We have heard these words bandied about, "blood is thicker than water", who will Archana choose to support, Purvi or Ovi? There is no question in my mind as to who Archana will support, she will support what is fair and what appears right to her maternal instincts. She will support Purvi, not because she loves Ovi less but because no mother in her right mind would wish her daughter to marry a guy who pines for another in the hopes the guy might change his mind later. A mother would want her daughter to marry the guy who adores her daughter and who her daughter loves in turn.
My apologies if this turns out to be a long treatise on love, 😉 maternal love, yes we all attempt to speak like experts on matters of the heart but chalk down my attempts to long years of habit as a lit student who had to analyze and tear up every character, looking for nuances and motives even when they were literally non-existent. As Shyamala has implied in her post, this gathering of minds is good catharsis, even in the imaginary soap world.
With that disclaimer, I would like state that yes, Sachin, Teju and Ovi have suffered more than Purvi. Not the slightest doubt. No, this is not a call to arms for the Archana/Purvi/ARVI fans. It is an indisputable fact. A mother's love is precious and they have been bereft of this wonderful gift and it does not matter how they were deprived of this even though I lay the blame fairly and squarely at Savita's door (again, not waving a red flag to Savita lovers😊). The three had all the luxuries money could buy, had a loving grandmother (Freud would have loved her😆), a doting if weak father who let himself be tied to his mama's apron strings, and a caring if useless grandfather. But they lacked that all-encompassing, tender touch of a mother's love. Sachin was the oldest and remembers this, he had a bond with Archana and this is why he is bitter, he missed the wonderful warmth of her love and felt abandoned at that impressionable age, he harbors an all too painful grudge against her. Archana in her infinite mother's wisdom knows this and by sacrificing her love and her life with Manav is trying to soothe his deeply entrenched wounds, trying to prove to him, no, she still loves him, never stopped loving him and he means the world to her and that she will give up her world for him. I cannot be angry with Sachin, even when I see him mouthing the same nonsense and giving the same glares, scene after scene.
The two girls are a different matter, they are good girls, in spite of the fact that one kept up the charade of a London visit and the other is a little snooty but an angel at heart as time will tell (this in deference to Ovi fans😉). Yet, we can feel the lack of a mother's guiding tenderness, Tej openly proclaims it, she has wished loudly many a time that Archana could be her mom. Ovi in that scene where Archana teaches her how to pray shows that there are some things that have been a lacking in her grandma's suffocating love.
Coming to Purvi, when I was surprised that Archana had not noticed anything amiss with her, Jai pointed out that Archana was overwhelmed by her first meeting with Ovi at the party and her maternal emotions had taken over. Not doubting that at all, blood is thicker than water and Archana has been dreaming, living for this moment.
But I would like to think that to Archana, Purvi is more than blood, she is the sinews of her heart. Purvi is hers, and hers alone. Her motherly instincts were questioned with Ovi and Teju, they were snatched away from her, they belonged to Manav as well. This child she picked up was hers alone, to love and cherish. As she told Manav, her mamta did not go to waste, it blossomed a million fold with Purvi. As she has told Purvi several times now, Purvi has no idea of the "mayane" she holds in Archu's life. Purvi filled a void and took over Archana's entire existence for 18 years. Archana made sure to make this girl everything she was not or could not be, Purvi is an extension of Archana's very being. She made Purvi confident enough to raise her voice and speak for herself (something Archu could never do), she gave her an education, she made her principled enough to discern right from wrong, gave her sanskars (yes, that hated word) and made her the Purvi we (most of us anyway) love.
The only mistake Archana made with Purvi was to foster this unnatural love for this wonderful man, her baba and encourage her to build castles in the air about her Aai's perfect life with her long lost husband and children. It is unhealthy for a child to grow up with this mental image of her mother's could be/would be life. But Purvi to Archana is not just her child that she nurtured and loved but her friend, her confidante, her everything for 18 years so perhaps sharing the deepest hopes of her heart was not unnatural for her to do. The impact it has had on Purvi has been immense and Archana will be the one most shattered when she discovers that her soul child has dashed her own hopes of happiness for the mirage of her mother's well- being.
Archana will be heart-broken as this is not the kind of sacrifice she would ever want or expect from Purvi.
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