The episode continued from where the previous one where Minnie confronted her mother about her obsession with what people would say or think. So what if people commented on her activities, could she not answer them back?
As Babita tried to say that how could see as a parent of a grown up girl get married, Minnie challenged her again. Was she considering her daughter as a hurdle? Would removing her from the picture make things easier? Minnie wanted her mother to stop hiding behind people's comments or the existence of her daughter and address the problem at hand: that Babita had a mental block she needed to move past in order ahead in life. She needed to stop caring what impression she left on people and just live her life, stop living her image and live for herself. Once you stop caring about what people say, they would stop speaking as well as their jealousy.
This was a new birth for Babita, and even though Minnie was joking, she wanted Babita to see that while everyone was there to support her, she had to take those steps herself. She had the right to chase her happiness and should not give up. I felt sad to see Minnie having to mother her again.
There were some quiet moments with Mickey and Minnie that made her a little uncomfortable but it also showed her that Minnie understood her like no one else. I felt as if he was a junior HS in the making, and it was all the more pronounced as HS referred to him as Hoshiyar Singh (HS).
HS was in full protective father mode as he warned Mickey against come so late to his daughter's house. Minnie reminded him that he was friendzoned, but we all know how that turned out with HS himself.
HS was about to go upstairs to see Babita and stopped to make an interesting comment.
Waise chhori ek baat hai. Teri jo mummy hai na, yeh bhi chhoti balika jaisi hai. Ek baat ke liye convince karne ke liye usse ghanton convince karna padta hai.
Dekh lijiye Hanuman Sir, chhoti si balika ko. Aisa na ho ke child marriage ke jurm mein aap gereftar ho jao, teased Mickey. I got FIL and SIL vibes again, and it was obvious that Mickey was slowly gaining HS' approval as a potential member of their inner circle.
There was another reference to child marriage, albeit in an amusing manner, but it was to point out the irony that people didn't bat an eyelid when child marriage happened, yet when two consenting adults chose to get married everyone made an issue of it. It also showed that just because people were at a marriage age did not mean that they were mentally ready for it. Babita was legally an adult but in many ways, her mind was still that of a young girl, so yes, in a way she was emotionally a balika vadhu.
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Babita was still upset about the day's events and was crying as HS walked in. He tried to lighten the mood again and teased her about looking like a 16-year-old, and carried on with the whole baal vivah concept.
Aap ko Minnie ne sab sikha ke bheja hai na?
Na! Minnie ne kuch na sikhaya, main apne aap hi seekha padh aaya hoon. Pata hai manne sab.
Exactly, he understood her well enough, didn't need a third person for that. I kept wondering why he had been referring to his daughter as Minnie more often lately as opposed to chhori or Veer Balika.
He continued to turn on the charm and divert her attention by praising her looks, and saying he needed to match her standard.
It was interesting to see HS become so much more comfortable walking into the room to talk to her even without Minnie being around, but he still kept his respectful distance.
Kyon udaas baithe ho? Manne na bataoge udaasi ka kaaran ke hai?
It was nice to see him ask her directly, haq se. After all, wasn't that what life partners were for? Sukh dukh ke saathi?
Main jaanti hoon ke aap yeh sab kuch kyon bol rahe hain, mera mood theek karne ke liye.
Lekin iski zaroorat nahin hai, mujhe pata hai.
To aap aisa kehna chaahte ho ke bhai aapko pata hai ke aap itni zyaada beautiful ho. Hai na?
Aap ko ghamand kya apni bohot zyaada beauty pe?
He was teasing her but was also trying to make her realize that she needed to feel that she was desirable, that she was indeed beautiful and needed to give herself more credit.
It got me thinking, that HS has referred to her beauty in passing, once during the scene when he warned her about impostors online and today when he was trying to cheer her up. He is still very shy around her, especially when it comes to expressing his feelings, so I think it will only be after the marriage where he will bring this up in a romantic context, as opposed to being as direct about such things when he is in the supportive friend/companion mode.
Babita was not going to give up, she had promised Minnie to keep fighting.
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Dine-in
HS switched gears by asking her to give him some dinner, so that her mind would focus on something different. Babita became frantic as she realized she had forgotten to cook dinner.
Not to worry, he would order in.
Dekho ji, abhi aap na makaan malik bane nahin ho. Thoda sa time hai.
To tab tak ke liye mhaara jo hukum hai na woh aap chalne do.
HS would never be a joru ka ghulaam but he would definitely pamper Babita where he could. He did not forgot to ask his daughter what she wanted. I love that he never forgets about her needs because she would be home hungry soon. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Minnie accidentally replied NO to HS' question asking her if she wanted pizza.
It was so nice to see Kammo taking charge of everything and working so hard to ensure they had the best catering. Mickey observed Minnie engrossed in getting all the preparations done, and reminded her that she had not eaten.
Aur waise bhi tujhe to pata hi hai, Babes mere bina kuch nahin khaati hai. Dinner saath mein hi hota hai humara.
Back in the haveli, HS was offering Babita some pizza along with more of his gyaan.
Women needed to stop feeling so guilty about things and burdening themselves because of it. So what if they didn't cook one day, it wasn't the end of the world. They were human beings, who deserved rest like everyone else. Sigh... we need more husbands like HS in the world.
Something needed to change from one generation to the next, people's thinking should change. Women needed to stop alternating between tears and cooking. He didn't like her upset, and he had been warned by Minnie not to make her Babes upset.
Kabhi kabhi sochti hoon, Imarti ji kitni lucky thi na?
Dekho ji, ek cheez mein aap ne clear kar deta hoon.
Ib baar baar jaise aap Imarti ka naam loge na, na aap khud uss cheez ze ubhar paoge, na manne ubharne doge.
Imarti mhaare past thi. Thi to thi.
Maine usse toot ke pyaar kia, lekin ib uski yaadon ko aise sameth ke rakhta hoon main.
Ib baar baar aap mhaare past ko apne present mein agar ghaseet ke le kar aaoge to phir na bhai aap khush rahogi na manne khush rehne degi.
Ib aap aur main, life ki ek nayi shuruat karne ja rahe hain.
Purani cheezon ko, baaton ko aise kured kured ke na apna jee mat jalao.
I felt as though he didn't want to bring this topic up or open up any discussions because the wounds were raw on both sides and because Babita was not ready for it. He did not want it to go in direction where they could have a fallout. They had never actually discussed Imarti or the , it was pending, and it is bound to come up later on. But now was not the right moment, with all that was going on. They needed to take things one at a time and focus on enjoying their wedding and remain positive about their future together. I understood where he was coming from but I still felt it would have been better to discuss things and put it behind them once and for all, instead of avoid the topic for fear of conflict.
Waise ek baat boloon ji aap ko?
Imarti ke liye kabhi pizza na mangaya maine.
I first thought he was trying to say he had never ordered in for Imarti, which Babita would take as him doing something out of the ordinary just for her.
Kyon? she wondered.
Chinese pasand tha usse!
He had done this for Imarti but in a different away. Again, this highlighted that he could shower affection both of them but it would be different, because they were different women and he had the wisdom to understand that and handle things accordingly. I think this ability of his to adapt makes their future more promising.
As Babita was about to take a bite of the pizza the mother in her wondered if Minnie had eaten, since they were both used to eating dinner together. HS recognized this and reminded her that Veer Balika was old enough to look after herself and eat something if she were hungry, she didn't need constant mothering as before. This is one of the things that people with kids, especially mothers, worry about when they are about to remarry. Would they become too busy with their new spouse to give their kids enough attention?
He wanted Babita to look after herself as a woman and not worry too much about her role as a mother so that she would be ready for the upcoming hectic schedule of festivities. It was really cute how he asked her to open her mouth as he offered her the pizza slice. Again, these were the little things that Babita had missed out, and the fact that HS paid attention to even the smallest details made it all the more touching. He really is husband material.
Minnie walked in then, feeling a little surprised to see her mother had already started eating but also a bit awkward when she realized she had probably interrupted a private moment. HS reacted quickly to the situation, asking her not to be embarrassed and to tell him what type of pizza she wanted him to order. Then he dropped in the word about thinking she did not want to eat pizza so he didn't order anything for her.
Minnie did not know that she had accidentally said no. I wonder if this will ever come up in future, but for now she realized that her parents needed to be given some alone time, so she made the excuse that she had eaten already and had just stopped by to drop the laptop off. Again, she was being mature and thinking about other people. What else could she do in that awkward situation?
Babita felt something was off but before she could say anything Minnie ran off, whereas HS was more concerned about Minnie going out so late at night.
Manne lagta hai ke aap ne na chhori ko kuch zyaada chhoot de rakhi hai.
Actually bina bataye kahin bhi bhaag jaati hai ekdum se.
In that moment, both were thinking as parents but focusing on different topics. He, as usually, was concerned about the macro things, Minnie's safety, discipline, etc. whereas Babita was concerned about the micro things, had her daughter eaten dinner, would she be hungry later, etc. As Babita explained that she was putting aside a couple of slices of pizza for Minnie to eat later on, HS noticed this difference in their focus. He also picked up on the fact that there was still a lot of minutiae about his daughter that he had to learn.
I wouldn't consider this episode a filler as much as one that sets the foundation for future tracks. I am really looking forward to them dealing with parenting challenges during their marriage and differences in opinion on parenting Minnie. I also think we will see all three of them, especially Minnie, trying to figure out how to deal with the changing dynamics and especially Minnie and Babita sharing the other with HS. Also, for HS in the full on roles as husband and father, having to dedicate time explicitly to looking after his family and putting their needs first.
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Pre-cap
Mickey questions Minnie about ignoring her own wishes and needs and living for others. It's about time this topic came up.
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