Daily Times

Growing into an adult is not an easy task, or of ‘excitement’ as we put it when we have not yet entered the adult life but have been staring at its gates in awe, thinking that the insertion of the key into the hole is everything, not knowing that excitement, orgasmic or any other lasts for a very short time. Desires that seem to be the highest possible achievements or the best ambitions when we are waiting for the signal of teenage to turn green so that we can move towards the road of adult life cease to be everything once they are fulfilled. A normality that ensues makes us ponder upon our next step, our next aim, and inclines us to think how we will lead the rest of our life, for what we desired badly has been achieved, and nothing out of the world has happened. Thus, a continuous struggle to find the meaning of life starts.

Our ambitions are hardly for our own selves, or are not always a true reflection of our personalities. They are mostly the result of anger, jealousy, a desire to compete, a sense of superiority or inferiority. The lack of purity and genuineness in them makes them hollow, just like a student’s desire to gain marks and beat the other students instead of imbibing knowledge

Sassi from HUM TV’s drama serial ‘O Rungreza’ is a young girl who is growing. Waiting for the time of teenage to pass, she is an energetic, enthusiastic driver for whom crossing the signal and moving towards a new road matters a lot. She has formed certain ambitions, and like every youngster, considers them to be the end of life. The journey she has been making involved one desire of attaining Wajeeh, and the other of becoming Sonia Jahan. What is important is that she manages to achieve both.

Wajeeh was full of lust and not love. Nonetheless, she did get a chance to stay at his home and draw herself closer to him. The real point is that when it happened, she was not ready to submit to it. A physical intimacy with Wajeeh was what Sassi rejected, thus re-affirming the above-mentioned idea that the ambition of the young girl was not a grand one which could have provided her with eternal bliss. It was mistaken for being the end in itself. It was the desire of a young girl which did not remain the same, just like the whimsical attitudes of people who have not grown fully mature.

Now that Sassi has become ‘The Sonia Jahan’ and her film has been released, her condition has grown worse. She seems to be baffled, and her eyes seem to ask the question, ‘Now what?’ One can also substantiate the point by saying that the ambitions were flawed in themselves. The desire of having Wajeeh might have been a trick to become an actress, and the desire to become an actress might have been a revengeful act. But this is what every one of us does in this age. Our ambitions are hardly for our own selves, or are not always a true reflection of our personalities. Most of the times, they are the result of anger, of jealousy, of a desire to compete, of a sense of superiority or inferiority. The lack of purity and genuineness in them makes them hollow, just like a student’s desire to gain marks and beat the other students instead of imbibing knowledge. It makes them resemble a shooting star which disappears in the blink of an eye, or causing them to lose their meaning because they were not meaningful in the real sense of the word in the first place.

To sum it up, Sassi becomes a very relatable character for every young person, whether one is ready to accept it or not. The journey which she is making is the one which every one of us makes at a certain point in life, regardless of whether we are conscious of it or not. People who are not very sensitive or who possess a different mindset than those of creative people might deal with it in an offhand manner, jumping from one step to another while considering it the pleasure of life. The other case is that they may not consider it anything at all.  However, for those who feel things deeply, it becomes a quest of finding the real meaning of life. It stimulates them to revisit their dreams and accordingly shape their future dreams. This is what has been reflected through the character of Sassi. The character now seems to be getting more realistic and justifying its creation as the story moves forward, for it is the inward personality of every human being, which is confronted by some, but at the same time remains hidden for some.

The writer can be reached at m.ali_aquarius85@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, February 11^th 2018.