4/7 Dragon Club: Project Heart Brooch

There were so many interesting comparisons between Yash and Aarti today and so many little revelations regarding the way they each feel about love. Which parts of the love story each found touching their respective souls was so different, that it makes me feel once again that love is the elephant and we are all just blind men seeing different parts of it and giving it our own definitions. Some know more facets while others know only one with great intensity and Yash and Aarti are two such people, who each know a few facets of love and I love how this was brought out through the way they acted with respect to different phases in the Neelam - Kunal story.

For Yash, his first trigger was the idea of two lovers being separated and that too irrevocably by death. He became completely emotional and promised Neelam that he would get her married to the man of her choice because he couldn't stand the idea of two people in love being separated. Like we discussed extensively, the idea that this love could be one sided did not occur to Yash, before he charged into the minister's wife's hall and confronted her directly, oblivious of the dangers. Here it was Aarti who added the dose of practicality, first by saving Yash from the sticky situation and then by suggesting the very real possibility that this love could be one-sided. Naturally, this would occur to Aarti rather than Yash because of her own experiences, over his.

Yash has only experienced love where both partners are equally invested and so the thought does not even occur to him that Kunal may not love Neelam when she loves him so ardently. Similarly, Aarti continues her practical bent of mind when she arranges a perfect stealth meeting between the lovers, and here is where her weakness comes into play. Yash, always the viewer of the bigger picture thinks, Neelam and Kunal are going to be together forever, so what is the need of these stolen few minutes? Aarti on the other hand, sees love as something that can be there one moment and vanish the next. Where Yash couldn't stand the thought of the lovers being separated for a lifetime, Aarti cannot stand the thought of them being separated in this moment, which is all they have for sure. Similarly, while Yash has an emotional need to unite couples that are separated, Aarti goes all rationally-challenged when she sees the couple in love and hesitates to separate them.

And then it was beautiful to see it all culminate in where they agree completely: that love is is not noble in and of itself, if you do not respect it and give it a proper context. So they tell Neelam that what she is doing is wrong, that she is the only one who can convince her parents if she every wants them to change. Here Yash is the practical one, voicing the very valid concern that her parents have incredible reach, and no, love does not conquer all. Where Aarti's thinking on her feet saved them last time, his long-term thinking played the role of realist here.

Unfortunately, while both of their weaknesses got them in trouble, last time Aarti was in the clear. This time Yash knows they are both trapped and good, and yet he cannot go back on his word to Neelam. At first I thought he was really stupid but then I quelled my inner cynic and realised that Yash really is a hero. He maybe fighting for this one girl, but he is also fighting for an idea and a better world for his kids to grow up in. Today he actually reminded me of Atticus Finch when he said that he could not just sit there and do nothing. It reminded me so much of why Atticus took up the case that defines the book:

"For a number of reasons.The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell Jem [his son] not to do something again"

Yash is doing this for his own peace of mind, because if he doesn't he won't be able to live with himself. And yet there is no denying the trouble that causes his family who do not see past society and rules, to the baser foundations of humanity and love. The reason why Aarti is so perfect for him is that she gives him the space to be this idealist and the warrior of the abstract by fulfilling the practical side. She could have gone with him; we all know how stubborn she can be but she didn't. She did the braver, harder thing of marching into that house, sharing the news with everyone and facing the reactions. Yash is acting like a superhero, and there is a reason that all canonic superheroes try to cut ties with their families and try not to get into long-term relationships. It is because their job does not allow them that luxury. And here we see Yash in true superhero style, sacrificing his family's happiness for the greater good of humanity.

But Aarti is not like that. As much as she appreciates upholding these "eternal verities," nothing for her really comes above or before her own family, her children and now Yash. She has the power of separating the outside world from her own family and values which Yash does not. And so ultimately, while Yash fights for abstract concepts like caste equality, love and humanity, Aarti fights for her people. She let Yash continue this fight on his own with apprehensions but it was only after she went into that house and saw his distraught family that she found her own fight.