Today's post is going to be shorter than the usual for two reasons. One, there was sadly not much of HS today and other scenes are less motivating for me to write about. Two, yesterday's episode and write up was heavy duty so I'm mentally and emotionally a bit spent because of that.
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They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and today was the beginning of that growth for Babita. Minnie was intrigued by Mickey’s suggestion that this was a great opportunity to learn what was in her Babes’ heart, without the distraction of HS being around. She was not initially convinced but she remained alert.
This episode was about Babita cherishing the hangover of the previous night, reliving those beautiful emotions that had transformed her forever, remembering the sight and the feel of him, trying to fill a void she had not known existed before this.
I loved the moment when they started playing O Rangrez as she picked up the pot they had made together, as though it were the most precious thing in the world. Then she lovingly caressed the pot with her cheek, the way he had caressed it last night, as if to relive that stolen moment. HS was not there for her to reach out to, but the pot was a tangible form of his essence that she breathed in deeply in order to feel closer to him.
Apne hi rang mein mujhko rang de
Dheemi dheemi rang mein mujhko rang de
Saundhey saundhey rang mein mujhko rang de
And he had.
She made pot after pot, totally lost in her own world, oblivious to her surroundings or the passage of time.
Ghani bawri ho gayi Babita.
It was only the arrival of Minnie that woke her up.
Mujhe lagta hai tujhe ghade bananey ka na addiction ho gaya hai, said Minnie, to which she replied:
“Shayad", because she was... addicted to it, addicted to the sensations she experienced, the feelings somersaulting in her heart.
She had even forgotten to tell Minnie that HS had left for Chandigarh. Minnie was relentless, prodding her mother, asking her if she was ok, if she was missing something. Little did she know what her mother was restless about.
I was glad to see Dadu point out that they should not interfere in Minnie and Babita's lives too much, but let's see how long it lasts.
Minnie just had to read that paragraph from her romantic novel about physical proximity, didn’t she? She is becoming more and more spontaneous in terms of finding ways to test her mother, but she is unaware that she is winding Babita up and making her more restless as she matched the words with the events of last night with HS. It also showed that Babita was still quite conservative about such ideas, almost prudish. Dear Babita, you have no idea what’s in store for you once Hanuman Singh opens the floodgates.
Baat Kuch Ghadon Ki
I don't know why the video call needed to be so public with half the neighborhood in the house, but I am sure this is leading to something to do with Khatri. I am sure he was observing everything and putting two and two together. About time. Khatri, looking for a chance to pick on HS, had been stupid enough to announce to the world that there were two women alone at home. That there had been an attempted theft at a policeman’s home was ironic in many ways, yet HS was quite calm about it, dismissing it as something that happened from time to time. Contrast to the previous trip where he had asked Babita to look after the house in his absence, he seemed the least bit bothered as he was satisfied to see his daughter and her mother safe.
Lala, the sneaky, adorable friend that he is, turned the phone to face Babita, so that HS and she could look at each other. Unlike during the video call he had made on his previous trip, she did not avert her gaze for the same reasons. There was too much going on that she did not want her eyes to betray.
HS knew exactly what Babita must have gone through and asked her not to fear, then openly complimented her bravery as Veer Balika's mother. He also knew that though it had been an unpleasant experience, she was not shaken or disturbed as the old Babita would have been. She could look after herself, and that gave him solace. He let her know he would be back in two days. She just needed to hold on until then.
On some level, Babita sees things as black or white, whereas HS has been trying to help her understand that people, emotions, and events keep altering shape over our lifetimes and that one should be fluid so as not to lose out on these changes. Last night he had wanted her to let go, and tonight he also wanted her to let go of any rigid notions, and the idea that once something took form and solidified, it could never be repaired once broken. This was not true, he meant to say, as the whole point was that how one molds one's future is in one's hands. So what if those pots had broken? They could make them again, if she so wished. It was not the pots that were important, it was the people sharing experiences while making them that mattered.
Koi baat nahin ji, ghade hi to tootein hain. Ghadon ka ke hai, mitti ke hain, kacchi mitti ke. Phir se ghad lenge... Aap ki marzi hogi to.
There it was, he had shown his openness and willingness to share more such experiences with her, if she so chose. He left the ball in her court and she returned this with a gentle, self-conscious smile.
I had written yesterday that Minnie was asleep. Yes, she was, but finally she too woke up. She had been unaware of all the undercurrents, unable to read the signs that were all but there, prematurely concluding that her mother was not in love with HS, that her mother was obsessed with making those pots and lost in her own world, giving them huge importance and none to HS. Yet upon discovering that HS had made pots last night and that Mickey and her plan had indeed succeeded, everything became crystal clear. In her innocent way she simply wrote back to Mickey that the pots were not important to her mother but HS was very much so.
The thief was no good at his job, but there was one thing his invasion helped achieve: Babita’s obsession with protecting those pots surfaced up. It all made sense to Minnie, why her mother had stayed up last night to make pots, why in the middle of trying to catch the intruder she was more concerned about the pots being broken than him being punished. And now Minnie knew HS and her mother had probably made pots together and what they meant to her mother. I must compliment Ashnoor on the way she emoted those moments of flashback and comprehension just with her eyes and that smile of wonderment slowly forming on her lips as she realized that her mother had feelings for HS too, or was at least responsive to his. She was brilliant!
I must applaud the CVs again for keeping the video call scene realistic. The thief had come in the middle of the night so they must have woken HS up from a deep sleep - you could see his hair ruffled as he sat on the bed, eyes slightly droopy, voice husky but still warm as always. I love the little touches they put in to scenes that lift them to another level altogether.
The fact that Babita ruefully told him she had been unable to save his pots gave him the message that all was forgiven and that she was waiting for him to come back. I am not sure how he is going to stay in Chandigarh, or how she is going to spend the next couple of days in a trance. First she made several pots just to keep that connection with him, and then as we saw in the pre-cap, she used his technique to reach out to him by requesting a song on the radio, hoping that she could broadcast her feelings to him across the air waves.
I am sure whatever song she dedicated would be beautiful but I also wonder if HS would hear it at all, since he is busy at a conference. Obviously, if he doesn’t then he would not dedicate a song for her or contact her, leaving her waiting. Naeem Bi will be privy to this and she will be able to advise Minnie on the next steps.
I think when Minnie organizes the ‘karaoke' session and asks Babita to sing about her first love, Babita will be upset and go upstairs because she realizes that while HS might be that person, she isn’t his first love. That or the fact that he hadn’t responded with a dedication or own or acknowledged her dedication might upset him. Time will tell. It is now clear why he bursts through the door upon arrival and has that excited, beaming smile.
Jaane Anjaane Hum Mile
Fan Fictions
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