Hope... Hope springs eternal in the human breast! For me, these profound words of Alexander Pope's poem just reverberated throughout this chapter... And then I remembered the title of this story, Hopes & Ambitions... And I smiled & said, it couldn't have been more poetic!
What an utterly beautiful job you've done Shweta of displaying this aspect of human emotion all through this chapter... While there's life there's hope. Hope the eternal belief that gives you the strength to move mountains against all odds. Without hope, man is all but dead.
It was hope in Khushi's heart, when she heard the horrifying news of her husband's capture and still believed he would come back to her safe & sound. She refused to allow her tears to fall, lest she appear or become weak & give up easily on Arnav's survival. It was hope that made her promise to her unborn child that it will soon know its maker.
It was hope in Aman's heart, when he promised Khushi emphatically that he will move heaven & earth but will get Arnav back to her. After all the trials & tribulations they had both faced, his best friend & his wife deserved all the happiness in the world without a doubt.
It was hope in Arnav's heart, when he resolved to survive the ordeal just to let the love of his life know how much he loves her. He could not & will not die before he has revealed this important detail to her, shared his true feelings with her. She deserves to know. The angel who had managed to thaw his frozen heart against all odds, & had become the reason for his existence, his guiding light, his paragon. She needed to know beyond a shadow of doubt how much he cherished her! He could not even dream of leaving her wallowing in misery of unrequited love. He owed it to her even if it was the last thing he ever did.
Hope that gave him the determination to escape from the clutches of death, and made Arnav negotiate with the leader of the naxals. He hoped to somehow make him trust him & release him. Not just release him but also to be able to actually influence their mindset about their cause, so that they would convert & rehabilitate back into society as law abiding citizens.
It was hope again in Arnav's heart when he tried to give the clue of his location to Khushi for her to detect & decipher. Love does funny things to you, you commit to memory, every tiny detail about your sweetheart, every single word they have ever uttered to you, every one of their likes & dislikes are etched on your memory forever. You develop a photographic memory about their physical appearance & expressions. No wonder Arnav said that the only thing he he knew like the back of his hand was his beautiful wife! Is it any wonder then that Arnav remembered Khushi's valuable lessons on the Mahua flower, the region it grows in, and that it was also known to be the land in which Birbal was born?? He remembers every minute detail, like it were just yesterday when she was educating him about the details of his state.
It was hope again that sprung in Khushi's heart upon hearing her husband's message... Not only had he managed to convey his whereabouts to her hoping she would decode his hidden message but he had also tried to connect to her of all people during this extremely dangerous ordeal...
Hope for an escape made Arnav want to look for a chink in the naxal gang & made him befriend Shiva when he detected his reservations & disillusionment. He tried to influence the young & still impressionable mind, to make him see the futility of this kind of mindless violent rebellion. He tried to instill trust in Shiva's mind for a better life, for him as well as for his people. He tried to convince that if he survived, he would make sure he would correct the wrongs that had been done against the tribal people.
It was hope in Shiva's heart that made him want to trust Arnav for a better future. Shiva, who had been forced to pick up the gun, saw his only chance of redemption & leading a normal & meaningful life in Arnav's release. His hope in Arnav was reinforced when he saw that Arnav really loved his wife. Just to make sure, that Arnav didn't discriminate against people of lower status than him, he questioned Arnav about his feelings for Khushi even though she hailed from a small village & wasn't a royal like him...
Shiva may or may not get pardoned by the state, but at least it was his hope that by releasing Arnav, he was giving a chance to himself & to all those people for whom Arnav could bring justice to. For Arnav to look into their needs of a livelihood, protect their areas & interests, nurture the young minds by making sure they got a sound education, good jobs & generally ensure the upliftment of the poorest of the poor! He saw hope in Arnav, a hope for a better tomorrow.
It was Arnav's hope to see Khushi soon & convey all his feelings to her. "I have important things to do... to say... " After hearing from Aman as to how his brave warrior princess was faring through this nerve-wracking ordeal, Arnav could hardly wait for his release to relieve Khushi from all the stress & trauma of the past few days with especially her being in such a delicate condition. He has been worried sick for her safety & health. His overwhelming love for her wanted to reassure her, through any means he could, as soon as he could, as best as he could given the circumstances... He suddenly remembered, a picture being worth a thousand words or so he had heard... He therefore asked Aman to tell Khushi to go take a look at the treasure he has kept hidden in his studio, just for her...
It was again Arnav's hope that Khushi would understand his feelings through a masterpiece of a painting painted by him of her... I am sure that after seeing herself so beautifully painted & especially signed, "My Paragon" in there, Khushi will get some inkling about his feelings for her after all. If the sketches of her in his drawer were able to convey some of his feelings to her then, then what will be her reaction seeing herself bedecked as a bride sitting on their bed on their wedding night??? One can only imagine...
Arnav also hoped to convey that by giving her access to his most prized possessions & passion in life, his studio, which was & is sacred to him, he could show how important she is to him. His studio is like a shrine to him that he has guarded zealously & has never allowed anybody to enter till date, not even the servants are allowed in for cleaning. So the fact that he is now openly allowing her access to that special room, Khushi should probably get a hint of her place in his life... I think the gesture speaks volumes for itself. And I hope, Khushi understands the significance of him sharing his shrine & his masterpiece with her!!
Hats off to you Shweta for this superlative chapter!!! No amount of words can ever do justice to the sheer brilliance of the magic you've woven in words here. So hopefully, my words above are able to convey somewhat what I am trying to say... If it were up to me, I would only offer you golden silence, which according to me, is the best way to pay ode to someone... You seriously left me speechless wondering at your extensive knowledge on so many areas that you have portrayed so beautifully here. But unfortunately, silence cannot be decoded over cyberspace, hence my feeble attempt at a comment above. 😊
P.S. I also loved how you briefly touched upon the other aspect of your story, i.e. ambition. Ambition for power is another aspect of human nature that spreads across all strata of society, from the highest echelons of society, trickling down to the lowest of the low... Its ubiquitous nature gives it an almost revered position in our minds. Ambition is one of the easiest things to fall trap to & lose one's sense of propriety & justice. It is like a heady intoxicating narcotic which when consumed in excess can lead to not only self ruin but it can also drag entire states or countries to ruin. Such is the deadly power of that desire, therefore, one has to tread very carefully with it.
Edited by pixiegirl - 11 years ago
Cricket
Anupamaa
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