28/6 Dragon Club: Let's Play Office-Office

So I stubbornly refuse to believe the word of Shobha and her minions. Aarti is not in love. But she is having a plethora of other feelings that could be the beginnings of that ever elusive definition of love, which Shobha the love guru seems so confident of knowing perfectly. Even though her scene with Dubey was the heights of weird, it sort of proved Shobha's symptoms right in her own case, which is possibly why she is so confident of them proving true in Aarti's. But again and again she fails to realise the complexity of the situation that Aarti is in and the feelings that that complexity generates in her daughter. She seems content to convince herself and her loyal shishyas that this is just like any other love story and the same rules apply.

To unpack Aarti's feelings at this stage is a complex and delicate thing. She is feeling entirely too many things on too many different levels and there are the beginnings of feelings for Yash, but nothing that could be termed as love. Just like they wanted Aarti to take the short cut to Palak's heart and convinced her of the same, They want her to win Yash as soon as possible, whatever it takes and seem blissfully oblivious of the fact that Yash is the biggest obstacle in Aarti's confession, if at all she does harbour any feelings resembling love for him. I don't like the inherent bias they are employing in this assumption because it almost sounds like Aarti has to fall in love with Yash to deserve his love in return. They have no respect for the fact that on the inside, Aarti might be just as broken as Yash is, only with the fortitude not to show it. It is like she is being punished for not letting her pain define her to everyone outside of it. I resent that.

That being said, I think for the most part today, the popinjays mistook job satisfaction for love. Every conclusion they made could have applied just as easily to the job as to Yash. She was smiling from the inside and to me it looked like that was because she got to be who she was and do what she loved for the first time in such a long time. It made her effervescent because she never saw this coming. At the most she thought she could fill in adequately for Yash's assistant and here she is getting praise upon praise from him for her work. How long has it been since someone appreciated Aarti for being Aarti? Someone other than Ansh and Payal, that is, who is her equal? As for her enjoying spending time with Yash, couldn't that also mean that she was enjoying her work so much and was so engrossed that she didn't see the time pass?

As for her expressions of smiling and awkwardness, I have an explanation for that too. I think she was trying to project a professional and capable image to Yash so she didn't smile or act hyper in front of him though she was dancing on the inside. Whenever he was around, she looked serious and sombre, and she quickly gathered herself after the fall because once she got that tiny bit of praise from him, she wanted to prove herself worthy of it! I can say I act like this with my boss too where I graciously accept her praise on a job well done and then silently do a jig the moment she turns her back. 😆 This is how I saw the food scene. She was all awkward and tentative around him because she is intimidated by him; he is her boss now and eating from the same plate as your boss is weird.

I guess I just want to cut Aarti some slack. Life is not all about falling in love. There are so many things that can give you such ecstatic feelings and doing what you love and being recognised for your talent is definitely one of them. That is how I saw Aarti today.

What about the lilting love song that played in the background, you ask? Here is what I think. I think Aarti is stepping into the realm of complex feelings with this interaction with Yash. It is true that I don't believe she is in love and her delirious ecstasy comes from being able to do something she loves again and being noted for it. BUT I think the situation is complicated by the relationship she shares with Yash before this whole interaction. There is respect, gratitude, compassion and of course the beginnings of an attraction and a friendship.

The interactions they exchanged today, though purely professional were coloured by these previous emotions that have come and gone in their relationship. I am sure the fact that Yash paid her a compliment was mixed with the physical attraction and the respect she has for him and who knows how to define the product? But like Indu has been saying, this is such a non-linear process for Aarti that it will be a long time before she sorts through these feelings and finds out where love fits in to the equation.

Signs of foreboding for the popinjays: Pari's justified outburst (good call Jyo!), Dubey's skepticism even after Shobha's flirting and giggling and BUA...dandandan. Frankly, I will be more than happy to see this blow up in their faces!