Phew! I got a headache visiting this forum the last two days and seeing the number of posts made on the 'infamous' SLAP of Mr.AAK. Wanted to comment on many but the thought of even commenting gave me a headache so stayed quite till now, but now I couldn't help in making a post on this.
Let us cool down a bit and think about on a more retrospective note and then judge the act based on the situation and the character of the person who did it.
But first of all I would like to say that I by no means support a man hitting a woman under any circumstance (or for that matter even a woman hitting a man). And I was disappointed with the CV's for showing this to rationalize the extent of Asad'd anger towards Zoya and as a base for perhaps their future track of them getting closer.But after a lot of thoughts this is the conclusion I reached.
Under the circumstance in which Mr. AAK slapped MS. ZF, I can accept that slap. But I cannot justify it. To me, saying that Asad's action is justified means an entirely different thing. It means approving the action wholeheartedly and saying that he should have done it, which is by no means correct.
Similarly I'm also seeing that some are saying that Zoya deserved it. Zoya again by no means deserved it. Yes she has done some stupid things at times and she had initially kept Mariyam in the house even though Asad has warned her not to do it and that his Maamu had coming to the house. But her intentions were always good and this time she had done what Asad has told her to do and sent Mariyam. So she was completely innocent this time and she didn't deserve it.
But the crux of the situation is Asad didn't know that this time she had the brains to do as he told and she did consider what he advised her and acted on it and was innocent. How ever because of some of her past actions whoever was on Asad's place would doub her and think that she was to be blamed. And here Asad is not blaming her for anything simple. Here he was thinking of Zoya being responsible for perhaps the most traumatic experience of his entire life. Even the day his father left him would not have traumatized him this much. His mother who means everything to him (even more than Ayaan whom he loves extremely) is fighting for her life. His entire world was about to collapse around him and the person whom he thinks is responsible had come and apologized to him putting salt to his wound. He had wanted to hurt something or someone (even himself) or lash out at that time and Zoya whom he detested the most at that moment came on to the receiving end by being an innocent again, and being fully unaware of the turmoil going on his mind.
So here is why I can accept that SLAP.
- He did not slap Zoya intentionally. It was an act under extreme emotional stress in an extremely upsetting situation. So it cannot be really classified as violence against someone.( And DOMESTIC VIOLENCE is something entirely different so I am not going to even say that word with regard to that act.) Violence against someone is when it is done with the intention of hurting the other person and I didn't feel that Asad had that intention
- Asad had dealt with Zoya in many stressful situations when Zoya had done things which got into his nerves - mangalpur incident, when she changed his password and he lost contracts etc... but he had never slapped her. He had always controlled his anger and dealt with her in a manner justifiable with the situation and even helped her and saved her from the soups she had landed in. So I don't think slapping people is in Asad's character. So when someone who would not otherwise slap a person, slaps someone in an extreme emotional state I can accept that.
- And here what comes to mind is, will I forgive if my husband who had never abused and slapped me, slaps me just one time in such a situation? And the conclusion I derived is I can definitely forgive him. So I can accept Asad's slap and forgive him as well and forget the incident. Can you all?
Now why did the CV's resort to the idea of Asad slapping Zoya to show his feelings towards Zoya at that moment? I have no clear idea and I wish they hadn't done it. Because like I have said even though I can accept Asad slapping zoya there is no clear boundary between what some people can define as acceptable and not acceptable and defining what is right and wrong in such a situation is also difficult. And so obviously that act was not acceptable to many and it may even come across as promoting violence... Hence all the different views and bashing as well. So the Cv's should keep in mind the sensitivity of the audience and what would be acceptable to most.
PS. Cannot express how wonderful today's episode was. It was an intense tear jerker. The acting and execution was superb. The emotions displayed by Asad, Zoya , Shirin, Rashid and even Nuzhath and her dialogues was exceptional. Frankly the episode has almost made me forget THE SLAP.
So if our QH CV's are sensitive enough to come up and give us a story dealing with such emotions and such episodes, I am ready to give them the benefit of doubt and give a thumbs up to QH, till they show something which is really unacceptable to me under any circumstance.
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
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