Friends, I have a puja ceremony at home today and so my post has to be a bit short. Forgive me.
Let me start by saying the last part of the episode yesterday was the cutest! Jodha was so eager to go home to Jalal that she told her father she wants to start her travel that night itself without even waiting for the morning. Her father decided to send her brothers with her as escorts but wholeheartedly agreed to his daughter's plans!
Here in Agra, in the precap, Jalal was seen standing at the very gates of the Agra Palace, rubbing his hands in glee, unable to wipe the eager smile on his face and looking forward to Jodha's arrival almost like a little boy waiting for an icecream. He gave Atga such a tight bear hug in enthusiasm that poor Atga was barely able to breathe and smile along.
So here we have it, the weekend hangs us as usual ... but in pleasant anticipation. Let's hope there is some promo that shows how exactly the reunion will be ...
(... and I hope to God somebody's wild prediction I just saw - of Jodha not arriving because she's kidnapped on the way - doesn't happen. I am not in a mood to spoil my excitement with this sort of doomsday thinking!)
What all happened in the episode:
The episode started with many scenes that lauded Jalal's abolishment of the teerth kar. Almost the whole of the first half of the episode showed various people getting the news and celebrating their happiness with it. Atga was first seen getting his sipahis to beat dindora's at every town and village spreading this news to the awaam.
Maharana Pratap who was bathing in a river, go this same news via one of his spies. When he heard that Jalal had gotten closer to the Hindus by this sagacious move of cutting their teerth kar totally, Pratap needed a moment to digest the import of this. Eventually he told his henchmen that Jalal is after all an enemy and a Mughal and he must have done this as a political move to bring the Hindus closer to himself. What this will mean for the Rajvanshis who opposed him will have to be watched ... for now the Hindus may collectively bear more allegiance to Jalal and not Pratap and his band. "We Rajvanshis will have to join forces more strongly than ever before" Pratap told his men.
(Incidenntally this is the first time that Pratap is not in his famous green clothes, but I sincerely hope that since he has had a bath in the river, he does not have to go back to wearing the old unwashed green clothes again. That will be very sad!)
Moti Bai and the other Hindu bandhis came to Jalal in Jodha's hojra to say thanks for the lovely gesture. They praised Jalal aloud, and said if Jodha had been here she would have been extremely happy indeed. Jalal looked so wistful I could have hugged him!
Meanwhile Jodha was in the Kali temple finishing her puja, while Shaguni kept looking at her with a big gleam in her eye. "It's time to go back now" prophesied Shaguni. At first Jodha thought she meant going back to the Amer Palace from the temple, but then Shaguni clarified that she meant it was time for "Jodha Begum" to return to Agra to her husband. Jodha was a bit stunned as Shaguni said "Yatra shuru karo".
A little later outside the temple, Jodha started distributing money to several poor Hindu yatris going out on pilgrimages, so that they would have sufficient cash to pay their teerth kars to the Mughals on the way. Jodha was still a bit perplexed by this Shaguni prophesy, when a Hindu lady came running up to them all and broke the news that Jalal had abolished the teerth kar on all Hindus. Jodha's face was a picture. She was totally stunned out of her wits and could not believe what she was hearing ... there was satisfaction in her smile, and yet a question on her mind "Why did he suddenly do this? How he has changed! What made him change so much? He knew I so wanted this to happen!"
As Jodha got inot her doli to go home, more and more Hindu yatris came along the way in hordes, delighted with this news. They were in unison shouting "Shahenshah zindabad" and other loud praises to him. Shehnaaz who was with Jodha remarked "Do you believe this Jodha? The praises of the Mughal king are being sung all over the Rajvanshi lands today!". Jodha peeped from her doli unable to believe how happy Jalal had made the praja, and she couldn't help the look of pride on her face as she realised it was her husband they were all lauding so vociferously as they all wished him every happiness in life.
Back in the Agra Palace, Jalal was thinking to himself in his room "Hope Jodha is thrilled to hear this news when she gets to know of it. I don't know how often she has thought of me in our absence from each other, but I hope when she hears this news she will remember me at least once!" Hamida comes In to meet Jalal and asks if she can enter the room, for he seems lost in his thoughts and she may have thought he wouldn't like an interruption. But Jalal courteously makes his mother sit down and speak her mind. "I am very proud of you today Jalal, it was a courageous decision" she said. But she added "There will be those who oppose it, as there will be opposition in anything you ever do. Don't let it ever pull you back from a good decision that brings greater happiness to greater numbers of the praja." And then Hamida switched subjects. "Incidentally, you never consulted Maham about this and she was standing forlorn in the DEK today. Would you not consider patching up with her? She has done you a grave injustice I agree, but she has done a lot of good for you also in childhood", said Hamida. But Jalal was not of a mind to forgive Maham. I think it would have been easier for him to forgive her for a hurt done to himself, but a hurt done to Jodha , I think, seemed unforgiveable. "I don't want to talk further about my decision on Maham" he said.
In Amer, Jodha was being visited by vision after vision of everything that had transpired between her and Jalal over all these days of separation ... how they fought, how he begged for forgiveness, what Dadisa had advised, what Shaguni had advised, and how she herself felt hearing this teerth kar abolishment news. Jodha was pensive - but with every moment a decision was forming in her head. The scene shifted momentarily to the shot of Akbar's Makabra, where the soul of Jodha told Jalal "I wanted so much to meet you at once and to thank you profusely for what you done. You knew how much it would have thrilled me to hear this news?"
Meanwhile in Agra, Hamida still had a tug of feeling for Maham's plight and went to her room where a lone Maham was sitting with her thoughts of anger on Jodha. "Maham", Hamida said, "I know you made a huge mistake and Jalal is now sidelining you for this. But consider the positives. He has stripped you of powers to advice him or get involved in politics, but he has not stripped you yet of your title or izzat, or given you any other punishment. There is still time for you to try and appeal to his mind to forgive you and go back to old times. Why don't you think how best to get him to change his decisions about you? I am sure you can think of some way?" Maham looked watery-eyed, but as soon as Hamida left she brought the evil look back onto her face. "I care not for Jalal and what he thinks anymore" she told herself "henceforth my one and only priority is my own son Adham and his rise to a position of unassailable power!"
Okay, back at Amer, it was dinner time and the Bharmal family were about to partake of dinner when Bharmal noticed Jodha's absence. Mainavati explained that she may have been detained on her temple trip and Bharmal asked both his wife and Dadisa in worry if Jodha's attitude towards Jalal had changed even a little bit in the last few days. Mainavati said she did see some small change in Jodha since the news of Shivani being pardoned by Jalal, but Dadisa said "I think she needs more time, she will go back to Jalal and Agra, give her time."
While the family were thus in discussion, Jodha arrived and couldn't hold herself back from airing her determination to her father at once. "Father, I have understood my own mistakes, I was off the mark, I want to go back to Agra and Jalal" she said as the whole family sent up a collective prayer of thanks to God for this! "Go tomorrow morning at a good muhurta" said Maianavati, thinking of Jodha''s travel safety. But Jodha surprised everyone again by saying "No I want to start out tonight itself! I can't wait to be back!" . Bharmal said "What great muhurta is needed for a girl who is just going back to her own home? You shall leave tonight, if you so wish, and I'll send your brothers with you as escorts!" And so Jodha started out pronto, I guess.
In the precap, Jalal, looking all rosy-faced and unbearably eager for Jodha's return was standing at the edge of the Palace gates and blabbering his happiness at her impending return with the feverish excitement of a little boy . At one point, so much was his enthusiasm that he went and hugged Atga standing beside him with such a tight hug that Atga eyes nearly popped out of his head! And with that happy prospect of the two lovers who cannot bear even the little remaining distance between them, the episode left us viewers grinning from ear to ear!
My comments on the episode:
There is not much to analyse as such in the first half of the episode because it was all about people in various quarters of the kingdom, even as far as the Rajvanshi lands, celebrating the abolishment of the teerth kar. History tells us that the happy praja then decided to bestow the title of "Akbar" (meaning "The Great") on Jalal - and I am glad Jodha may be back in Agra in time to see that for herself.
What I found, when I thought about this, is that if we simply try to superficially tie the events that are happening on the ground politically to the decisions that are being taken in Jodha's heart, we are not factoring in two things: one, the "healing touch of time"; and two, the transformation of Jalal from a "head-led" conflicted person into a 100% "heart-led" clear-as-crystal person.
Let's first look at "time as the healer" working on Jodha.
Since the time Jalal left Amer without Jodha, time has blurred the sharp anger and hurt in Jodha in slow degrees. It was evident in her talks with a patient Dadisa willing to listen to stories of Jalal and his valour, without adding any force on Jodha to make the decision to return. Jodha just need a listening ear so that she could air her love of Jalal without anyone trying to move her towards a decision. If someone had tried to push her, she may well have gone back into that tight anti-Jalal shell. But Dadisa let her open out and stay open without giving her the opportunity to retract back into that closed space.
I think Dadisa was herself "time the healer" for Jodha. She was the absolutely right person to help Jodha lose that edginess and acquire that blurred smoother vision of everything that had happened - and most important of all, Jodha had also lost that sharpness she felt for Jalal and his "galtis" and found instead that she was looking at him too through a hazier and kinder lens of softer focus.
Now let's look at Jalal's own transformation from a conflicted "head-led" person to a clear "heart-led" person
He had understood the concept and power of love and had actively supported it. He had shown his soft strength instead of his hard ruthlessness. He had melted a lot to be able to take such a decision to forget the embarrassment he had to face by Shivani eloping ... and he had actually allowed Tejwant to have the dignity of a job and title, allowed Shivani to live on in Agra without fingers pointing at her in accusation, and he himself had risen above his old thoughts about Shivani to find that "dil" inside that could decide her case.
Jodha must have seen that whenever Jalal decided anything with his "dil" he was okay. It was when he tried to quieten his "dil" and act with the "mind" that he lost his priorities, got needlessly conflicted and started agitating in his decisions, and losing his temper and equanimity - like he had done when he burst out with his suspicions of her. I think Jodha realised that Jalal, working with his "dil", was the man she felt utterly comfortable with - while Jalal cogitating between his heart and his mind was the "erractic irrational one" she didn't like. It was not so much even about her own "sammaan" being trampled by him ... it was also about which Jalal she wanted and could live with and which Jalal she couldn't abide. Her "sammaan" would forver be in jeopardy if he remained a "mind-led" person and there would be no guarantees that he wouldn't behave badly again in the future. But as long as he was a "heart-led" person, her "sammaan" would be top-priority in his care!
The Jalal that had suspected her and then was forcing her to return for all kinds of reasons was the "working from the head Jalal" that angered her. The one that had forgiven Shivani was the "working from the heart Jalal" that she loved and wanted to go back to.
When further to Shivani case, the news of the teerth kar abolishment came, it must have become patently clear to Jodha that Jalal has again taken an even bigger political decision with his heart instead of his head. It must have been a decision hard for him to take with the mind, because the mind would have had to factor in the major resistance to the idea from the Mughal side. Under ordinary circumstances no king would have easily made a heart-led decision that would raise the hackles of the people of his own religion. He would have applied his head and decided not to ruffle feathers. But Jalal had made this decision so much from the heart - in fact the whole idea was all heart - that Jalal's transformation into a "heart-led "person must have become clear as crystal to Jodha. If Jodha needed any other proof that Jalal was now a 100% "think from the heart" person, this teerth kar abolishment was that proof.
Jodha had reason to fear that he would suspect her again and again only if he remained a conflicted man between head and heart. It was his conflicted state that made him prey to the dithering, the uncertainty, the suspicion and the terrible bouts of irrationality and anger. But as long as he eschewed his head and worked from the heart, he was the most extraordinary of men, capable of taking the most extraordinary of decisions and of loving and trusting her unreservedly, unhindered by internal conflicts.
Subliminally, I think , after this Shivani case and then the bigger Teerth Kar case, Jodha got this realisation that the "head-led" Jalal was gone forever and the "heart-led" Jalal was now here to stay. The teerth kar abolition especially was too huge a decision, and yet he had fallen entirely on the side of deciding this issue by his heart. What more proof did Jodha need of his transformation? What more proof did she need that he was now "all heart"?
And so she decided to go back to the one on whose heart she no doubts!
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Health and Fitness
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