Originally posted by: Neela10
I hope and pray Shyamli/Laali will put a firm end to this dysfunctional marriage. I am roughly Madhur's post-leap age and the idea of marrying a 17 or 18 year old makes me physically ill 🤢
I find the above statement rather amusing. Why?
Well, here's a story. There was a young man called Shekhar, who at the age of 23, met, fell in love and married a young girl called Laali, who was aged 17. This girl Laali is almost seven years younger than the young man called Shekhar. Laali got pregnant and at 19 years of age, had become a mother.
Then there is another young man called Madhur, who at the age of 24 (or so) has agreed to marry a young girl called Suman, who is aged 18. (Unfortunately, he does not love her, and only agreed to the marriage to save the girl from getting her reputation tarnished.) Suman is also about seven years younger than Madhur
Then there is a man called Ranvijay, who at the age of 40, is sexually very active with a girl called Jamuni, who is 26 years old.
And finally, there is the Doc, who is also 40-42 years old, and has married a young woman called Shyamli, who is 26 years old.
Well ... this is the end of my story ...
Madhur is older than 24. Pre-leap he was around 20-21 (slightly younger than Shekhar), so now he must be at least 27. That's 9-10 years between him and Suman. I found his relationship with Rekha a bit disgusting when she was 14 or 15, but now they are both in their 20's, and have known each other for many years, it is much more believable and acceptable. Suman meanwhile is a complete stranger and doesn't have half the mental maturity of Rekha. She is still a child, in every way except physically.
Laali, again, has 10 times more maturity in the tip of her nose than Suman has in her entire body. The age difference between her and Shekhar was less, and there was a natural build to their relationship. I don't think a relationship between a 17 and 23 year old is generally acceptable, but in context of the story it made sense. This Suman-Madhur thing makes no sense, and neither did Rekha and Madhur initially. I wish they didn't begin Rekha and Madhur's romance before the leap. It would have been much more understandable.
In the end, one must also remember that Laali was a poor, low caste girl who was sold into slavery. She had no education, nor any hope of education. There was nothing in her life to look forward to. Falling in love and getting married was the best outcome she could hope for. That is not the case for Suman. She is just stupid, through and through. She has options and a bright future that she threw away over a stranger who doesn't even care for her.
Ranvijay and Jamuni don't represent any kind of moral standard so it's not even worth discussing them, and Shyamli and Doc were sort of forced into what is ultimately a platonic relationship.