Today I was thinking of how Arnav and Shyam are supposed to be foils of each other, the villain who looks like a hero and the hero who looks like a villain and all of that. And how that relates to my SPECULATIONS about how each of them is in bed. NSFW post incoming!
I think one of the ways in which they are same same yet different is how their shared flaw of arrogance operates in each of them. They're both extraordinarily intelligent in their specific ways and have, essentially, made their way in the world by their wits, and have a certain disregard for conventional ideas of "honour" - ruthless, by some standards. But a key difference is in their work ethics. Arnav is, essentially, hard working and challenge oriented. He likes to set big goals for himself, and then achieve them, through his own sheer force of will and dedication. Shyam on the other hand is extremely lazy. He uses his intelligence and ruthlessness to device cunning means of avoiding hardships AND hard work. In his head, this makes him all smug and superior to mugs like Arnav. It is for the Arnavs of the world to kill themselves working and earning, and for the Shyams of the world to establish a throughline to that wealth and live comfortably off it. They both mutually despise the other's type and believe themselves superior (and I am firmly on Arnav's side in this - arrogance partially earned through sheer hardwork and extraordinary achievement is much more palatable than arrogance predicated on sheer delusions of grandeur).
Anyway the reason I have reasoned all of this is out is because I had a flash of inspiration about how Arnav and Shyam would be exactly the opposite to each other in bed. While Arnav's ego would manifest as him considering it loser behaviour to leave your partner unsatisfied in bed, Shyam's ego would manifest as considering himself much above such petty matters as thinking of his wife's pleasure in bed.
Don't get me wrong - I don't think Shyam would be traumatizing Anjali or anything. That's not his modus operandi with her. But I think at all times, he is calculating the bare minimum effort he has to deploy to keep Anjali in status quo as his "happy" wife and to meet the requirement of "good husband" in the context he exists in. And in that context, considering Anjali's background, her sheltered and conservative upbringing, her personality and the circles she belongs to, sex essentially is just a duty to be endured. This is the attitude of many Indian women towards sex because this is the loud dominating narrative of patriarchal desi culture. BTW the way that women's bodies are continually sexually controlled, abused and exploited on the one hand and on the other hand, bad/medicore sex experiences for women are totally normalized, in Indian society, does fill me with rage. Even (or perhaps especially) between husband and wife, sex simply isn't really something meant for the wife's pleasure. Like if she gets even below average pleasure its a bonus. If it isn't painful he's the BEST husband. Its unbelievable how even painful sex is something wives are just supposed to endure as part of the deal. The bar is in hell!
So yeah anyway I think he'd be like overly sweet and say all the right sugary sweet things (ewwww) and be "gentle" (ewwwwwww), but it would be ermmmm over soon and all centred on HIS completion and Anjali would be left feeling just fine, most of her pleasure supplied by being psychologically the centre of her beloved's attention than any physical prowess he had or any physical efforts he made towards her. And Shyam's attitude WOULD be manipulating Anjali by leaning into dominant narratives of patriarchy towards sex - gently shutting down any communication about her needs while framing it as for the good of their relationship. Like convincing her that the point of sex is the man's pleasure and the best a woman can expect is a good, kind husband who takes care to make sure its "comfortable" ie not painful for her (ewwwwwwwww) so isn't she so grateful for that????? And canonically they were trying for a baby for some time so I know that even more so in those cases, sex kind of becomes extremely functional and that would suit Shyam very well.
But I can totally see Anjali having this Shyam influenced view of female sexuality as very beige and blah. And then she has a sort of a holy divinity wow revelation moment when she has her first real orgasm with a man who is actually good at sex AND who is super into her, sexually. Aman Mathur, my fanfic idea is calling! Now THAT is 100% a hardworking man, he works for ASR after all, and as a trusted long time employee at that. To quote Khushi, Arnavji aalsi logon ko sunghke pakad lete hain! Anyway I love a woman healing from her trauma via great sex (among other things) story (NOT love - the great sex can turn into love eventually but the crux is in the act of reclaiming your body for your own pleasure, metaphorically cutting its ties to the ghosts of traumas past - yesssss). These stories aren't common and often fucked up in the hands of male writers, but when written well, it can be so resonant and sensual and multi-layered; and also women should all be having way more consensual orgasms than is the current norm. And that's that on that.
And if for a moment I brace myself to explore the idea of Khushi and Shyam in some kind of sexual situation (EWWWWWW) I don't think he'd be any better even if he's more lustful towards her. To start and end with, Khushi is categorically NOT into Shyam sexually in canon, not even when she likes and trusts him (see: Dilli ki autorikshaw scene), so any situation where she is ending up having sex with him is rape at worst and "doing her duty" at best which still feels dangerously close to coercion. And from everything we have seen in Shyam's behaviours with Khushi, he clowns around a lot but he doesn't actually doesn't care about making her happy; the reality of what she thinks and feels is irrelevant to him because only he and his desire matters. He doesn't think of her as a real person at all. He is continually wooing and flirting, seeing her discomfort screaming at him via her body language and sometimes straight out of her mouth, and continually ignoring that to continue his delusion of whatever is happening. The sex wouldn't be just using her for his pleasure - it'd be worse - he'd be continually framing it as love and saying things to that effect all while paying zero attention to her actual feelings and reactions, and emotionally coercing her into enduring it. DISGUSTING. And that's about all I can explore of this terrible AU. TL;DR - Shyam's narcissism and misogyny would make him absolutely terrible at sex, irrespective of the partner. When it comes to female pleasure, Shyam is a NOTHING KNOWER.
Whereas Arnav, well, smarter people than me have analyzed why Arnav Singh Raizada for all his flaws is definitely at the very least competent in bed. Like OF COURSE he and Khushi because of all their extraordinary chemistry, passion, emotional intimacy etc etc are having great sex but even beyond that. Like for him its a deal of mutual pleasure and he is losing the challenge if he fails to pleasure his companion. Arnav hates to lose, ego pe lagega ki ladki bore ho rahi hai. He would be super focused, skilled, and disciplined enough to ensure she's had her pleasures before errr arriving at his. Giving her not only pleasure but AMAZING pleasure would be his goal. Arnav's inherent generosity and respect for women would mean that he puts his intelligence and ego to good use in bed, making him great at sex.
Anyway the moral of the story is that ladies, get like Arnavji and try to smell out the laziness in a man. No one, ever, deserves a Shyam!
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