Baldev paced up and down his room. In all their years of marriage, never had he ever...
There was no love lost between him and Satrupa. The whole world knew that. But somewhere...deep down somewhere he had been able to tolerate everything that was thrown at his face, because his father seemed to trust Satrupa. He had a deep respect for his dad. That reverence kept him going...tied down to this Mahal, despite how it had treated him unfairly.
Jo apne Pitha ke na ho sake...Did Satrupa have any idea how that hurt him. All his life, he had hidden his sorrow behind his simmering anger and indifference. Oh, but how he thirsted for his father's absolution of his crimes! He would pay for that one mistake, all his life.
The mistake...that cursed slight of a relationship he had succumbed to, when he felt he owned the world... at that age when nothing could stop you. How this one was bound to haunt him all his life!
And to have it thrown at your face every day! In the form of the annoying child that was only half man, as a taunt to his own manliness...In the form of a wife who was set up as an example before him, lapping up all the love and adoration that should have been his...
Vatsalya had been his only haven. For him, he had become every inch the father he himself had yearned for...supportive, understanding...there had been nothing to him beyond Vatsalya.
Beyond being the adorable child, Vatsalya also had been the only thriving link to his father. The son inheriting the family fortunes was so different from the cold wife being handed over the reins to the empire.
How scathing and insensitive her comment had been...the one who couldn't belong to his father...did she have to rub it in? How Satrupa had finally shown her true colours! Unbelievable! His father had been proven wrong...wrong to trust her...wrong to disown him.
Hadn't Vatsalya just been the means to her end? If she had cared about the boy, would she have forced him into something beyond him at the age of seventeen? Had she not been so power hungry, would he have run away...would he have met with that fateful...
How slyly and shockingly she had come up with an alternate heir! A girl could be manipulated so easily, would probably look less conspicuous than a boy...easier to explain away the girl child who was supposedly sent away... what a cock and bull story! Should he call the girl an impostor or her illegitimate child? Did it even matter? Did he want to dig deep into a taunt he had wanted to throw back at her? Did the blatant lie deserve a just inquiry?
xxx
Satrupa reflected on her relationship with the man who had just called her adulterous. She had never forgiven him for the crime he committed by marrying her in deceit. Over the years the throb had eased, she had been willing to forgive- but the man seemed to thrive on pushing her to an edge.
She had expected they could at least be a comfort to each other in their grief, but Baldev had simply found yet another opportunity to point fingers at her. How could he!
But he had been a good father to Vatsalya. Even she couldn't deny that. In the light of that, she could still hope for her daughter's rights to be restored to her...the claim to the empire, the right to her father's affections.
She could forgive any amount of misconstructions, so long as Baldev would stand up for her children. She had always been content with that equation between them as Vatsalya's parents. Her son had even tried to be a bridge between them, and she had been willing to let go, for his sake. But with the current accusations her husband seemed eager to hurl at her...she would have to revert to her earlier wisdom that they were better off, being the banks.
Hi all,
I wrote this up as Baldev's and Satrupa's thoughts, from whatever the show has shown us so far. Though the couple doesn't fit in to any of the popular definitions of marriage, I feel theirs is a love story too. Deep down, they do have some feelings for each other that they have not processed...they have to grow in many ways. And despite disowning each other, I feel they will both miss each other if they were to be separated. Their bond lies deeper than they could ever explain in words, they'd rather let it rot in a corner of their hearts. What they call a bondage might in fact even extend beyond concern for their children...though both are too stubborn to explore it.
Financial markets and global economy
Ishaani
