#episode 395

[lovely-v]

one piece story progression:

There's a guy who looks like sanji but ugly so sanji has to kick him in the face until he's handsome

Luffy must end slavery

[syvellsworld]

[phati-sari]

Hello PS...Happy New Year..

Just read an ask om the blog referring to the scene where Arnav asks Khushi to gain weight..is it implied in the show that he is implying her to gain weight for child birth or its a fan interpretation?

Hello and happy new year anon :)

I reckon it's pretty clear -- reasoning is captured here -- but ultimately it's an interpretation.

Thanks for asking!

[lovely-v]

Okay i was willing to give people the pass for not picking up on the clearly-real-life-inspired political themes of Drum Island or Skypeia but after watching this I truly believe there cannot be a single person on earth who thinks one piece isn't a political show

[phati-sari]

Hi PS !! I started following your blog recently after rewatching ipkknd . It really helped to understand the emotion in between the scenes . Thank you soo much for this wonderful blog . And I wanted to ask that during Mrs India track when arnav asked her to gain weight as in implying to start the family but then again Khushi she says she can’t gain . Do you think she got what he meant ? Because after he was clearly upset when he said for everyone career is imp

Hello!!

I reckon she definitely didn't understand what he was trying to say.

Thanks for asking!

[phati-sari]

Hi me again, back to back so following your instruction i split my question. Why did Arnav get sad when Khushi said i can not gain weight now. He says sadly that professional life is more imp than personal why like it was confusing for me because clearly Khushi isn't interested in any men there or modeling as profession she was doing this to prove it to him then why did he say so.

Hello,

I reckon it’s a reference to wanting children. It’s the way he thinks about this response before fully committing and the roughness in his voice when he mentions her gaining weight. Plus the way he’s disappointed when Khushi immediately counters with “but I can’t put on weight now”.

There's a bit of nuance in that sequence as well, from Arnav trying to gauge whether she'll put her husband's request above that of her trainers (turns out, nope) to him pointing out the hypocrisy in her wanting to put her career before her personal life (something that's always wrong when he does it).

It seems to me that you’re coming to the Mrs India track with a perspective that paints all of Khushi’s actions and motivations as correct and reasonable, and all of Arnav’s as unreasonable and perplexing. You might want to rethink that if your goal is a truly objective understanding of what happened.

[phati-sari]

Hi PS! How are you doing? Do you think Arnav stopped Khushi from entering the beauty contest because he believed she was very naive and not cut out for the kind of competition or was it because he felt she didn't really stand a chance and didn't want to see her disappointed. Also, Arnav becomes jealous and angry when a guy praises Khushi's beauty.. is he insecure or is it possessiveness? Thanks

Hi :)

I’m well thanks! I hope you are too :)

I feel the Mrs India track is a confused mess that almost defies analysis on account of it being mostly nonsensical.

Do you think Arnav stopped Khushi from entering the beauty contest because he believed she was very naive and not cut out for the kind of competition or was it because he felt she didn’t really stand a chance and didn’t want to see her disappointed.

I think he was concerned for her and I think he had a reason to be.

I mean, what kind of person enters a modelling contest without being willing to do the swimsuit event!?!? Khushi only had vague ideas about what she’d stepped into (ramp walks, makeup, high heels). She thought she could do everything herself but for all her bluster, she needed Arnav to help her navigate the world she was hell-bent on entering.

She entered to prove she could be independent, and maybe in some ways she did, but she was naive and definitely not cut out for that environment. 

Arnav was trying to protect her, albeit clumsily. I wasn’t impressed with the stunts he pulled but I didn’t like Khushi’s conduct either. Neither of them was at their best in this track.

I also think Khushi wouldn’t have listened no matter what he said, set as she was to “prove herself”. When Khushi gets it into her head to do something she doesn’t stop for anything or anyone! Arnav tried to explain it to her again and again but instead of listening, she told him to treat her like any other contestant while expecting him to treat her as his wife. 

I don’t think he doubted her ability, per say, but it’s important to consider that Khushi didn’t win for qualities that models usually win for. She won for being sanskari, for being cute and innocent and family-oriented, and I guess that makes sense for a “Mrs India” contest but it’s clearly not what the judges had in mind originally.

Also, Arnav becomes jealous and angry when a guy praises Khushi’s beauty.. is he insecure or is it possessiveness?

I’m not sure why you only gave me the options of “insecure” or “possessive” but I think it was neither, and that your choice of options unnecessarily diminishes what he felt.

Modelling contests involve women using their feminine charms (including and not limited to beauty, wit, and charisma) to impress judges (men!!). Arnav was never going to be comfortable watching Khushi go through that; watching someone he loves be objectified like that by people who don’t have her best interests at heart. I think it was difficult for him to watch other people, and particularly other men, fawn over his wife when he couldn’t acknowledge their connection. 

Khushi is too trusting, too honest, and entirely too naive to succeed in that world, and he knew that. He was right in the end: one of her “friends” was sabotaging and backstabbing her!! Being the MD of a fashion house, Arnav knows this world. He knows that judges can take advantage of women if they seem vulnerable but he can’t protect Khushi because she claims she doesn’t need him (and yet, she needed him to cancel the swimsuit portion and to help her on the runway!). 

I think the entire affair was very difficult for him. He’d made his displeasure clear but Khushi went through with it regardless – just imagine how Khushi would react if she hadn’t wanted him to do something and he did it anyway!

There’s nothing wrong with wanting the support of a spouse, and I think it took Arnav much too long to be that supportive spouse, but the reality is that Khushi hid her involvement from him and then essentially barred him from interfering unless it was convenient for her. Khushi undercut him and while I don’t think he was a shining example of a spouse in this period, I can sympathise with the kind of impotency he must have felt, particularly because it’s in his sphere of influence.

Arnav could have mentored Khushi through the entire process, but instead she denied him that opportunity and chose the male judge and male trainer while ignoring the female judge. Whether she knew it or not, whether she meant to or not, she played on her sexuality. And that was hard for him to witness.

[phati-sari]

Hello! In the episode where Khushi is practicing yoga by the poolside, Arnav says that as a judge he advises her to lose some weight, but as a husband, he wants her to put on weight. Why does he say that? Thank you!

Hello :)

My interpretation was that he was making an allusion to her being pregnant and saying that they should try for a child.

But I also think could’ve simply been Arnav testing to see whether she’d put his wishes and wants above her own. I feel he wanted to test her resolve when it came to the modelling and being truly independent because he wants those things for her and she tends to be self sacrificial to a fault – a trait I’m sure he doesn’t want to encourage in their marriage.