When Khirad lets go of 'Khuddari'

When Khirad is initially forced into marrying Asher, she is not at all pleased with her “khairaat mein milli hui zindagi”. In numerous conversations with different people, she uses words like “khuddari ka dars”, “ana ko thais pohanchti hai”, “sirf izzat chahiye” etc. All these expressions focus on her self-respect and independence; she does not want to be looked at with pity because of her humble background and her mother’s death. She is in fact quite satisfied with her prevalent position and thus keeps stressing that “mein ne apni haiseet se oonche khwaab kabhi nahi dekhe”.

 Yet there is a drastic shift in the words Khirad uses for herself after she is wrongly punished and banished to Hyderabad. Her words now portray a different persona, one who expects mercy and pity at the hands of her manipulative mother-in-law as she requests that “mujh pe reham karein maami” and later tells Batool Khala, “mujh pe kissi ko reham nahi aya”. This transformation is only because Khirad has been betrayed by the very people whom she felt were part of her new family in Karachi. She ascended her Fareeda’s position from a Mumani to a mother in her life and had also done a favour to Khizar by donating her blood. Most importantly, she had taken Asher not only as her husband but more importantly as her care-taker or Muhafiz and expected him to live up to that role. She had initially felt alien in the household but later felt welcomed and managed to settle there, calling its residents her family. And it is because of this that she is temporarily able to leave behind her ego and values like independence. But with the severe blow on her "izzat", Khirad learns that she can never completely depend on anyone, not even her husband. It is for this reason that she eventually says, "Mein thak gayi hun Ashar....tanha jee jee k"; her words become a means of realization for her husband that he failed to perform his duty. Even though the drama ends on a fairly positive note, it empowers Khirad with her sense of khuddari, something she will always hold on to.