A RRescue and a Risque Remark

Originally posted by: tvbug2011

Today the CVs delivered yet another dhamaakedar Tuesday, and such stunning explosions that forget the on-screen characters, the RR forum itself is still shell-shocked!!

The first explosion was of course the rescue. Sumer complacently left Paro in the car to go deal with the kidnappers. And found himself dealt with rather peremptorily. Forget the money he was owed, he was restrained by three goons while head goon, Bhima, went to get Parvati baisa from the car.

But Paro, alerted by Mythili shifting the sticks, had already left the car and gone to rescue her Jija. And the moment a frustrated and furious Bhima strode off to vent rather more satisfactorily than on a water barrel, Paro freed poor Mythili. Mythili, overwhelmed at the sight of a familiar face after her ordeal, gave way to her relief, briefly. Just a heart-felt hug and some tears to wash away the nightmare, before Paro told her of their precarious position. They were not out of the woods yet. Sumer was still captured by four men. There was no one around to help. It would have to be the girls themselves.

And while Bhima kick-started Sumer's lesson 101 in how to be a more effective deal-maker, the girls swung into action. They'd never done anything like it before, so they looked at one another, squeezed their eyes tightly closed and took the Lord's name. And then with renewed courage they entered the fray. Paro beaned Bhima, who fell face-down to the ground. And deprived Paro of the chance to id him. Throughout the fight, neither would Paro lay eyes on him nor he her. Paro would leave the fight none the wiser about who had kidnapped Mythili and why.

The fight itself the girls made quick work of. Paro laid into the rest of the men with a stout stick and skittled them to the ground with the help of Mythili and her pots. The girls were so efficient that Sumer didn't need to do more than stand and gawp, or lend a hand right at the end when he absolutely couldn't not. Before long, they were back home.

At the haveli, Kakisa made heavy weather of Mythili's return. Calling forth a veritable storm of emotions as she worked up to revealing Paro's fate. In the event, it was she who was hit by climate change as Paro hesitantly walked up to her. Kakisa's emotions almost got the better of her - not only did she have to deal with the blow of a failed plan, she now had to be grateful to Paro for the rescue. Kakisa being Kakisa gritted her teeth and acted her anklets off!

Then tried to patch up the damage. It was coincidental that Bhima was patching himself up when he received her call. 'That woman' was still pressing for her original deal to go through. She would get Paro to them on her wedding day, but the Thakur would have to take out Rudra. Bhima's feelings defied description So, dabbing delicately with his hot compress, Bhima told her where she got off. Which is when the hateful voice pointed out to him that Bhima could go and crib to the Thakur, but then he'd have to take the consequences of a botched operation.

Knowing that Mythili was still feeling the fall-out of the rescue, Paro took her a glass of milk laced with turmeric. And tried to solve the puzzle of why her jija had been kidnapped and by whom. And when Mythili choked on the drink, she offered to get her water. It was while she was descending the stairs that she saw the stranger in the darkened hall. Paro hailed him. But the intruder picked up a plate and let fly at her head. And managed to escape through the back-door.

And following hot-footed in his wake, Paro dashed into Rudra returning from work. The all-concealing darkness and impact with a hard male body were cause enough for agitation. An agitation that Rudra's hands on her shoulders did nothing to lessen. So that it took his concerned voice telling her not to panic, but to hold still, many seconds to penetrate Paro's fogged mind.

Rudra switched on the light and was promptly struck by the wound high on Paro's forehead. Blood! Paro was bleeding! Without conscious thought, he pressed his thumb down on it - hard, to stop the bleeding, cradling her head in his other hand to hold her in place. But physical proximity was a step too far for Paro. She wriggled and struggled and ordered him to leave her, until he was compelled to issue an order of his own - that she stand still; not move. An order she threw back in his face. Her movements wild, efforts redoubled. There was no way he could have prevented his blood-stained thumb from forging into her hair. Or stopped his whole being from seizing up at the sight of the wayward vermilion smear. Rudra froze. The red exclamation detonating in his mind. It took a few moments for the realisation to edge past the shell shock. A realisation singed with the enormity of what he'd accidentally done. And he looked at Paro anew. Looked at her with eyes gone quiet, serious, almost contemplative. And even as the transgressing hand fell away as if in slow motion, fingers splayed, in classic rejection, the other still cupped Paro's head for long moments, one thumb grazing her ear-lobe. Under hooded lids, Rudra's eyes softened and heated. Then Paro looked up and the moment passed.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "Not dizzy or anything?" And when she shook her head, his thoughts went to the intruder. He was already in the haveli, Paro told him. She'd hailed him so he chucked something at her head. So she'd followed him. At that, Rudra's composure broke. Why had she followed him? Was he her brother that he'd bless her? Was she feeling very brave?

Eyes downcast against the evidence of her foolishness, Paro laid the blame on what had happened to Jija. What had happened to Jija? Rudra asked, eyes narrowing with concern. But his question only fired Paro up. After what he'd said earlier in the day, she said, why should he care? So he asked her to stop talking rubbish. That just brought forth more accusations from her. Why was he pretending innocence, when he knew exactly what she was talking about. More obfuscation. "Tell me what you want to clearly," he told her. But that sent her into full waffle mode. He had no right to worry, she said, because it was not his family.

His control snapped. "Parvati Rudra Pratap Ranawat!" he threw at her, each name a pointed barb that struck deep and twisted. Her reaction was immediate and all he could have wished for. She swivelled, stricken! "Don't you dare call me by that name. We're not married yet. And if there's any justice there won't be a wedding. Till now I've not taken the pheras; not worn your mangalsutra; and in my hair there is no..." But he shushed her before she could finish that thought.

One lean finger admonishing her he swaggered towards her. "It's okay till the mangalsutra. But don't say there's no sign of the suhaag in you." And Rudra caught her by the shoulders, disregarding her flinch, "You look like my adharmi wife." And before she could so much as draw in a breath in protest, he turned her around, slowly, deliberately to face the mirror. To see the truth of his words in the wide red smear on her forehead disappearing into disarrayed hair. To absorb the impact of their faces framed together in the mirror as though of a real, passionate couple - his satisfied smile a perfect counterpoint to her pleated brows, wild eyes and quickening breath. To zoom in on herself - a vision of conjugal dishevelment without the benefit of the ceremony.

A truly breathtaking ending to a fantastic episode! Rudra's 'adharmi' audacity stoked up the heat by a good few degrees. If I hadn't seen the evidence of what the faux sindoor did to Rudra's own peace of mind, I'd be cheering for Paro to wipe the smile off his face. But having seen Rudra's reaction, I can only look forward to the wedding, whenever it takes place.

There was much to love in today's episode. The girls' rescue had many lovely moments. None sweeter than the sight of Sumer jaw-dropped watching Paro swing at the goons. Sumer's advice to his victim to not be oversmart because that could hurt, was another delicious one. And Bhima's hot compresses still make me laugh.

The CVs hinted today that Rudra and Paro will face their real test on the wedding day and Mahashivratri. So, I assume that the Thakur is to take Rudra out of the reckoning during the Mela, while Kakisa delivers Paro to the Thakur on the wedding day. So far the PaRud MU re Jija's rescue continues.

Finally, some of us on this thread predicted that Sumer and Paro would return with Mythili without the benefit of Rudra. And that prediction has come true! So cheers to us for a spot-on prediction.

Cr: ShreyaRC for the definition of 'Adharmi'.