Comparing her with Chakor and Anandi
Chakor has a mother who is very wise and made sure Chakor understood how the world is for Nandini even though she is older there is no one to tell her anything . Chakor has a very loving family even if she did not have anything - that environment at home does contribute to child's all round development
We do see that Mangala and few other women are sympathetic towards her but they are more concerned with things like ensuring she had some food to eat.
Nandini needs to know the world which is different to hers first for her to start questioning things.Not just Nandini all the women in that household including Kundan's mother are treated badly.
Her spunkyness and spirit is very much similar to her mother- She doesn't let negativity get to her or overwhelm her and spoil her mood so she finds ways to divert herself to make herself feel better like chasing moon beams sun rays and playing with water drops - Children are naturally fascinated by these things at that age and for her this is the only means to escape from reality for a shortwhile
Also her mischievousness may be something that is inherited from her father😆
Making light of troubles or the physical abuse is just a way to cope with reality and it is not heroism but a survival mechanism
She does empathise with the marginalized and oppressed folks in her home like Mangala or that woman who takes care of her.In that she is very much like Anandi.
Hopefully Nandini gets exposed to another life soon so that she will start questioning.
Don't know whether Anandi Shivam and Nandini will ever get to be together though. Knowing CVs fondness for Anandi Shiv Nandini and Shivam I doubt if they will ever get any happy moments in their life.