“Aurat akelee reh nahee saktee”- The transformations in Sheena’s marriage narrative.

In my opinion, Haseena Moin has invested greatly in Sheena’s character, perhaps even more than  Zoya and Anji. Zoya and Anji’s narratives emerge for the greater part out of their actions , that sometimes turn out to be humorous. Sheena is not a humorous character. The drama creates space for this character to actually sit down and contemplate about certain  issues regarding the women’s question- marriage being the most important. I perceive Sheena’s narrative  about marriage to be dynamic, displaying external influences that shape  and alter her views about what constitutes an ideal marriage - love or material comfort? What does it mean to be happy in married life?  Does a single woman have a future ? is it possible to break the conventional bonds and display female independence? What role does ‘samjhota ‘ (compromise) play? These are some of the questions that Sheena’s narrative struggles to resolve.

 

In the beginning of ‘Dhoop Kinarey’ Sheena shows innocent optimism about marriage whereby she  entertains hopes of procuring Dr. Ahmer’s love. Through her gestures like settling her hair before Ahmer’s arrival and her expressions highlight her interest and emotions clearly. For Sheena the idea of marrying her  own colleague , Ahmer is not unethical as she says that profession and personal life are not distinct realms rather they run simultaneously  and it is alright to merge them through marriage.  These views about marriage  undergo a radical change when Ahmer does not reciprocate her love causing her to agree to marry Nasir Jamal, despite being heartbroken.

 Sheena resorts to compromise her true love realizing that it is not always that a woman gets to have the man she desires. That  is the truth about life and perhaps her feelings were too far fetched as she defends her decision to Zoya “zindagi mein aisa hota hai”. In her darkest moments then the  audience witnesses a changed view about her marriage narrative that is morbid, bitter and displays a peculiar inevitability that constitute a woman’s existence. It  is manifested in her lines  “Aurat akelee reh nahee saktee…usey  mard ka sahara lena parta hai… Muashira akelee aurat ko kaheen ka nahee chorta”. Sheena’s take upon marriage is conventional and elucidates her fear of society’s criticism.

Marriage is no more about love but about social security that only a husband can provide. The theme of dominance surfaces as Sheena see’s her own vulnerability” : “aurat khudmukhtar honay ke bawaajood baybus hai . I felt that here Sheena is no different than Charlotte in Pride and Prejudice who also marries Mr. Collins in order to escape the perils of being a single woman. Both Charlotte and Sheena see the practical aspects of marriage. Their preferences linger towards material and social comforts and the idea of love in marriage becomes erroneous, unreal, perhaps a myth. Characters like Sheena and Charlotte are products of society, they are not inherently like this. Society and self experience suggests to them that happiness is not about love , happiness is self created  is what Sheena narrative then suggests: “ jab  mujhey apney raastey k chiraag jab khud jalaaney hain tau phir kaisee mayoosi”.

But Haseena Moin refutes Sheena’s narrative by showing how a marriage devoid of love and filled with deception has an adverse effect on the woman both psychologically and physically.  Sheena falls ill after finding out about Nasir Jamals first marriage that paves way for her divorce. The third phase of her transformation in marriage starts when she

says  “ mein ne ek insaan ko apni zindagi mein shamil kiy aur phir andhera aur barh gaya.  Jab andheray mein he rehna hai tau akeley hee reh loon gee. She is fatalistic at

this point but it is out of this fatalism that the idea of a single woman is borne. One may  question why this change is so late. I think Sheena needs to experience all of this heartache because only then that she realizes that she can take destiny into her own control. It takes away the stereotype of a womans dependency, lingering towards liberalism and feministic view points. Through the transitions in Sheena’s marriage narrative the drama has a didactic appeal as it shows the realistic possibility of a future for a single woman. In the bildungroman stream it becomes NASIR JAMAL SE EK AKELEE AURAT TAK KA SAFAR, the changing view towards akelee aurat and marriage being the marker of Sheena’s maturity.