Originally posted by: srini18
Delicious writing 😋👌.. I don't come here often but when I do, you leave me delighted!! Thank you!!
I don't want to get into the nuances of Shagun and her whitewashing in the show or the evolution of Ishita as Jagat Mata but on the anatomy of Ishita...
I concur with your interpretation of Ishita as a selfless lady and she has been the same for most part , infact was overboard at times. One more adjective, I would like to use is bold.. Taking a cue from your writing, it's not just the innate qualities that made her such but alas the human beings and circumstances were pivotal in shaping her up .
By virtue of her disability, she was a victim of selfishness of highest degree.. Her fiance with whom she dreamt of a fairytale, left her high and dry, abandoned her because she wasn't a fertile womb and couldn't beget his child. Adding to the misery, Devayani, Subbu's Mom who carried lots of bile was relentless in her attack against Ishita and never missed a chance to condescend her for the disability. Such avalanche of inconsideration made Ishita immune to self-centeredness and in the process she became thick-skinned to filter out the malice..Yes, disability was the worst thing that happened to Ishita but the silver lining was, it modelled her into a better and brave human being...
Your comparison of Ishita in YHM vs Ishita in Custody was exciting!!! Ishita in YHM was not insecure as far as Ruhi because Ruhi accepted her as a mother, Ishita was Ishima to Ruhi. It was Ruhi well before Raman who always stood up for Ishita, a support system.. In fact, Ruhi had unanimously chosen Ishita in the court, twice, once when she was just a neighbor and the very next day when she was anointed as her mother. Even during the nascent stage of IshRa marriage, it was Ruhi who shielded her Ishima as in the case of Ishita tendering apologies to Adi..
Hence with Ruhi on her side, Ishita started longing for Ruhi ki Papa 🤗, for the fact that Ruhi had gifted her Papa to Momma on the occasion of Mother's Day 😍!!! However, narcissistic Shagun who couldn't digest the fact that the crestfallen Raman moved on in his life, tried all the tricks of trade to unsettle IshRa's lives, which in turn invigorated the delicate feminine traits of Ishita, the wife 😁. In hindsight, Shagun's desperation helped IshRa to come closer...
However, Ishita comes across as extremely possessive woman when Shagun tricks Raman into signing the custody of Ruhi.. The epic outburst when she asserts to Raman, "Ruhi Nahi Hai, Hum Nahi Hai " 😭.. Was Ishita only insecure of Ruhi and had nothing for Raman, absolutely not!!..Her haunting miseries of the past along with the inability to conceive made her apprehensive..She was berserk since Ruhi, the basis of their relationship was taken away from her and so would be Raman. After all, it was sirf Ruhi ke liye, though they leapfrogged but there wasn't proclamation of love .. Her dream of a family, her being a complete woman was turning into yet another nightmare. This was the track where Ishita was most vulnerable before leap..
Coming to Ishita in Custody, Ruhi wasn't the building block for IshRa's relationship. In fact, IshRa are two abandoned souls who had a pang of sympathy for the other. In the turn of events, they are involved in an illicit affair and get married subsequently to validate their advances.. However, the very next moment Raman was caught in a cobweb of guilt and dilemma about Ishita's acceptance, especially by his children. Ishita in the novel was a survivor of a failed marriage and couldn't afford one more catastrophe at any cost. Furthermore, Ruhi though accepted her as a wife of her father, but Ishita was no Ishima to Ruhi . So unlike in the show, she had to safeguard her place as a mother and wife and her insecurity quotient was double-fold to that of Ishita in YHM, who had no threat as mother, atleast during the incipient stages...
Ishita knew children was Raman's underbelly like in the show. Unlike in the show, she exploited it to cement her place in the Bhalla house, typical of a human being, she was controlling as a mother and wife. Though she manipulated Ruhi but she never ill - treated her. She was perpetually apprehensive of Adi, tried to nurture a bond with him but after getting a cold shoulder, Ishita tried her best to keep Ruhi immune to Adi's deliberations.
She never allowed Ruhi to meet Shagun, who was a more affable mother and less gray than in the show. Ishita was persistent on calling the shots for Ruhi as in school selection , vetoing Raman at times to bolster the fact that she is the mother of Ruhi. At the end of novel, Ruhi emerges as a mirror image of Ishita (at least in a superficial manner), who had a profound effect to corroborate her claim as a mother
Furthermore, she pushed Adi away from Raman's life and made him to chose Ruhi only in the court, a typical step mom. Ishita wasn't a selfless soul in the novel, she was more human like any other, a stark contrast with munificent Ishita in the show...
Also, one interesting aspect of your write up is the induced stoicism in Ishita's behavior and that was an effect of her choice.. Ishita chose love instead of hate. Inability to conceive children was her Achilles' heel and was deserted by Subbu for the same.. It's a human proclivity to detest the source of distress as Raman did. He started loathing most of the women and termed them as gold diggers, post Shagun's infidelity..As a result, he was in a self inflicted mess.. Hate begets hate and that happened in the case of Raman, who transformed himself into vengeful RKB from a Happy Puttar ☹️
Contrastingly, Ishita instead of drowning in the sea of sadness, or exacting vendetta, started loving children. Her love for children increased by bounds and leaps, she devoted most of her time in treating kids which embalmed her and kept her emotions at bay. Her quantum of love towards children was and is so unfathomable that she couldn't even despise Subbu's child, focal point of her sufferings.
However, I don't necessarily see Ishita as flawless in the beginning, she was judgemental and it continues.. She misunderstood Raman as the sole reason for Ruhi's desolation and surmised that his insolence shoved Ruhi's mother away from the family.. Ishita and Raman have flaws but together they are flawless 😍🤩
Sorry for my garrulous rant and thank you Queen for such inspiring write up!!! Keep it coming!!!