Originally posted by: CogitoErgoSum
Res 😊 Saku dearest am on business travel for a day. But will un res as soon as I can.
Un-Res
Saku dear, if you only knew how much I've been itching to update my comment for the last nearly couple of days! 🤗 Travel, stay at a place with no wifi, a conked out net connect device, left me completely irritated at my inability to Un-res till now. 😭
But anyway, here I am. 😃 I've already kinds told you in brief how much I liked this chapter over our scraps and spoiler (non spoiler?) 😆 discussion. It was so lovely, Saku---all those lovely SwaSan moments that were almost breathlessly fragile, in the incandescent beauty you conjured up. Is that your gift of a patronus charm to us, Saku? Your description of SwaSan scenes in your fics?
Somehow, your update got an old favorite poem of mine slipping into my head--its one by William Blake.
""To see a world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and Eternity in an hour"
The way you'd described their bond-- the trust, the passion, the protectiveness, the understanding, the tenderness, their soul connect... Oh my God, I could go on and on.
You started off with a bang, really. 😊 Swara extending the container of sindhoor to him, indicating that he should fill her maang. (Saku, I'm seriously telling you, we have a soul sisterhood going on. You'll see in a bit, when I post Karna Parva--Day 17, I'd written a sindhoor filling scene into Part 1. 😊 But a different setting and context from yours, More of an echo to my description of the climax scene in Dyuta Parva).
So Sanskaar was thinking of conveying Annapurna's wish to her, not because he had given in to her emotional blackmail, but as a further ploy on his part to push Swara away, keep her safe from the clouds threatening them. I loved that deft touch there, Saku. And the chess analogy was great as usual. How Sanskaar hated being the King, restricted in his moves as he saw his Queen make all the sacrifices. He would rather be the Knight, shielding her from threats at every turn!
I just loved how their minds, their psyches converse, understand each other without a single word being spoken. Soulmates, after all.
The whole Kavita (original Kavita? fake Kavita? Twin sister?) entry scene was spellbindingly exciting. I loved the way you described her, very suitably cold and Machiavellian and conniving! She really did prey on Swara's insecurity, didn't she. Not that Sanskaar would leave her. But that he would stay with her out of pity, out of a desire not to hurt, rather than deep, unconditional love. Vile female!
As we briefly touched upon in our exchange of scraps, I saw my estimation of Sharmishta sink further as far as the World of IK/SQ and FK is concerned. 😛 I get her original motive for getting Janki to know about Swara---sneaky, perhaps, but understandable. But now, getting Swara to sign those papers, just in order for her past truth not to come out...was selfish. I really can't think she did it out of a genuine concern for Swara; it was all (or to giver her the benefit of doubt, mainly) to protect herself.
You know, Saku, when I read the previous chapter day before, as to how Swara had dashed off her signature on the papers without even looking, I felt a frisson of alarm. But I figured, hey, its Sahrmishta. She's hardly going to get her daughter to sign divorce papers! You see, I was still following that thread from the show. So this twist came completely out of the left field. 😆 And dare I say, made much more sense than that woeful divorce track on the show!
Swara's reaction to Kavita's entry was so very poignant and painful. She really couldn't help feeling, that Sanskaar had chosen Kavi over her every time in the past. Correct me if I'm missing something from IK/SQ, but to my count, that was 3 times. First, when he called Swara and told her how sorry he was for not choosing her (he chose to marry Kavita, rejecting Swara in his mistaken notion that she came with the crown he so despised); Second, when he dragged Swara into his revenge plot, in his crazed quest for vengeance for Kavita's (supposed?) death; and third, when he left her that letter, stating that he could not stay on in their accursed winter world as memories of Kavita's death would never leave him. Have I missed any more? 😉
I loved the way Sanskaar reassured her. Like you so beautifully put, they had gone so far beyond the need for words. Just a simple touch of his hands, a gentle caress conveyed so much. Again, I loved the way Sanskaar said that he wanted to keep her safe, not because he feared she was weak, but because he was. He couldn't imagine losing her, as he simply could not survive it a second time.
And the crowing glory of this amazingly lovely chapter---his clear realization, which he tells her in a no holds barred manner, that Kavita was never between them, she was never his first love. Sanskaar had lost his love when he allowed Shamrishta to take Swara away...and he would never want to repeat the same callow mistake again.
"Decide my fate, my Queen" . Saku, apart from buying your future books, I would love to go to the theater, to see a movie which would have dialogues written by you. 😊 Lovely words, aptly used. 👏