Mahesh-ji is @ the Sharma's place w/ a proposal. He tells KK that Sandeep seems to be tense as a result of losing his job, and since they are essentially one family, he has come w/ a proposal. He wants to give Deepu a job in his company. It's in fact a home based business that will be all his own. KK points out that this is Deepu's decision, not his. Mahesh-ji says that he'll talk to Deepu, but asks them whether they had any objections to it? Padma says she does, and KK & Dadi are surprised, as is Poonam. She says that it is good if money isn't involved in relationships. (Hey, dumbass, Deepu is supposed to work for that money, he's not getting it as charity) She says that since Deepu has lost his job, it would hurt his self esteem if he started working for his in-laws (but even his first job was a result of his friend influencing his uncle, not any particular ability that Deepu had). She says that Deepu had risen w/ a lot of effort, and so, he should be allowed to follow his own path.
Poonam perks up and asks Padma that had the company not been her father's, and he had gotten a job offer from them, would he not be working there? 👏👏 Padma tells her that had it been someone else's company, that person wouldn't have come to Deepu w/ a home based business proposal. She asks Poonam whether it's left to be said that they are now drawing money from the bahu's house? (It's somewhat different if they're working for it) Poonam tells her that times have changed, and that nobody would wonder whether the damaat is working @ his sasural, or somewhere else. (She is right, except that why would people, who gossip on seeing Jyoti w/ Kabir, not comment on this? But then again, Deepu's friend very happily took favors from a family that he married, which had originally rejected Deepu.) Padma tells her that nothing has changed, and that if a maayka was considered a home for a girl, they wouldn't have had to hear comments about Sushma & Jyoti today. She says that they just put on a charade w/ some great bhashans, which is worth nothing (gee, you hit that one right on the head). She thanks Mahesh-ji for thinking of Deepu.
Poonam protests again, and asks that Deepu at least be consulted about this: why is Padma imposing her will on Sandeep? Padma tells her that it's not an imposition, but a duty of parents to guide the kids the right way (that has an expiry date once the 'kid' is married, or has hit other milestones. Are Padma & KK going to micro-manage how Jyoti raises her baby?) Poonam tells her precisely that - that the kids have grown, so don't they have the right to take their own decisions? Padma gives up, and tells her that she'll talk to Deepu, and if he's okay w/ working @ his sasural, she won't object. Poonam is happy.
Padma however adds that all decisions about their lives made by them will have to be made by them outside this house. Everybody is shocked. Mahesh-ji tells her that he didn't intend to hurt them, nor did he wish to divide the family. He asks Padma to forgive him if he unwittingly did so. He takes their leave, and Poonam follows him to the door. She asks him what sort of a protocol are they talking about following, after all these events? She still can't understand mummy (Padma). Mahesh-ji tells her that she shouldn't do anything against the wishes of the family, and Poonam is dispairing of what will happen. He knows that Deepu didn't even complete his studies, so from where will he find a good job? Mahesh-ji says that he's there (but that great sandhan-ji of his is preventing him from being a real help for Deepu) and they are sure to find a way. He gives her some cash, and leaves, telling her not to tell anybody about it.
At Jyoti's academy, she gets to the dance floor and sees all the girls indifferent - some chatting, some relaxing, et al. She is annoyed and asks them that just b'cos she was 2 minutes late, they just started chatting? She asks them to get ready for the rehearsal. Some of the girls still look indifferent, and so she asks them what's on their mind, and they ask her where is Kabir? Another tells her that it's fun when he is around. 😆😆 (I thought that at this stage, Jyoti would have given them a bhashan about how they are here to be good dancers, not to have fun, but thankfully, she didn't. Instead) she asks them if they'd just sit and chat if Kabir didn't show up? As it is, what does he do? She's the one who matters there. The students tell her that when he's there, his jokes, his comments, his one-liners all encourage them, and they are missing it. 😆😆 (If only they knew, they could have told her that they wanted a royal inspiration 😆😆) They asked if they should call him, so Jyoti agrees. However, the drummer guy there tells them that he's left, and that Jyoti was the last one to have seen him. The girls then tell Jyoti that they are pretty tired, and ask if they can leave early? Jyoti tells them that it looks like they are not in the mood for it, so they'll pick up here tomorrow, they can leave today. The girls thank her and leave.
Jyoti goes and asks Bhagya-da whether Kabir's left early, and he said that Kabir told him that since he has nothing to do here, what would he do staying here? Jyoti tells him that the students were exhausted, and so she let them go. She asks if she can leave as well, and Bhagya-da permits her. Jyoti goes to her scooter to leave.
As Jyoti dons her helmet, Kabir arrives there near the crossing, but is stopped by a cop (this scene looked strange, since just before Kabir, another motorcycle went by unstopped). The cop asks Kabir for his license, and he takes it out to show him. Kabir sees Jyoti getting ready, and asks the cop to hurry while he's noting down the details, and the cop tells him that due to the bomb blast 2 days ago, security is heightened and they do need to note the details. By the time the cop is done and returns him his license, Jyoti has left, and Kabir is disappointed.
Kabir is back home in his bedroom, trying various activities like keyboard, soccer 😕, magazines to get his mind of Jyoti (maybe turn on your laptop and log in here, and dwell on the activity of your favorite sitcoms, that should help 😆😆) He then goes to a mirror and gazes deeply @ himself, and tries but notes that he can't concentrate at all on anything.
Deepu is at an interview. The interviewer tells him that w/ the right experience, he seemed to be perfect for this job. He then asks Deepu why he left his previous company - for better opportunities, right (this seemed like a trick question - next one would have then been why would this company trust that he'd not be doing the same if employed here?) Deepu tells him that he won't lie, and that @ his previous employer, his colleagues were insulting his family members, and so he got into a fight w/ them and was removed. The interviewer is impressed w/ his candidness. Deepu is relieved.
The interviewer then asks Deepu for his educational qualifications, and Deepu hands him a file. The interviewer looks @ it, and sees that Deepu has only passed his 12th. He asks Deepu about it, and Deepu tells him that he didn't graduate. The interviewer tells him that they clearly said that for this job, graduation is necessary. Deepu tries to point out to him that he had just said that his experience was perfect for this job, and that it's the employee, not his certificate, that works. The interviewer tells him that mere experience is not enough, and that if he gave this job to a 12th pass student, it will be an injustice to more qualified applicants. He apologizes and declines to grant Deepu the job.
Deepu is walking home depressed and walks quite a distance before he passes a roadside shop where some of his friends stop him, and ask him what's he up to. One of them remarks that he's lost his job, and another tells him not to worry, since he's won the jackpot, so they plan to party. He invites Deepu to join them for drinks. Deepu initially refuses, and tells them that he's going home, and in any case, they know that he's quit drinking. They ask him what's he going to do @ home, and then another suggests letting him go, since he fears his Jyoti-didi (these guys have an attitude about Jyoti 😡). Deepu gets angry, and asks why would he fear anyone? Another friend agrees, and tells him that he's now all grown up, married, and so now it's time to enjoy. They suggest catching up for old times sake.
Inside, they all start having liquor. One of his friends pours him a glass, but Deepu is reluctant to start, so the friend starts feeding him just like he's a kid. Deepu empties the glass in 1 gulp 😲 His friend pour him more glasses, and this continues for a while, until Deepu has had one too many. His friends tell him that all his sorrows would be drowned in the drink (reminds me of a cliche that those who drink to drown their sorrows should know that sorrow knows how to swim) The friends then tease him more about Jyoti-didi, asking him whether she runs his life back home? (If only she kept her distance) Another suggests that Jyoti puts pressure on him since Deepu earned money. One friend remarks that Deepu is the only son in the family, and another remarks that in today's world, it's money, not gender, that does the talking. All this while, looks like Deepu's resentment is on the boil, and now he starts drinking of his own accord.
At home, Padma is waiting anxiously for Deepu to return. Jyoti comes & asks her what she's up to, and she tells her that since she wasn't getting sleep, she decided to come and sew on some buttons. Jyoti guesses that she's waiting for Deepu. Just then, the bell rings, and Padma opens the door. She sees Deepu there in a stupor. As soon as he turns towards her, she can smell him, and asks him whether he has been drinking. Jyoti is shocked as well, and starts staring @ Deepu. The episode ends.
So Jyoti has been strong and responsible and seemingly done the right thing by putting a distance b/w herself & Kabir, but somehow, has lost control of her class. 😉😆 She can go on w/o him, but they can't, and today, they just refused to practice. In all the great lessons Jyoti ever got from KK, inspiration certainly was never one of them, and today, Jyoti seemed to find out what a difference it makes when a guy, who apparently does nothing but wisecracks during their sessions, is so sorely missed by her students, if not by her. 😆😆 Well, good thing - she got back home early. Maybe they could have shown Padma shocked and ask her whether or not she had been fired? Exit question: did Jyoti prefer it when her girls danced to 'pyaar ki naiya', or did she prefer it today? 😉😛
I sometimes wonder what sort of values Padma has, and where she got them? She never had problems w/ Jyoti sending money home, even though she was married, and that was about as unorthodox as what she's unwilling to accept from Mahesh-ji. Not only that, Padma twice got Sudha into trouble w/ her in-laws for first making her lend Sushma her kangans, and later, calling her when Sushma was in hospital. The result of that stupid call on her part was Bhairavi coming to their home and insulting all of them. By contrast, Mahesh-ji just came w/ an offer that was not even humiliating - Deepu would still have to work for what he earned, and Padma was against it. If only Poonam could have pointed out to Padma the contrast b/w her father and Bhairavi, Padma would have been shut. Oh, well!
Also, Padma tells Poonam that if they are going to make their own decisions, they'll have to do it after leaving? I was previously under the impression that Mahesh-ji would be the one who'd make Deepu be a ghar jamai, but even Mahesh-ji has more values than that: if anything, it's Padma. I mean, if she forces Deepu & Poonam out of the house, they'd be forced to accept anything that Mahesh-ji gave them.
One thing - and I'm not suggesting that Mahesh-ji should have suggested it - but in this izzatdar house, why doesn't it strike anyone to suggest that Poonam get a job? If she wishes, she can borrow her dad's money, start a beauty parlor and get good business - surely that income will help cover at least herself and Deepu, and Jyoti would cover the rest while Deepu looked for something.
Deepu's interview was strange. First of all, telling an interviewer that you got fired b'cos you got into a fight w/ colleagues is a surefire way to not be considered. When company's let go of employees, they give them good recommendations even if the employees concerned were bad performers and so on, but if they had disciplinary issues, that's the one case where companys don't lie about them to a new prospective employer. Deepu's tendency to get into a fight would have been viewed more negatively as being difficult to work w/, as opposed to his being so truthful. Any interviewer would have asked him why he couldn't resort to other means of conflict resolution, common in offices, or why he couldn't simply have reported this to his manager or HR? After all, in this company, if the same situation were to arise, how would it be to the benefit of this employer that Deepu would get into a fight again, and only be truthful about it?
Also, after a certain threshold of experience, normally employers don't insist on educational certificates - it's known that the person has the requisite skills. It's really strange that this employer didn't have a problem w/ Deepu getting into fights w/ his colleagues, but did have one over his lack of degrees. Deepu's protest about this one was correct. One somewhat unrelated note - if Deepu, w/ just his 12th grade education, is having such problems finding a job, how is Sushma expected to find one once she passes? Hopefully, she'll have a scholarship to help her till her BA as well.
Also, wasn't Deepu supposed to be studying while he was working - I remember that after Jyoti first returned home after marriage, Sudha had pointed out how Deepu was seriously studying. Since then, Sudha had completed her studies, gotten a job and then gotten married, so how about Deepu? How is he still a 12th pass? Shouldn't he have been done by now?
Deepu's drinking looked like a flashback to the old days. If these were the same friends that Deepu used to gamble w/, surely he should have told them that they were part of the reason that he cannot find a job today, and so regardless of the amount of time they've not met, he has nothing to do w/ them. Instead, he obliges them and entertains their insults about him vis a vis Jyoti. As it is, when they were talking about Jyoti and how she was using him b'cos he was the breadwinner, his resentment seemed to rise. I just wish Poonam was there to see that, in addition to Padma. Two days ago, they were giving Jyoti the third degree for watching a movie w/ a guy. Now they can decide whether that was worse than Deepu coming home pissed drunk w/ a group of his loser friends - the same ones due to whom KK kicked Deepu out of home in the first place. And I'm sure Poonam will be happy to get her dad to get Deepu his home based business.
Looks like tomorrow may be an ugly episode, if the old Deepu is back, w/ all the resentments against Jyoti surfacing. I can see him behaving the way Sushma did the night Jyoti got such a shock that she left home and married Pankaj. If that happens, Jyoti's second walk-out of this house may be next.
Episode rating: 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Pluses: Poonam standing up to Padma, the girls reacting to Kabir's absence, Kabir's own reactions
Minuses: Padma's harangue, Deepu's interview, his drinking, his potential showdown w/ Jyoti