Lovely write-up, Anu. Great replies as well, everyone.
I watch this show sporadically at best, so am not really the best person to "analyse" the characters or whether they are consistent. To me, Abhi is the only one who has a definite arc of any sort...this is very much HIS story and he contextualizes every other character, including Meera. I've already written about why I personally quite liked Abhi's realisation of love, so this one's just the general impression I've gotten of Meera from whatever little I've watched.
There are only two things somewhat concrete about Meera: one, she wants to make her parents happy and proud of her in some way, and two, she wants to be happy and live in the moment. Problem is, these two "aims" of her life, and the way she's going about fulfilling them, are often so contradictory to each other that they make no sense whatsoever and end up confusing the viewers, especially because they don't really give Meera any moments of reflection as such (none that I've seen, at least). This, coupled with her unconventional but cute way of going about life, makes Meera both endearing and something of an unknown entity, which is exactly what attracts Abhi to her. But it also makes for an interesting contrast with the way they portray Abhi, whose every moment, every thought, is so clearly laid out for the viewers that it's impossible not to form that instant connect with him.
Now this approach could be a deliberate narrative device (knowing desi tv however, I very much doubt it 😆). More likely it's a case of keeping Meera open to all kinds of possibilities under the guise of her "quirks"...her nutty behaviour has been established from the start so every unexplained action of hers can be slotted under that category only...easy peasy. This approach doesn't work for every viewer obviously, but I think she's been made endearing enough by both the writing and the acting to make up for the lack in substance.
I like Meera well enough; I just don't find her interesting in the way I do Abhi. And that's fine because for me, Meera is simply who she is...an agent of change who is out of step with everyone else around her. I'll be very surprised if the writers bring about any huge transformations in her character or force any major choices on her apart from the falling in love part. As far as i see it, this is Abhi's journey and Meera is simple the catalyst of change.
The modern art analogy which Mads gave is probably the best way to approach Meera -- make your own meanings out of her rather than waiting for her to make any sense to you. 😆
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