Posted:
Past:
Ruqqaiya - Dil Jalaal ke paas hai nahiin, aur dimaag par hum sawaar hain.
Jalaal- Galat jagah nishaana lagayaa hai aapne. Dil nahiin hai hamaare paas.
Jodha: Jiske paas hridye nahiin, wo jeevit nahiin. Aur mare hue ko maarke hum kya karenge?
Present:
Jalaal( smiling and touched by Jodha's prayer poem for his heir)- Lagtaa hai ki dil se likha hai.
Jalaal does not know how to read or write. He understands Hindi phonetics but not the complicated Hindi meanings as such. In short, he hardly had any idea about what Jodha's poem meant 'word-wise' . When Ruqqu recites the poem to him, he slowly drifts into Jodha's purity and her flawless heart - the brain not understanding much but the supposedly 'dead' heart feeling the warmth of that woman - bringing a smile on Jalaal's face and for the first time, he lifts the subject of heart in a beautiful sense - "Lagta hai , dil se likha hai."... Heartless much? No. Only a HEART can recognize a fellow HEART. And that's why Jalaal's face lights up as he hears Jodha's poem- touched in the now-un-freezing cords of his heart.
In solitude, he thinks of Jodha and there is no anger or fury in thinking about her - or being angry on himself for being unable to push Jodha out of his thoughts. He likes thinking about Jodha ( its another thing that the word 'feeling' is more appropriate than 'thinking' here ) - her fierce Rajput Princess persona ( sword fight ), her luminous wife persona ( the aarti meeting ) , her poetry and that silver spoon for his unborn child. And smilingly , he confesses to himself that as much as he dislikes thinking about her, she does something that sends his mind back to her. Jalaal , moving beyond his pseudo-hatred for her, in these small unguarded moments understands that Jodha is a compassionate woman . Her verbal hatred and duels with him not extending to his heir , for whom she sends all the love and prayers makes Jalaal respect Jodha - even if he doesn't tell her that rightaway. He loves the fact that Hameeda loves Jodha so much, even above and more than him. That proud smile on his face said it all.
The first thing that he does next morning is to go and see Jodha . He is touched and warmed by her gesture , he wants to thank her even if not to word it , he wants to know the significance of the spoon and the meaning of the poem - there is no ego in there - I loved this about you and am being honest with that - now, tell me what all this means. Jodha, no longer making faces at his arrival or giving him hate eyes through the legendary Rajput ghoonghat , only coy and affected at his presence, avoiding looking into his eyes is equally touched when Jalaal recites the whole poem to her. Seriously? You memorized the whole thing? That is what her face says. Amidst their usual but NOW-CIVILIZED verbal banter , Jodha explains the significance of the spoon ( the baby should be fed the first feed with that ) and the meaning of the poem to a super-impressed Jalaal. This woman in front of him - who claims to hate him and used to demand his head at every second is being so purely blessing and praying for his baby. Which man under the sun wouldn't be moved by that?... But Jalaal is Jalaal... even as he leaves, he delivers a cute sarcasm to Jodha - " Tohfa bhi deti hain, aur khafaa bhi rehti hain." Clearly telling Jodha that he doesn't think she hates him as much as she claims to. And Jodha? A wifey expression on her face, sees Jalaal walk away , until he leaves the room. Yes, she is melting but why tell Jalaal?
Jodha was an epitome of purity, compassion and honour today. So much so that Hameeda invites her to her chambers only to pamper her , bless her, call her 'meri bacchi' and tell her that she is different from every woman in the palace grounds- as happy as she is for Ruqqu, Hameeda still craves a Jalaal-Jodha child. Jodha is not appalled, repelled or disgusted at the thought of being Jalaal's baby's mother. She just has an unsaid, sad and a tad anxious feel about it - watch her walk out of Hameeda's chambers with that face. Yes, she is happy that Jalaal is getting an heir, Ruqqu is becoming a mother , Hameeda will no longer harm her health, and she will not have to act pregnant. But you saw her enthusiasm and her face when she told a thick headed Ruqqu that becoming a mother is the final drawing line in a woman's sketch as a whole woman? Jodha will LOVE to be a mother and you can see that on her face - but she is in sync with her state of relationship with Jalaal and the conscious and unconscious distance between them. She doesn't hate the thought of bearing Jalaal's child. At least, on the inside she doesn't. Its just that she doesn't want to think about it. Jo jaisa chal rahaa hai, bas chalne do.
I don't have much to say about Jodha's and Ruqqu's verbal badminton. Jodha was all homour, dignity and class , bathed in a mother's love. Ruqqu was all pathetic arrogance , presumptuous prejudice and bathed in the inebriation of becoming Mariam-Uz-Zamaani.
All in all, the most dense and beautiful part of today's episode was that Jalaal memorized and fell in love with something that Jodha wrote - crossing the barriers of language, literacy and word-complication - straight into his heart. Just like you hear a song in some language and irrespective of the language barrier , you fall in love with it because it fills your heart with something. Today, Jodha filled Jalaal's heart with that 'SOMETHING'.
P.S- Strange, isn't it? In recorded history Ruqqaiya Begum loved Saleem/Jehangir a lot - the son of Jodha/Hira/Harka and Jalaal. And that love extended to Khurram ( Shahajahaan)- in short , loving Jalaal- Jodha's bloodline . And in fiction , we see how Ruqqaiya cannot even stand Jodha. 😆...funny parallels and opposites.
Music Corner
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
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