*Season 2, Week 19* Analysis Thread - Page 2

Good morning Pretty girls...new thread...new phase...new Devakshi...invite for dinner...excited to see how different it will be from the pregnancy khu shi ka dinner...hope this time Dev will support and stand beside his optimistic khargosh 😳😳😳

Thanks for the thread. Looking forward to th is week's episodes and the makers have promised a new phase.👏

Originally posted by: thedramaqueen

Mahua, Mr Dixit said "Shhh..."

I followed his orders 😳

Congrats Guys on the new thread!..

Originally posted by: deepsel

Yup DQ is saving breath by being tight lipped since all tight zipped will soon have an opening 😆

I am really enjoying the way the three protagonists' relationship with god/the powers that be are playing out. Dev's plea to god for Ishwari's life and his surrender has been beautifully discussed by @grace in her post on the forum, but I also wanted to talk about how this relationship is playing out with Ishwari and Sona, respectively. The show seems to be putting forward the strong argument that god listens to those who ask for his blessings, but the individual must also be in a mental state to receive that blessing; otherwise it becomes a punishment. In the end, it all comes back to the issue of trust; faith and surrender in a higher power is the ultimate form of trust, after all.

Ishwari believed that Sona was her punishment for this theft, but in fact she was her salvation. Her greatest punishment, therefore, was that she could never recognise this because she allowed her mind to be clouded by insecurities. Poetically speaking, as soon as the Dixits were settled into their new home, and were no longer struggling for survival, Sona was sent into their lives -- or rather dragged in by Dev. Her role as Ishwari's nutritionist was an allegory for the healing force she was meant to be in their lives. While the Dixits were tired and sapped of energy from their struggle, Sona came from a background of comfort and security, now ready to face the challenges that life threw at her. Given the chance, she infused a new freshness into their family and especially into Dev's life. He allowed himself to let go of the anger and vengefulness that had defined his motivation so far, and found new and positive motivation in Sona's friendship and love.

Unfortunately, Ishwari failed to read the signs that her god was leaving her. Instead of seeing Sona as the answer to her prayers, she was waylaid by false signs and material concerns which were given voice by Mami. She wanted her children to move past their struggle and find happiness, but in trying to control them and play god herself, she became the primary obstacle to that endeavour. In short, her lack of faith is what made her unable to see how her prayers were being answered. It's kind of like the joke where a religious man is caught in a flood. People try to rescue him, first in a boat, then from a helicopter but he refuses help insisting that he is a great devotee of god and god will save him. The man ends up dying in the flood and when he goes to heaven, asks god why he didn't save him. God tells him, I sent you a boat and a helicopter; what more did you need?

That is exactly how I see the Ishwari of S1. However, there are two incidents that show how S2 Ishwari is transforming, though gradually. The first one was the scene at the temple where she meets Suhana. When she talks to her god in that scene, she surrenders in a similar way that Dev did in the hospital and asks for nothing but to have her faith back. All through out her struggling days, Ishwari put her full trust in god, and was open to the blessings that were bestowed upon her and her family. The moment she began to waver in that faith, and attempt to take matters into her own hands is the moment that happiness began to unravel and she separated herself from that constant stream of grace. Essentially, she cut off her communication with the her god, and was therefore unable to see what he wanted for her. Once she asked for that connection back, she was lead straight into Suhana's arms in a very similar situation to the one where Sona first found her.

The second important step for Ishwari was her trip to Vaishno Devi. In agreeing to go to with Mamaji, she surrendered to the fact that the situation with Dev and Sona was not in her control, and while at VD, took her focus off of what she couldn't control and took the time to address the decisions that she had consciously made. Her intentions at VD were translated through Sona back in Delhi, because her last effort at control -- keeping this from her family -- had to be thwarted so she could achieve complete surrender to the higher power. And in that sense, her god gave her not what she wanted, but what she needed to re-establish that connection between them, a clear understanding of the role Sona played in her life. People across India actually believe that chicken pox (along with measles and smallpox) occurs due to possession of the goddess. If she is appeased, she leaves, but if not, she can kill. Purely from a poetic standpoint, it is symbolic that only Sona could care for Soha when she had chicken pox, while Dev could only play a supporting role, at risk of getting infected himself. Similarly only Sona was the means through which Ishwari could appease the goddess and be freed from the burden of her past mistake.

Through this process, Sona has also been going through a similar series of realisations, only with her, it is not about faith in a higher power, but about trust in Dev. I saw her breakdown at the hospital with Asha as being parallel to her break down when Dev assumed the worst about her and Jatin and disappeared. When Dev disappeared, it forced her to confront the fact that she needs him, and accept that she had alienated him so much that he felt his presence entirely meaningless, and from that vulnerable place she set out to find him no matter what. Her journey to find him took her through their most intimate memories together, and finally, in the spot where their relationship ended, clouded by all kinds of insecurity, bitterness, and miscommunication, they reached a new level of clarity about one another. I think we can take this as a roadmap for what we will see in the coming episodes since there are a lot of parallels already. If we can get over fangirling over that little clip that was released over the weekend (I am still working on it, believe me ☺️), there is an important parallel to the night Devakshi sat outside after their anniversary party and for the first time, Dev made Sona say "you're welcome" instead of "you don't have to say sorry."

Sona realised what a mess she could have made when Ishwari collapsed, and the second time she confronted Malti and Kajal, she didn't ask them to trust first, but rather provided them proof of what she was saying. In short, she didn't expect things to work out in her favour simply because she was right and on the side of truth, but actually allowed for and accommodated Malti and Kajal's very reasonable doubt in her course of action. She played it similarly smart with Khatri and instead of her usual confrontational attitude, which always got his heckles up and put him on the defensive, she assumed a pleading tone which lulled him into the false sense of security and caused him to cough up the whole truth. In the end, it was vulnerability that allowed Sona to do what she couldn't with bravado. That seems to be the underlying message.

And here I will end my long and rambly post. I am fairly certain there is sense in there somewhere! 😆