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Credit goes to Maham(Allbut1) for this beautiful Banner
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All the other characters will have to forgive me today because I am not going to write a traditional take on the episode. I think I am just going to write an ode to the wonderful character that is Yash Scindia!
There has been something I loved deeply about the way this character was written ever since that kitchen flashback with Arpita, and even before that his agitation at not being given the chance to look after his children. Yash is a nurturer by nature who has been told repeatedly that this is a mother's role and today in that poignant flashback, Aarti told him the same thing, that only a mother could put her life on the line when it came to her child. Everyone from his mother, to his bhabhi to his own children have told him the same thing, he cannot do what a mother can, in different capacities.
Today, this show redefined the meaning of equality in a way that is often overlooked. Women are not the only ones subject to sexism and gender stereotyping. But while women are constantly being encouraged to break the glass ceiling in their professional setting, how many of us stop to consider the glass ceiling for men in a domestic context? If we take the Scindia Parivar as an example, men are considered effeminate if they cook, do things for their wives, look after the children or grieve openly. They are not encouraged to share their emotions, even with the ones closest to them as they are expected to "man up" and move on.
Despite all of this, Yash tries, he tries to comb his daughters' hair even when he has been told repeatedly that he cannot, he tries to keep them happy and looked after, cheering them up and feeding them at his own wedding and through all this he grieves in secret, as much as possible nursing the biggest wound of his life far from the eyes of his critical family and the critical society they inhabit.
But I think the first time I felt for Yash as a father was when he had that flashback of Arpita in the kitchen when she was making food for her children. He notices the joy on her face when she does something for them. At this point even she tells him that being a mother is something special, the joy you feel when you care for your children is something that you have to be a mother to know. And Yash said the most poignant thing. He resented the fact that this joy was only given to women, because he wanted to experience it as well. He would only find out years later that what his wife told him was a construct of society, that a mother some how loved more intensely than a father, was some how more tightly bound to her children. And he didn't prove Arpita wrong. She died with her belief that motherly love was exclusive to mothers. Yash didn't prove her wrong because he had not yet discovered himself.
But the Yash that Aarti Dubey married was not the same Yash that lamented Aprita's declaration. It was a new Yash who had tried to cope with his daughters for these years, against constant pressure to act his role as a man, who under this pressure had decided to marry her and finally it was Aarti who broke the dam of his emotions, who allowed him to feel what he had always suppressed, that intense love that "only a mother can feel" for her child. And once that dam broke there was no turning back. All those years, he suppressed his deepest emotions for the sake of his family who ordered him to do differently but now that they were released, he was a new man, one that allowed his heart in on the discussion, one that allowed his conscience to speak louder than cool logic and held himself answerable and one that passionately loved his son and wanted him safe.
And today despite that, he was told once again. You can give money but you would not give your life, because that is something only a mother can do. And at some level, i think Yash believed it too because that is all he has known and he doubted himself. Only a mother can love with that intensity. So he let Aarti come along. But in the end, he proved her wrong and he proved himself wrong. A father too, can love with that intensity. A father too can be so connected to their child that their life matters more than his own. Yash Scindia was both an example and a liberation for all fathers today. It is not about blood or gender. It is about love, your capacity to love a fellow human being as your own, when you have taken responsibility for their well being.
And that slight smile on Yash's face when he looked Aarti straight in the eye, through the haze of pain, spoke of his satisfaction. He had allowed his emotions to flow free, felt that intense inexplicable love, he had saved his child when Ansh's life was in danger. PEACE was written all over his face.
Asides:
- Hats of to GC and KS for fantastic performances! 👏👏👏 Both of them lived their characters today and be it Kratika's numb shock for Aarti's realisation that there was an exception to everything she believed about humanity, to her realisation that this was real or Gurmeet, the second the bullet hit is body and the way his eyes searched for Aarti's to tell her he had done what he promised. Wow. Just wow.
-Aarti and Yash had their first flashback of each other! It confused me because Aarti's saree was in colour in her own flashback, which usually does not happen.
- That scene where the camera showed her sindoor, her eyes and then her mangalsutra were beautiful! In some ways this is Yash and Aarti's real marriage, where he fulfills his promise to her, and now she will fulfill the promise she made to him, to make everything alright. This marriage has now been legitimised by two of the most stubborn, reluctant people ever to be bride and groom. There is no splitting them up now!
- I have to give my respect to the Scindias today and I understand why Yash respects them so much. They did not agree with his decision and made no bones about it but they gave their blessings and their parental warnings nonetheless. PapaS could have refused to come out as Pankaj said he had talked to him but he came and he saw Yash.
- The Scindias can't really play the blame game now because it was (bad timing really) but pretty much their decision to call the police that risked Yash's life. It is of course arguable as to whether they would have given Ansh quietly if they got the money, but still the timing of the police was terrible. So I am not blaming them at all, but saying that they carry enough of the potential blame not to be able to play the game themselves.
- I liked that Pankaj went ahead to tell Yash despite Aarti's head shaking. He has to do his duty by Yash and the rest is up to him. I sort of wonder why Aarti said don't tell him. Was she scared Yash would refuse to give the money? Or that they would get caught up in an argument and miss the kidnapper's call?
- The precap: I don't blame Gayatri and neither does Shobha. Good. Now that we have taken care of that, what is Aarti going to do about it?
There has been something I loved deeply about the way this character was written ever since that kitchen flashback with Arpita, and even before that his agitation at not being given the chance to look after his children. Yash is a nurturer by nature who has been told repeatedly that this is a mother's role and today in that poignant flashback, Aarti told him the same thing, that only a mother could put her life on the line when it came to her child. Everyone from his mother, to his bhabhi to his own children have told him the same thing, he cannot do what a mother can, in different capacities.
Today, this show redefined the meaning of equality in a way that is often overlooked. Women are not the only ones subject to sexism and gender stereotyping. But while women are constantly being encouraged to break the glass ceiling in their professional setting, how many of us stop to consider the glass ceiling for men in a domestic context? If we take the Scindia Parivar as an example, men are considered effeminate if they cook, do things for their wives, look after the children or grieve openly. They are not encouraged to share their emotions, even with the ones closest to them as they are expected to "man up" and move on.
Despite all of this, Yash tries, he tries to comb his daughters' hair even when he has been told repeatedly that he cannot, he tries to keep them happy and looked after, cheering them up and feeding them at his own wedding and through all this he grieves in secret, as much as possible nursing the biggest wound of his life far from the eyes of his critical family and the critical society they inhabit.
But I think the first time I felt for Yash as a father was when he had that flashback of Arpita in the kitchen when she was making food for her children. He notices the joy on her face when she does something for them. At this point even she tells him that being a mother is something special, the joy you feel when you care for your children is something that you have to be a mother to know. And Yash said the most poignant thing. He resented the fact that this joy was only given to women, because he wanted to experience it as well. He would only find out years later that what his wife told him was a construct of society, that a mother some how loved more intensely than a father, was some how more tightly bound to her children. And he didn't prove Arpita wrong. She died with her belief that motherly love was exclusive to mothers. Yash didn't prove her wrong because he had not yet discovered himself.
But the Yash that Aarti Dubey married was not the same Yash that lamented Aprita's declaration. It was a new Yash who had tried to cope with his daughters for these years, against constant pressure to act his role as a man, who under this pressure had decided to marry her and finally it was Aarti who broke the dam of his emotions, who allowed him to feel what he had always suppressed, that intense love that "only a mother can feel" for her child. And once that dam broke there was no turning back. All those years, he suppressed his deepest emotions for the sake of his family who ordered him to do differently but now that they were released, he was a new man, one that allowed his heart in on the discussion, one that allowed his conscience to speak louder than cool logic and held himself answerable and one that passionately loved his son and wanted him safe.
And today despite that, he was told once again. You can give money but you would not give your life, because that is something only a mother can do. And at some level, i think Yash believed it too because that is all he has known and he doubted himself. Only a mother can love with that intensity. So he let Aarti come along. But in the end, he proved her wrong and he proved himself wrong. A father too, can love with that intensity. A father too can be so connected to their child that their life matters more than his own. Yash Scindia was both an example and a liberation for all fathers today. It is not about blood or gender. It is about love, your capacity to love a fellow human being as your own, when you have taken responsibility for their well being.
And that slight smile on Yash's face when he looked Aarti straight in the eye, through the haze of pain, spoke of his satisfaction. He had allowed his emotions to flow free, felt that intense inexplicable love, he had saved his child when Ansh's life was in danger. PEACE was written all over his face.
Asides:
- Hats of to GC and KS for fantastic performances! 👏👏👏 Both of them lived their characters today and be it Kratika's numb shock for Aarti's realisation that there was an exception to everything she believed about humanity, to her realisation that this was real or Gurmeet, the second the bullet hit is body and the way his eyes searched for Aarti's to tell her he had done what he promised. Wow. Just wow.
-Aarti and Yash had their first flashback of each other! It confused me because Aarti's saree was in colour in her own flashback, which usually does not happen.
- That scene where the camera showed her sindoor, her eyes and then her mangalsutra were beautiful! In some ways this is Yash and Aarti's real marriage, where he fulfills his promise to her, and now she will fulfill the promise she made to him, to make everything alright. This marriage has now been legitimised by two of the most stubborn, reluctant people ever to be bride and groom. There is no splitting them up now!
- I have to give my respect to the Scindias today and I understand why Yash respects them so much. They did not agree with his decision and made no bones about it but they gave their blessings and their parental warnings nonetheless. PapaS could have refused to come out as Pankaj said he had talked to him but he came and he saw Yash.
- The Scindias can't really play the blame game now because it was (bad timing really) but pretty much their decision to call the police that risked Yash's life. It is of course arguable as to whether they would have given Ansh quietly if they got the money, but still the timing of the police was terrible. So I am not blaming them at all, but saying that they carry enough of the potential blame not to be able to play the game themselves.
- I liked that Pankaj went ahead to tell Yash despite Aarti's head shaking. He has to do his duty by Yash and the rest is up to him. I sort of wonder why Aarti said don't tell him. Was she scared Yash would refuse to give the money? Or that they would get caught up in an argument and miss the kidnapper's call?
- The precap: I don't blame Gayatri and neither does Shobha. Good. Now that we have taken care of that, what is Aarti going to do about it?
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