would seek happiness in his life. He does not want to simply survive. He wants to thrive. He is not shackled by those rules that govern Laajo's society. Laajo's indomitable spirit was already once crushed by her unsympathetic mother; a bitter life lesson to not question but conform. Hence she kept on piling the deck of lies; building a sanctuary for herself, simply surviving.

I agree that they are not inherently incompatible. In their essences , they are similar. But until Nikhil's heart accepts Laajo and frees it off Ishana, external 'unsuitabilities' will dictate his thoughts regarding her..