Dear Jodha, Make your choice wisely

My dear Jodha,

I am very glad that you told the Shahenshah that you wont return to Agra - infact that you will return only when you want to. I am very glad that you decided to make use of the choice given by life and the Universe to you this time. But my dear Jodha, have you understood what the choices are?

Let me start from the beginning of your journey with the Shahenshah and show you the choices that both of you had and the choices both of you made.

If you remember, your father brought the proposal of marriage between you and the Shahenshah. I understand your feeling that you were given no choice and were forced into this union - but is that really true???

Life and the Universe provided both of you with two choices - Love and Identity. Both of you set out by choosing Identity - He wanted to stamp his identity on you and You refused to acknowledge any other except your own. Both of you in private wanted to stamp the identity of the other dead, yet Life and the Universe decided to give you a chance and so she sent the next twist in your lives - which resulted in your first attempt at suicide.

From here on started the Shahenshah's journey from letting his identity go as he moved into Love. But for you the aspect of your Identity was becoming more and more paramount. His saving your life from the tiger, his giving away a fort that had memories attached to it, his tentative admission of love - they were all his journey on this path - then came your rejection and the man who was slowly moving towards love realized his identity slipping thru his hands just as you did, that fateful night when he questioned you with his outburst.

During this same period, your grip on your identity became tighter and tighter. Yes, you brought him back to safety after the tiger attack but that was to prop your identity as a Rajvanshi wife. Yes, you made efforts to repair his bond with his sister but that was to assuage your guilt for your unjust behavior to him during the fake pregnancy period, which did not sit well with your personal and Rajvanshi code of honor. It was all about your identity - it was never about him or about love.

Then came Benazir - yes the Shahenshah, who was letting his identity go for Love, made another attempt to hold on to his identity - but then did you let your identity go and start your journey to Love? - No, you continued with your identity clinging - and drank that poison becoz it was your duty as a Rajvanshi wife, not for him or for love.

This was his final wake up call - and here he dropped all pretenses - he decided to take that chance and chose Love over Identity - and my dear Jodha please recall his words even in that tirade of his - his identity as an Emperor, as a husband and as a man was crumbling and when he finally let you go - it was not an act of control as you have decided - it was an act of dissolving his identity for Love - where, based on your answer of loving another, he let you go to your love - An Emperor, a Husband and a powerful man for who the wife is a chattel to his identity, dissolved the very same identity, so as to give said wife her happiness with her love. - If he was wrong in his assumption, who was responsible for it dear Jodha?

And now we come to you dear Jodha, you who want to enforce your choice - you who is still asking what your identity is - your choice is once more between Love and Identity.

And I will clarify further for you dear Jodha - If you want Love, You will have to choose Being nothing' - having no astitva' - becoz Love is about being Nothing', about being Khak'

And if you want Identity, You can choose your Marriage' and being a wife and a Begum' - but then be prepared to see the Shahenshah find Love with another - becoz the Universe will give him that chance since he has chosen Love over Identity - and you will become another bystander like Begum Ruquiyya, while the Shahenshah gets his chance at Love again with another.

Begum Ruquiyya believed the Shahensha's rants of No Dil' and chose to have Identity and thus is a bystander watching helplessly the Shahenshah and You getting this chance at Love. The Shahenshah did not accept your rants of Kartavya and Duty and chose to become Nothing' in Love - thus he will be the favored one of Life and the Universe.

You dear Jodha, need to decide what choice you will make - Love and thus be Nothing' or Identity and be a bystander. Dear Jodha, choose wisely and choose well - becoz this is that last opportunity that Life and the Universe will give you. Remember these wise words of another Rajvanshi, Meera -

Ham Aur Nahi Kachu Kaam Ke, Matware Pi Ke Naam Ke

I am of no other purpose, But spellbound for my beloved's name

Simroon Main Pi Ka Naam

I have bejewelled my beloved's name

With the good wishes of a well wisher

Identity is a western concept that has no place in the Indian and Sufi Philosophy of Love / Prem / Ishq - These philosophies emphasize on making oneself Nothing in Love - of loosing the self to find the SELF.

They speak of becoming Khak' which then becomes the beloved' and finally attain the Beloved' - as the qawaali from Barsaat ki Ek raat says -

Khak ko but aur but ko devta karta hai Ishq, Inteha yeh hai ki bande ko khuda karta hai Ishq.

Its all very nice to have an identity - and being a feminist and an activist for women's rights - but a Love Story is about two people - where gender has no place - it is about two souls - and in a love story there can never be any space for identity - To Love one has to become Nothing' - so my challenge to you dear EK and team is - do you have the Vision and the Guts to show this????? If you do then call this an Epic Love Story, warna call this another saas bahu drama. This is not just a letter to Jodha and her CVs, this is infact an open challenge to the makers.

Originally posted by: deepi04

unres

Wow, absolutely beautiful. I truly hope this letter reaches both Jodha and the CVs. Identity is separate from one's self when it comes to love and bhakti, which is above all worldly things, and I love that you always tend to write along the same notion, it certainly does give me the epic feel of this love story which so far has only been provided by Jalal.

Another one of Jodha's proclamations include kartavye and agni ke phere, both of which she has failed to fulfil herself due to her tightening grip on having a separate identity from that of her husband, the man she has grown to love. Jodha began to lose herself the moment she aggressively pounded the definition of kartavye right, left and centre after Ben track. Her progress into love was started well in the Ben track, but right after, she began to back track and pulled her Rajvanshi wife duties card. She's was so set on finding her own identity she lost herself halfway through to becoming a Mughal Begum, now her tight grip on her identity is loosening fast, it's only a matter of time she realises her identity is not separate from Jalal, and together they are the nothing which love consumes.

I truly hope your optimism of this epic love begins unfolding soon enough

Originally posted by: fatma201

Great letter. 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

The problem is Jodha wants to have her cake and eat it too. 😕

Originally posted by: adianasr

Deepi, I live in eternal hope that one day I am able to see this on cinematic screen - small or big does not matter!!! And that is why this is not just a letter but an open challenge to the makers!!!

Originally posted by: Arieltabi

Well said Adi 👏

Originally posted by: shiningways2424

👏 plzz become maker / script writer of JA, its my wish from the core of my heart. U beautifully described their journey, while on side jalal lost his identity ,on the other side jodha is still craving for her identity!!! ''love is simply about losing oneself '' which we have seen in jalal. I simply liked the part which u mentioned regarding Ruks. Many a times this qstn comes in my mind that y ruks was unable to see his heart??y jalal never loved her the way he does jodha? U gave ans to that n how jodha is almost going in same path in order to get her identity!! If the maker had shown the kind of love u described it would have indeed become epic. But alas!! Ur defintion of love applies only to jalal while jodha is lagging far far behind!! I m still keeping a faint hope in my heart that atleast after this track we get that jodha which we want...