Friends, one more day has passed and we are still going along with Jodha's labour pains and there is no sign of the babies being born in the outdoors yet!
However the babies are seen in the precap, safe and sound in the arms of some elderly women and Jodha too is sleeping peacefully and Jalal drops by into a Palace Room, where they all are, to see them. So we have to assume that though Ruq tried her best in the palki and the horse cart to help Jodha deliver, she was probably unable to ... but she managed to make Jalal aware of Jodha's plight as she mumbled words like "Jodha Begum" and "bacche" at him yesterday, and he reacted promptly and got Jodha back to the Palace in time for the delivery ... or else he sent a hakima who did the job in that cart itself!
I am scratching my head again today wondering what to analyse - for the episode was one long saga of just three things: one, Jodha was in labour and Ruq was all thumnbs; two, Shaguni was returning one ugly prophecy after another till Dadisa decided prayer was best; and three, in the midst of all this Jalal got enough time to grill Birbal and then give him entry to court!
Instead of my usual analysis of the flow of events in the episode yesterday, I thought I would just highlight some few points that I thought were worth mentioning:
One: Ruq keeps shifting Jodha from one palki to another and then a cart ... but why?
Wasn't it utterly inexplicable why Jodha was being shifted so many times by Ruq as she laboured with pains in the outdoors. In lashing rain, Jodha was first moved from one palki to another ... and then finally to a cart. I couldn't understand the logic. Was it that the first palki was too small for Jodha to sleep in and hence the move to a bigger palki? And then was that also too small that a cart was requisitioned? And where was Ruq getting all these palkis and carts from? If she was summoning them from the Palace, why could she not have summoned either the hakima from the Palace or the specialist hakima from her clinic in the same times as the arrival of the cart?
Seems to me that Ruq was all thumbs yesterday and more than a bit flustered ... and her upper storey was also a bit vacant. She kept telling Moti, "The hakima said there is one more month to go!" but seeing all the blood beneath Jodha and the timed contractions of pain, Moti said "No, Ruqaiaya Begum, Jodha has started labour. She is ready to give birth. That one big jolt when she almost fell off the first palki started off these events, I think!"
What Ruq managed to do exactly remains a mystery to me, because at one time she said "We have to get to the Palace, for the hakima doesn't seem to be reaching here fast." Later she seems to have changed her mind about getting anywhere when she ordered the purdah's of the cart to be dropped, almost anticipating delivering the babies in the cart.
Her own hands were soaked in blood, so I don't know what the CVs were intending to imply. Premature babies are born early but in most cases have normal births. They are not necesasarily born with a lot of blood haemorrhaging, so what Jodha's condition was is a mystery. Do the CVs know what they are doing or are they just combining Jodha shouts in labour with a lot of thunderstorms and a lot of blood to make it all gory ... but without actual medical research on premature births?
Later when Ruq ran into the DEK to apprise Jalal in broken words like "Jodha Begum" and "bacche" I don't know what she managed to get across and whether Jalal ran for Jodha himself (which he should have) or whether he sent a hakima or he got Jodha fetched to the Palace. This part of the story we'll know only today, but for the sake of the elegance of the story, I hope the King's sons were born in the Palace and not in a horse cart! And to redeem Jalal I hope he has had some part to play in making the delivery safe for Jodha!
Two: Shaguni hangs onto the negative prophecy ... despite the safe birth of the babies!
Yesterday , the Creatives decided to intercut the shots of Jodha, in the outdoors, wailing in pain in that bad weather, with Shaguni in Amer making endless dire prophecies. With every shot of Jodha in despair, here Shaguni was giving Dadisa running commentary on how Maham's curses are irrevocable and are operating at full strength against Jodha. Dadisa then finding Shaguni of no help started praying to Maa Kali with a sincere heart.
Amongst the Shaguni versus Jodha intercuts, two were interesting. When Jodha was being shifted between palkis and carts, Shaguni threw the cowrie shells for an instant prediction. But the cowries turned up bad news and Jodha was found to be all the worse for wear. Then Shaguni once said she was seeing visions of blood everywhere, and sure enough Ruq's hands were seen full of blood. So the CVs thus tried to keep matching Shaguni's words with the events on the ground in the outdoors.
Eventually, in the precap we see that the babies have already been born and Jodha is blissfully sleeping and Jalal takes in the scene with some satisfaction. But still Shaguni maintains to Dadisa that her prayers may have helped postpone the inevitable but they have not erased the inevitable in any way - and the prophecy of dire danger still hangs over Jodha and the babies. So this I suppose paves the way for Shaguni to later say Maham's curses were responsible for the death of the twins! From all this it is clear the CVs want to pin the death of the babies on the Maham curse, come what may!
Three: Birbal was not too funny - and neither was his timing of entry into Akbar's court!
How many of you found Birbal really funny? I didn't!
First of all what horrendous timing for Jalal and his womenfolk and courtiers to be enjoying Birbal's half-baked jokes when there has been a raging storm outside all the while and there is no sign of Ruq or Jodha? Finally after Birbal had cracked his half-wits and been inducted into court, everyone - Hamida, Salima and especially Jalal - suddenly wake up to the fact that Ruq and Jodha are still not there after the trip?
To me both Jalal and Hamida were a complete let-down. I would have expected Jalal to have been more actively concerned that Ruq is requisioning palki after palki and then a cart, and the whole group have not even showed signs of returning. And what do Todarmal and Mansingh mean when they say they have sent more sipahis to Jodha and Ruq. Does sending more sipahis make the entourage arrive earlier? How about sending at least one hakima with all those sipahis just for abundant precaution?
On many a lesser occasion a horse and rider have been sent post haste from Agra to Amer even to get small useless news across fast, and here there is no sign of any emergency measure being taken to ascertain where the entourage is and in what shape? After all how far could the hakima's clinic have been from the Palace? Even if a lone horse and rider had been despatched much earlier with a hakima riding pillion, there could have been so much value! Did it all not even cross the minds of the praying Hamida or the floor-pacing Jalal?
And what was all the delay countenanced for? There was a DEK session when Birbal cracked one of the stupidest jokes ever - that he was miffed with the King because his own wife wanted him to gift her everything the King gifted his begums, and without that she called her husband an alasi and kaamchor and made him wash vesssels, and so Birbal thought it better to hang to death than wash vessels. And then when he challenged Jalal that he could do more than Jalal ever could and he made all Jalal's wives happy at the same time , by praising them collectively but making them feel individually cherished, Jalal was so tickled with his wit that he gave him an invitation to court.
If the CVs thought this was a fabulous way to make Birbal stand out as a teda brain and a wit par excellence, what a poor joke they thought of to start his entry with ... and what lousy timing in which to introduce him into the Navaratna fold. It made Jalal look callous to be enjoying Birbal jokes instead of being concerned with Jodha. What can I say about the Creative Minds at work on this serial ... they have broken their own records in deplorability!
Four: The latest spoiler sounds strange! Is Jalal really told only about one baby's birth?
I cannot believe the latest article that has come out as a spoiler on this whole babies birth issue. It says Jodha will deliver twins and immediately hand over one kid to Ruq. And so Jalal will be told that just one baby was born!
In the exact words of the article "Informs a source, "Jodha will deliver twins and as promised by Jodha, she will give one of her children to Ruks post which Jalal (Rajat Tokas) would be informed about the birth of only one kid. "
Sorry for the language folks, but what the ...???
I can't already believe the crap coming out of the CV team, but the spoilers are just many notches worse. Who on earth is getting such ideas? And what is achieved by telling Jalal about just one baby? Is this supposed to tickle us as a source of major twist in the story or some heavy suspense for Jalal? Heaven help us! Who is this trying hard to make a wretched track even more pathetic?
And pray, how does this square with the precap we saw yesterday when Jalal finally saw both the babies? Are we to assume that Ruq took Jalal for a bit of a ride before showing him both the babies?
What all happened in yesterday's episode:
Jodha is in severe pain in the palki. At Amer Shaguni tells Dadisa to pray as there's no hope from the curse. In the sarai Birbal says he hates the Shahenshah for spoiling his life. (He has not recognised the Shahenshah but is talking about him). Jalal 's men arrest him for such talk.
Out on the roadside, at one point the palki almost overturns in the bad weather and Jodha is almost jolted out. She is now in terrible pain. Ruq gets help from Moti and Zakira but they are not able to control Jodha. Shaguni still says there is no hope from the curses of Maham that are operating. Dadisa is now in deep prayer to Maa Kali.
Ruq manages to get a bigger palki to shift Jodha into but by now the pain is unbearable. Jodha says this toofan is like apshagun sanket. Ruq says we have to somehow reach home so please try to hold on. Ruq sees blood on the floor where Jodha is sitting and gets worked up. She says "The hakima said there is one month left." Moti says "No Rqaiya begum, this is labour pain and she is ready to deliver and it must have been from that huge jolt of the palki."
Meanwhile shaguni casts the cowrie shells to predict what will happen but she says to Dadisa "Nothing can be done. It's all bad news." Dadisa prays to Maa Kali there must be some way to save Jodha and the babies.
Meanwhile Birbal is brought to the DEK to face Jalal. Jalal asks why he is angry with him and what did he do to this man. Birbal replies "You buy your begums fine clothes and jewellery - and my wife now wants the sane. If I can't get her all that she has stopped my hookah paani. She makes me wash vessels. Earlier she called me prannath respectfully now she says I'm an alasi and kaamchor. You are responsible for my woes. "
Jalal's courtiers hold swrds to his neck for his disrespect to the King, bbut he merely says "Kill me if you must. Better I die hanging than from washing vessels." Jalal then says "Tell me why I should not punish you?" Birbal says "I can do things even you as a king can't do. I can listen to you. " That makes Jalal laugh. "Then what else can you do?" Jalal asks. Birbal replies secretively "I can do one more thing you can't do. I can make all your wives happy at the same time which you can't do. You can put shoes on my head if i can't". Jalal says "Okay show me".
Birbal then says aloud "I know which of your wives pleases you most by dressing well and waiting all day and night for you and looking after you". All the begums of Jalal look pleased thinking he is describing them . "See I have made them all happy at once" says Birbal. Jalal likes the joke and then says "Why don't you stay here in my court. You can continue to make us all happy all the time." Birbal agrees.
Meanwhile Hamida and Salima look at the time and get worried about Ruq and Jodha. They both start praying, because the storm outside looks fierce. Meanwhile Jalal also gets worked up as no word has come from Ruq and Jodha. Todarmal and Mansingh say they have sent additional men.
In the outdoors, Ruq requests for a cart and horses and gets one - and shifts Jodha there. They pull all purdahs down because it looks like the cart can go no further and Jodha will almost deliver right there inside that cart.
Shaguni at Amer says to Dadisa she sees visions of blood. Here Ruq's hands are full of blood as she tries to help Jodha. Jodha then gives a big shout and goes unconscious.
Jalal is still in the DEK pacing the floor in worry. Ruq runs in. She is distraught and mumbling about "Jodha begum" and "bacche" but her words are unintelligible. Jalal gets terribly agitated at her mumbles.
In the precap, Jalal enters a palace room to see Jodha sleeping peacefully while the two babies are being safely held by two of the elderly women. Ruq also seems happy. But in Amer Shaguni tells Dadisa that Maham's curses have only been postponed ... and there is still their full effect to come.
Folks, I want you to know that I am wholly and solely counting on Gem today ... because she has spoken to the Zee man who has heard a full blast from her and almost lost an ear ... and he has sworn that in the next week or ten days this Ruq will overshoot her limits and get caught and punished.
All of yesterday Gem was telling me and Maddy and Diksha and Jaya and all the irate folks on my thread to not fall into a morass of self-pity but to await with hope the Zee man's words of prophecy.
So today I dedicate the day to Gem and will do as she says - like an automaton, I will refuse to use my own brains and depend on hers. I don't trust the Zee man but I do trust Gem and will try to be as cheerful as she is!
Let's see how the babies are finally born and where ... and how many Jalal is told about!
And let's hope something happens in the episode today that is worth analysing. I am having to scratch my head so much these days finding something worthwhile to write about in my daily posts that I have developed bald patches all over my head!
Vasudha
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