In front of her disbelieving eyes, Vansh plummets to death. Numbed, in shock Riddhima hurtles towards the precipice but is stopped deftly by Kabir. The grief breaks its dam as Riddhima screams out at Gods for their cruelty while Kabir hides his triumphant smirk.
Overwrought Riddhima beats Kabir, accusing him of murdering her Vansh.. Exhausted, distressed, spent, Riddhima finally wanders off from the hill top, clutching Vansh’s stole firmly to her bosom.
At home, the family make the shocking discovery & are reeling at the shocking news. Riddhima stands mute, sunk in her own despair with no energy to contradict Anupriya when she lies about how Vansh died. But confront she does after a fashion & is forced to stay quiet when Anupriya paints a hoary picture of multiple deaths in the family..
Ishani tries to kill Riddhima under the impression that she was responsible for Vansh’s death but is stopped by Dadi.
Kabir comes, updates the family about the unavailability fo Vansh’s body causing Dadi to take a turn for worse. The family immediately turn their attention to her. Kabir tries to pay his respects to the departed Vansh with a smile of pure happiness but is stopped by Riddhima..
** A beautiful episode that mercifully did not linger overlong in extracting maximum melodrama. Even though grief was the pervading mood of the episode, it did span a wide array of various other emotions & dynamics.
Bleak, desolate, empty & withering is winter, Riddhima & Vansh are in the winter of their relationship.. The fragile love that was slowly awakening in Vansh’s has soured into bitterness, the trust that was a constantly tested now stands firmly broken from Vansh’s end. The relationship that requires two people, two hearts & two souls stands stark defeated by the cold of the winter’s scythe.
Nonetheless it is not the end of Riddhima & Vansh’s pilgrimage, though the cruel winter has frozen the love into bitter hate in Vansh’s heart, though cruel winter has chilled the fires of love into coldest despair in Riddhima’s heart, it has not succeeded in destroying the emotions residing within the two. The kernel of hate that Vansh harbors towards Riddhima will be the shield that will guard his love for her while his mere presence will trigger spring & thence life in Riddhima’s winterland.
Indeed, the harsh winter nurses within its coils a vibrant life that is tested, strengthened and fortified to burst through as a vital,strong force of love washing away the bitter sweetness of the past, resurrecting the purest, most selfless form of love.
Until Spring..Lets wait patiently for the end of winter.. for end it must, end it will…
Riddhima, the girl who trusted the wrong man blindly has had a rude awakening. Despite Vansh’s numerous attempts to tell Riddhima not to trust anyone blindly, inspite of him asking her to trust him or at least extend a measure of trust towards him, Riddhima singularly failed to do so and today she had to pay a heavy price.
Today she took her first lesson into becoming Riddhima Raisinghania when instead of believing Kabir , instead of staying quiet meekly as Anupriya lied, Riddhima demanded answers, Riddhima refused to take the given glib answers at face value & continued to probe, stopping only when family mental health was raised as a specter. Without a pause, without saying anything Riddhima has quietly slipped into Vansh’s shoes, becoming the shield and the protector of the family.
Interesting too that the so far pristine white Riddhima has Vansh’s stole of two extreme colors.. A white & a black (grey for purists). For a woman who fought Vansh every step of the way thinking him to be a criminal crossing the line for his own nefarious purposes, by embracing these shades, she has become what she was meant to be all along – Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania ! A woman who will not be taken for a ride easily, a woman who will make her own decisions and one who will not shirk the from taking actions even if it were to fall in the uncertain shadow region.
Kabir’s dream run of owning, ruling & enjoying the wealth of Vansh Raisinghania is in for a rude jolt. The pawn whom he sent to destroy Vansh has done her job albeit unintentionally but what Kabir does not know is that she is now no more a mere pawn to be played around. She has emerged as a player in her own right & she will put a stop to his juggernaut.. destroy the castle of sand that Kabir has built & be the nightmare that he wanted her to be in Vansh’s life…
But what intrigued me deeply was the last scene, the scene where Kabir extends his hand and tells Riddhima that she is still welcome back in his life …Riddhima saying that she is now Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania.
Now with such interesting tidbit, it is but natural for imagination to get a well deserved run….
Conjecture :
Kabir says with Vansh no longer in the scene, Riddhima is always welcome in his life and that they can make a fresh start again (extends his hand towards Riddhima). But a icy Riddhima firmly retorts that she is not Riddhima, she is now Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania!
Absolutely true, she is no more Riddhima, the bewitched girl who was ready to do anything and did do almost everything for her love..Who blindly believed that love is the be all & end all of the world. She is now Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania who is aware that mere love is not enough to live… A relationship only with love is shallow as long as trust, belief, care and respect does not exist as atoms within love. Vansh who never spoke about love showed her what love is all about. Vansh who never lived by the societal conventions showed what relationship is all about.. Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania will not settle for anything less hereafter! She is not the girl who craved for a family, for a home and a man to love anymore. She has found her everything in Vansh and will live with the memories of it!
BUT the ball game will change once Vansh comes back, an embittered Vansh who will give pain and pain to Riddhima. A man who will be torn but coldly determined to teach her a lesson. what if in his zeal to punish her, he pushes her out of his life.. claims not to want her, hates her …
Riddhima would have been broken by his declaration but Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania will not be bested so easily. She will fight for her man, for her love and how best to trigger the man than to pretend that she will start a new life with her ex flame ( remember Riddhima is still under the illusion that Kabir did all this because he loves her and did not like the fact that she loves Vansh) .. I am sure, a possessive man like Vansh will not be able to bear the sight of HIS Riddhima with anybody else..Remember the DSR time when DSR was about to hold Riddhima’s hands & suddenly comes Vansh furious, shooting possessive invisible bullets at DSR , telling him off and not allowing him to touch even the finger tips of his wife…
Riddhima Vansh Raisinghania would not be above using her ex flame to inflame the jealousy of her husband, force him to face his heart, claim him as her own…
After all it is fair in Love & war… and what is Love..but another form of war !!!
