NAVARASA:The Series-- # 2 UP on Pg 13! Vibhatsa (Disgust) - Page 15

The hope in Dilsher's heart and his thoughts on how he wanted Mala to react contrasted sharply with what actually happened! And he knew in h heart that what he had thought wouldn't happen because after all she never did that!

But even so when he saw disgust for himself in the eyes of the one who should have shown love and understanding, that was heartbreaking!

I must say I have hated Mala for walking out on Rudra since that was shown and I did feel that she wronged Dilsher too but the way Dilsher poisoned Rudra's mind I couldn't really feel for him! But your writing and this story made me feel how helpless and broken Dilsher felt in this situation!

The contrast between war and the sights and sounds of home was also beautifully described!

All in all I am amazed by how well you have written a story depicting disgust!👏

One comment was not enough...

Had to come back...

I have been thinking about this Mala that you showed us..

Who feels disgust when she sees the limp which now mars her once vital and wholesome husband..

We are all tuned to feel compassion and sympathy for the victims of war...

So it shocks us that she was cruel enough to be repulsed by the sight of her husband's injury.

This Mala is weak, selfish..

She thinks skin-deep and cannot imagine spending the rest of her life with this man, who is the father of her child..

And this leads to her leaving him, as well as her child?

Was it a moment of weakness? of desperation?

Or was she really not strong enough to look past the surface and love selflessly?

Come to think about it...how many of us are?

The disclosure of the reason why Mala left is something that I am really looking forward to on the show..

You write so beautifully, you make me think...you make me come back...and comment again...

I have four res-es to un-res on other stories...those writers are going to kill me!

Which reminds me, I am waiting for you to unres on Sleepless and let me know what you think of my woolgathering..

Love

Maya

@ Curled : Wow. We have all been wondering why Mala left Dilsher since the last 4 months. But what a way to show the complexities of her character. That she was a weak woman. Who wanted only perfection. And anything that marred her perfect life had to be left behind. Let's see how the Cvs handle this.

What an emotion to start with! Vibhatsa [bhibatsa] the one that we have a hard time hiding and hiding from! The pain associated with this rasa was so well portrayed...In Nandini's case its all the more ironic, considering that this rasa surfaced with her rescue! That the feeling of dirtied with disgust is associated with homecoming was the saddest tragedy in this story- the opposing and tension filled dichotomy of home/private-clean and public-unclean was so well represented textually here.. Just wow and kudos

Looking forward to more rasas!

--Mirabell

Navin, this was I think by far the most powerful piece of fan fiction I have read. And also the most difficult to read.

You have captured the true depths to which a woman is sometimes forced to sink, ironically by those of her own gender. What is equally heartbreaking is that Nandini believes she has "truly become filth" who does not deserve to be rescued. She was no longer Nandini. In fact she had not heard her own name, not used her own name, in 9 months. Now she was merely a woman forced to submit her body to survive.

Her envy of Rukhsar who has "only one month's grime on her" while she has months of filth to scrape off her skin, off her very soul. Her attempts to rid herself of this dirt were just so so sad.

A beautiful if achingly sad story, Navin.