Kalavati Patil, her relationship with various characters
"Those who know not evil, know not good, how would they know Kalavati?"
Thus she stands, a question, a puzzle, an enigma, that creates havoc within the minds of all who know her.
Kala is far from "girly!" but is powerful, proactive, aggressive! she trains, quests, battles and fights just as the boys do! and often much better. She is far removed from generalised females, and one could say she challenges traditional perceptions about the 'purity' of women, as seen in works of fiction, the stereotypes casts, the demure, the coy, the unattainable angel, the dutiful daughter, the silly little wife, the harridan or the doting mother! Kala is neither a paragon of virtue or vice...so is she then a strong female character who like Nakusha, takes control of her own destiny? or is she a rounded, psychologically believable character with multiple layers like her half brother? or is Kala a product of a more recent feminist movement that has produced a more conscious depiction of the roles of women?
Her relationship with herself transcends all other relationships around her. Her own want is prime and pivotal to her and she will climb over people if needs be. Moral qualms and delicacy of relationships she hurls to the winds, when she uses Sudarshan to facilitate her want. She rips her womb out! and boldly defies set rules of motherhood when she blackmail's Kishore into concealing her true nature. She is a infinite presence in PN, which she effortlessly flaunts to no end. But what exactly is her relationship with people that surround her.
Her relationship with, Dutta she bases on recognising how similar they are..Both have blood ties. They both reside at the same address. Both are young and pleasing to the eyes, Dutta is handsome, and Kala is beautiful. Both have a distinct style of dress sense, Dutta in his phatianis of hard colours, blacks, greys, browns and blue; Kala in her fantastic colourful saris and stunning blouses.! Both have a fetish for accessories, Dutta with his ear studs, watch and ring and Kala with her hard to ignore earrings. Both pay attention to their facial grooming; Dutta with his neat contoured stubble, and Kala with her bright lipsticks and defined eye make up!
The pair have adrenaline flowing through their veins. Both focus on Nakusha. Both have a spouse! Nakusha , Kishore. Both have a brother in law Sudarshan! Both have real siblings, Madhu ,Roops Leela. Both look up to Aye Sahib. Lastly both Dutta and Kala hold a pivotal position in the Patil family, he the only son ! and she the eldest daughter... so much so for the alike!
Her relationship with Dutta, now pitched against the differences...
For starters there is the gender difference. Then comes the difference of fathers, followed by mothers also. Dutta is a man of integrity, while Kala is nothing short of corrupt. He is compassionate, while she is cruel . Dutta is pliable when he is with people he trusts, Kala is rigid every which way! He is real, whereas she is dangerously false... He is charitable but she is malevolent. He has a so to speak past love Seema, her past is unknown! Dutta is impulsive , whereas Kala is premeditative!!
Dutta believes in keeping familial bonds, Kala believes in severing blood links!
Finally Dutta loves Nakusha with passion but Kala hates Nakusha with the same passion!!
But in a nut shell, her relationship with Dutta is about competing with her brother, for her mother's attentive affection and for Saata!
With her spouse, she is a disinterested wife, who does her own thing. Her worldly wise, ways of consuming alcohol behind closed doors, poses a contrast against his preoccupation with spirituality. Kala in the main appears to be the stronger partner in the relationship. She knows that he opposes her lack of mothering skills, but chooses to have deaf ears. To the world he appears a hen pecked husband, victim to Kala's overpowering persona. Do you think he would file for a divorce from her, on the grounds of negligence and attempt to murder their child?
With Leela and Roops she is manipulative to the hilt. To her, they are her marionettes closest to her, she caches in on the fact that their are bound by blood ties and hence forth the chances of them refusing to aid and abet with her in her sinister plotting games are quite slim. Besides , she is intelligent enough to realize her status amongst the three, and is swift enough to wield this power. So does this lack of Leela's and Roop's inability to stand up before their elder sister, actually contribute to Kala's dormant undefined mental illness?
For her mother, Kala is the first born child. Thereby she wants to be given the importance of being the eldest, but along the years, the magnitude of her presence lessens with the inclusion of her father's murderer's son into the household. Her affection for her mother is replaced by an undercurrent of jealousy for Dutta as she holds him responsible for usurping her of the birth right of her mother's love. So swept away is she by this envy, that she is blind to all the atrocities she commits even against her own mother. Why could her mother not hear or see the root cause earlier, of why Kala turns to the heinous modus operandi?
With Naku, her relationship is at first that of mistress and maid. She is again brisk to recognise the essential goodness, loyalty, and unconditional love the girl has for her half brother. She sees Naku as a soft target, who she will use as and when, as a pawn. For Kala notes from day one that the chit of a girl, has a sense of duty which supplies her with a personal purpose and meaning... that of being the armour of protection for the one man Kala wants to topple! So yes in Naku she can see a possible obstacle in her path to glory, a threat!. For this is the saint the devil has to slay.. to procure glory. Why can't we accept Kala's animosity towards ,Naku as a normal day to day feature of harmless but natural sharing issue ..sharing her brother's love and money with another woman?
With him it is a matter of a daughter avenging her father's death. She hates him with a vengeance, apart from being her father's killer, she sees him as a useless drunk ,gambler, who adandon's his son and then later on expects her mother to rear his spawn. Rich or not, having to live with his son in the same house, coupled with the unequivocal evidence of her young eyes is justification enough to pay like for like. Out of the two , which does she hate the most the father or the son?
Her relationship with Sudarshan, Chaskar, BG'S, is a that of a female Don. They all dance to her tunes, she manipulates them to sing from the same hymn sheet, and she allows none to be out of tune. They are all miscellaneous characters for her. A means to an end! .. power and the debacle of Dutta's reign. She knows they are like putty in her hands, and although they hate her gutsy garters, they still love to be moulded by her, for they too like her hanker for dominance and supremacy in the home territory. What is with Kala then? this throwing her weight around hench men, this dabbling in the dark shadows of the underworld?...can it be that under her glossed up femme fatal, she really aspires to be the biological male gender that Dutta is? .. does she yearn to be a male, and denounce her woman hood...? is her loathing for Dutta really a yearning to be a young Male don of PW?...
Would someone please explore her relationship with Nana Sahib. Hamlet 53. 28,5. 12
my thanks to my dearest Daya[ Baji] for doing the pictures..
Kumkum Bhagya
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
Jhanak
