Originally posted by: cappacuino5
I one hundred percent agree with you. It felt to me as well that Ayesha was talking of both herself and Basit. He just wants to hear her talk all the time. I imagine whatever she says feels reassuring to him. The guy has experienced living without her for a few days and I believe he must have missed her terribly.
Ayesha has been feeling unloved and unappreciated since day one of their marriage. Maybe she feels like whatever he’s been trying to do now is coming from a place of loneliness and not love for her.
In fact, Basit himself acknowledges that he’s not given her enough time. He’s also slowly realising that material pleasures are transitory and cannot replace the warmth of a genuine human relationship.
Absolutely!!!
Also regarding the realisation regarding material pleasures, I want to expand on that and explore this something which is possibly changing in Basit. The thing is till now as he grew up and was increasingly pressurised into taking a decision on marriage, Basit had been quite firm in his mind and heart that he will never marry. So he had built his life in a certain way around his office routine and his well-run household that was equipped with a capable team of workers. He had been very independent, happy in his own way, satisfied with whatever life had in store for him. The material comfort was a big part of this but also he had built his own comfort zone.
Being forced to marry was never a decision he took willingly or a decision that he was comfortable with. Initially, as we had discussed he was acting as if he could go on like nothing had changed for him with this marriage and that Ayesha was just an added appendage in his life he could almost ignore.
However, marriage is never like that. Firstly there was Ayesha's family, quite a handful and absolutely impossible to ignore. Then there was Ayesha herself. I have said before that Basit was attracted to Ayesha at some level in the very first interview he took of hers because what she said about her decision to apply for the job because of financial troubles spoke right to him. He noticed her at some level though of course he was not attracted to her or anything like that. But that is the very thing. Basit always noticed Ayesha. And this only increased after marriage. How could he ignore someone he cannot fail to notice? And as he noticed her, there was also the attraction which was propelled perhaps by the thought that this was his wife, his person. And as this increased, so did his getting habituated to this new way of living where Ayesha began to take on a more and more important role. From being a confirmed bachelor at heart, Basit began to find comfort in the idea of being married, having a family, having the family being his support system. And because this was essentially a reorientation of his entire way of thinking about life and lifestyle choices, he was so quick to take a decision regarding Ayesha and throwing her out of his life and ending their marriage. Because that was his comfort zone, remaining single, and it is always easier to get back into your comfort zone. But firstly, Fahad very firmly ends his misunderstanding regarding Ayesha and then Ayesha's care during the hospital stay is exactly the dose of comfort and care that makes Basit crave more of it. By the end of the hospital stay he has accepted the fact that he wants this care and when he returns to a house devoid of Ayesha's presence, he is convinced he needs her. But this is his heart speaking still, his head will need some more convincing regarding the degree of his need for Ayesha.
This is becoming a super long post, but I want to add just one final thing. Basit gifting Ayesha the apartment is a gesture of asking for her forgiveness, the grandest gesture he has made till now. The night of their walima when he shouted at her, the very next morning he gave her that envelope of cash. The evening he was rude to her for going through his letters was followed by him giving her another envelope of cash the very next morning. And this time, when he has behaved really badly with her by throwing her out of what he described as his home, he wants to gift her an apartment for herself. All these gestures are forms of Basit Salman apologising. Because he will never apologise in any way that will require him to bend before the other person. The first time he spoke to Qudsia, he began by trying to tell her what had happened at the office, he had begun by saying "galti toh hui hai..." and then just changed it to him asking for Ayesha's hand in marriage. He knew his status would make an offer of marriage from him an extremely eligible one and will remove any need for him to apologise for his actions in the office. So Basit's relationship with and use of the material comforts that are a part of his life is a very important part of his personality. At this point, Ayesha clearly needs more from him and this "more" is of something else, something that cannot be materially quantified. And my hope of course is that Basit will rise to this challenge.