"there
is the heat of love, the pulsing rush of longing, the lover's whisper,
irresistible - magic to make the sanest man go mad."~~~ homer, the illiad ~~~
heat percolated the episode. there was fun and games, scenes provoking laughter, great timing and blocking seen often on the comic stage. yet there was that sense of hotness rising within. and it was not just to do with the chillies in the daal. what mami had said was true, the whole menu had been changed.
two people behaved like kids. won't talk to you. hah, gave him an important message, but instead of thank you, i get only gussa (of course, khushi has no idea that the ram charit manas and not the chit has reached him)... won't tell you there's loads of chilli in the daal, will act it out instead. and since i can't help but be concerned about you, let me try to get someone else to tell you.
oh, so she has made this daal, and la this one? then of course, i'll have the one made by la... but... but... "jaisa bhi hai. main yehi khaaoonga" however it is, this is the one i am going to eat.
while she watches horrified, he goes for the super hot daal. one spoonful and the heat hits. the man is evaporating almost at this temperature but nevertheless munching slowly... not giving up... she turns away... hiccc... up.
ah, she knows what's up, turns back with that see, i knew it look. well if he was even remotely considering desisting from the next spoon, that did it. the jawline is set.
hiccc...
so you think i can't? say dark chocolate now molten caramel eyes to slight pink smile.
speed hiccup eating.
silly though this game may seem, it is intimate. two people caught in their own little circle, a separate enclosure within a larger space. there only she exists for him and he for her. albeit now only in irritation, anger, yet only the two. as the ire rises, so does the blaze. never occurs to either of these fairly intelligent people that this is childish, they can walk away from it.
he's by the pool, yelling at someone on the phone, mad at missing the conference call. but some girl had been told that the time had been changed. immediately, memories of khushi leaping around in frantic dumb charade trying to tell him something. but he's had it with her, he turns away from the memory, only to find her standing right before him, trayful of things in hands.
they can't talk. all he can do is make a face. but she can't leave, because his mouth is burning and she has to do something about it.
why, khushi?
this man is rude to you. has done what he has that diwali night, told you categorically you mean nothing, koi matlab nahin, then after making sure your finger was secure, not bleeding any more, also told you he never wants to see your face or talk to you, now this ridiculous no speech condition is on. why do you care whether his mouth sizzles and goes up in flame or not?
he can't not hold you. you can't not care for him.
but why get in so deep, let's play instead. sometimes it's just nice to be like kids. let it all out.
before she can help it, a tiny smile flickers... not good. he turns away. khushi clears throat, shows chilli, does the whole act, he is still burning, his expression reveals extreme discomfort and he just stands there watching her again... all that miming. why doesn't he leave? would he tolerate this from anyone else?
she offers the glass of milk to soothe the burning... can't bear to watch this arrogant mean awful terrible laad governor kahin ke suffer.
he is perhaps ready to take a sip. advances slowly, accepts the glass, looks at her and... again that i'll show you confrontation, the to hell with you accent in it. splash! into the pool goes milk. he is not giving in. no surrender. it's war to its bitter end...
and yet he will save her and feel things he has no idea what to do with... so will she.
and if everything were so funny and nothing else, would he approach her in their classic advance retreat movement again? and why would she walk backward, not turn away, and almost fall and he catch her and jerk her forward, close? still seething, still hurting but somehow wanting her even in that intense moment of physical pain and anger.
later when khushi hears that he has asked hp for some milk, usually anathema to him, she is enraged, doesn't occur to her he has accepted her solution, just that he's rejected it from her hand. "pata nahin kahan ka laad governor samajhte hain apne aap ko," don't know he thinks he's the lg of which place. why was i feeling bad for him... he's getting milk... "uss lg ke na bahut nakhre hain..." that lg has too many hassles, what's wrong with my hands, are there worms on them that he wouldn't accept the milk i gave him?
oh she's mad at him. this is now personal. and she will retaliate. but again like a tween. he is talking on the phone. oh yeah? she brings out the metal pestle and mortar and starts banging loudly. disturbing him with joy. to emphasise her intent she looks at him, smiles sweetly, turns back and starts going at it with greater gusto.
he's furious. but helpless. his condition. no talking. now suffer.
only recourse, yell out to di. now how little boy is this. "di... di... i couldn't even hear myself..." so get this person to stop making noise. what noise, which person? she's disappeared, he's confused. who is 8 who is 14 and isn't di's comment terribly mother like? i was working, you disturbed me for nothing.
something about the whole episode takes us back to childhood and creates a space for mother to enter. and she is waiting right there, in those kangans nani reminds anjali of.
but that pesky girl is hiding behind the platform... and then she's caught. gotcha.
the walls adults build are usually too high. they hem us in, don't let us feel, stop the flow, the qi. for the beautiful moments ahead, i guess they had to feel the uncomplicated innocence of children in themselves. it's been so so long since asr has felt this simplicity. only khushi could reduce the mighty tycoon to endless khela... play. he makes her feel all woman, she helps him get back in touch with his inner child.
the importance of play in love can never be over emphasized. what was krishna doing but playing with his radha and the gopis all the time. the chit made an interesting comeback and moved from hand to hand till anjali finally got what it meant.
my favourite from la today, "nani ji aap itna overact... i mean aap itna overreact kyun kar rahi hain..." naniji why are you overacting so much, i mean over reacting today. got to agree, nani was overdoing a bit, la sensed it, so much is not needed. but of course, she makes enough hindi related mistakes to come out looking silly... poor la. but chilli idea was hers, so...
mami inshpektar did some don istyle talking and got to work. did a fantastic inspector clouseau-esque disclosing all to her nemesis nani, instead of phatti saree. she thought she'd been stumped, but the writers had given her the best lines as always. this episode, her gorgeous, "jaise humre tongue pe daragon tandav karat hai..." as though a dragon is doing a mad dance on my tongue. a tandav is about to begin and a fierce, practically mythical, creature it is that shall do it. dance begins this evening, 8pm.
natkhat nani... playful nani came up. in fact, the episode started with nani and anjali discussing all this mazak masti and tricks reminding them of being kids again and then averring all was for a good cause. but towards the end, a beautiful connection. nani and asr share another trait... playfulness... i read: child like innocence and intelligence (natkhat is always a krishna word somehow, thanks to epics, movies, songs, the works). he was a lively kid full of tricks and things once, a trait grandma proudly claims to be passed to him from her, "tabhi toh hum chhotey ke nani hain," that's why i'm chhotey's nani.
"each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't light them all by ourselves."
~~~ laura esquivel, like water for chocolate ~~~
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