Burning Your Hands for Eight Seconds

Have you ever been burnt? While cooking, have you accidentally grabbed the edge of a hot pan? Have you eaten too hot a pakora? How about a candle accidentally dripping wax on your skin? You react, immediately. It hurts--instantly. And the burn is like nothing on earth. You cry, like a mother***. Scream that the top of your lungs, demand sympathy from your loved ones, and why not? It HURTS. And it is a pain that is so pervasive, your entire mind, not to mention that of your family, is focused on that one inch of reddened, inflamed skin for the next week.


Now imagine the kind of hatred, the sheer helplessness, the sense of entrapment, the panicked terror infusing every inch of Parvati, Last Name Unknown. NOT Parvati Ranawat, because she never chose to be. Not Parvati Rudra anything---because she has a last name, in her mind---the name of her dead spouse. She does not get married every Tuesday. She is a widow. To not be able to mourn that death, to be forced to marry the man who killed her man--that realization came clearly to me, tonight.


Imagine the kind of desperation that makes a woman, trapped in every other way, fight back by dashing herself against the wall, hurting herself because she cannot hurt anyone else. And the unfairness of it--she is an innocent woman against whom a sin is being committed. A woman who cannot bear the thought of doing something that is against her culture, embedding that man's identity into her very skin. She burns that skin, for one ... two ... three ... four ... five ... six ... seven ... eight---excruciating seconds. She takes the self inflicted, insane pain with nothing more than a few muffled cries, until he comes to stop her.


And then, her entire pain, her entire protest---so desperately, so silently made, such a scream from her soul---that resistance is immediately, ruthlessly, completely negated by the man she is protesting against. Rudra could have lost this round. Such a small thing--but she is made to submit. Because---he does not lose. In public, before everyone, not one of whom seem to know what is happening to her before their eyes.


We know. So an earnest request??? Lets love the intensity, adore the couple, celebrate the future. But for now??? Lets not go "Haila! Rudra kitne romantic shomantic hai by God!!" over a scene of self-abuse and forcible submission.

Yeah... I thought about this too. The scene before the hand burning was sheer, clear intimidation, bordering (?) on harassment. In real life, just imagine this tall, army man bending all over you. It is scary.

very well written!! 👏👏👏 it just broke my heart to watch that part... as u said.. 'desperation... and a cry from her soul..'

This line "The kind of desperation that makes a woman, trapped in every other way, fight back by dashing herself against the wall, hurting herself because she cannot hurt anyone else." brought tears back to my eyes...

I didn't find it romantic.. but i saw something else too in it.. strength... will power...resilience...endurance... and what makes a woman so much stronger than a man..

he is the weak one.. she is the stronger one.. who will fight tooth and nail... who will burn her own skin, but not violate her soul... while he will always take the easy way out.. and fall down to any level to achieve what he wants..
while she... will always never willingly do something that will violate her sense of being..





And what I took away from today was 'respect' to the girl she is...the woman who through utter helplessness that refuses to give up...that refuses to sell her soul or her self respect..

Great post! Good that U outlined it!

Thank you.

Your words brought out some unpleasant memories from the past.

Really appreciate this post. With due respect to people who loved the mehendi incident, I found it disturbing. When rudra was going too close to her,it wasn't romantic for me cz I couldn't take my eyes off Paro's disgusted expression. I can't imagine the kind of courage it must have taken her to burn off her palms just to preserve her self-dignity (this post totally explained her agony) and I felt really bad for her when Rudra applied that mehendi,marking her defeat. Even I love watching my favourite jodi romance unknowingly in testing circumstances but today I couldn't. I imagined myself in Paro's place and felt her humiliation and agony. Yes,parvati's beliefs r misplaced but rudra is even more wrong in his approach,this is sheer harrassment

That scene was truly painful to watch. I couldn't bare seeing her like that the girl is going through a bad time after a long time since the jail scenes & when she got abounded by the entry village. I felt Paro pain once again and what she's going through.

Thanks for this post I was just about to make one till I saw yours.