Kachhi mitti

At two points during the initial phases of the drama, Baseerat refers to Khirad as 'kachhi mitti'. He tells both Fareeda and Ashar that Khirad can be moulded the way they want her to, bent into whatever shape they wanted her to. And bend her, they do. As many references as there are to her saadgi, seedhapan and her proposed 'malleableness", she is perhaps the only character in the entire drama who does not take the shape of the moulds other characters try to fit her into.
During one of the last scenes, where Asher is contemplating about forgiving Khirad, he remembers what Baseerat told him about Khirad on his dying bed. At that moment, when Baseerat's words, of Khirad being like kachhi mitti are repeated, they reverberate and create a whole range of meanings. The constant repetition of these words throughout only highlight how all the other characters have been moulded into various forms but not Khirad. Asher, Sara, Khizr, all of them become victims to Fareeda's conspiracy. Fareeda becomes a victim of her own follies. And so the chain continues. But Khirad exits the drama as she enters it. The development of her character is most interesting, especially with regards to her possessing none of the qualities of 'kachhi mitti'.
When we are first introduced to her, we see her talking of khuddari and an'a. At various points in the drama, she feels she has lost her self-respect and her ego has been mutilated. But has she? The kind of stoicism that she shows once she is in Hyderabad after being kicked out of the Hussain household; the challenges she gives herself, for example, at the time of her delivery she tells herself that it would be the last time she would wait for Asher; when she constantly stifles the urge to tell Asher the truth when he constantly keeps hurling allegations at her. In all of this, she does not say a word. A Khirad, who cries almost all the time, from episode 1 to episode 23 (such crying, very annoying), learns to keep an almost indifferent expression whenever her own character comes into question. It is commendable that she never feels the need to explains herself to anyone. She tried once and that is all the length and breadth she is ever willing to go.
I talked about agency in my last post, and again, Khirad, despite her poorer fortunes seems to be the only woman in Humsafar, who has agency and hence, stands empowered. Her perpetual silence might in the beginning seem stupid but it serves to empower her in the end. She is much like Jane Eyre in this regard. Just like Jane goes back to Mr Rochester when he goes blind, Khirad goes back to Asher when his mother has lost her sanity.