Posted:
4/4/2011
Previous Week:
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/tere-mere-sapne/1647034/weekly-wu-28-3-to-1-4-2011-tms
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https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/tere-mere-sapne/1658411/weekly-wu-11-4-to-15-4-2011-tms
The washing machine has been filled with water, and the soap by Radha, and she has gone to get the clothes. But Laachi with her vessels, comes to the washing machine, and the illiterate, Phoolmani, who has not seen an electric bulb in her life, living with the kerosene lamps, suddenly knows, which button to press, and tells Laachi, to put the vessels in the machine and switch the button on. Laachi, who did not know how to operate the stove, or the mixer, now goes to start the washing machine. If she had any intelligence, she would have questioned Phoolmani, how she came to know so much about the machine, and why would Radha, who has always been kind to her, not show it to her. This same Laachi, has witnessed the pranks of this cousin of hers, before, yet, she easily forgets, and does the foolish thing of putting the vessels in the machine and switching the machine on. When the machine starts, and she notices smoke, again any one in their senses, would know that the button which she had pressed, started the machine, and she would have to switch the same button, by pushing it upwards. Because one button faces up, and the button which she pressed faces down. This much she can not notice. When Phoolmani puts the blame on Radha, Laachi has no difficulty in believing her rather than Radha. Instead of learning from her, she starts retaliating against Radha, and the funky Radha, gets so disturbed, that she has hurt the feelings of her elder sister in law, runs and sits on the bed thinking of her misfortunes.
Laxmi and Phoolmani are only concerned about their plans to sow doubts in the minds of their host family. They are shown to be very effective, as the hosts, are shown to be dumb, and oblivious of all the tricks their relatives are playing on them. This too is far fetched, as no person in their senses, behaves like this, but we are made to believe, that this is a story, we should watch, but what can we learn from it?
Ramdei, can not understand, why Kesoo are Sarju are upset. Even she has turned blank in the head, and even though she had brains to make Laachi ware gungru on her feet, to find out where she is going, she has no wit left to handle the present situation, but to drown in her self pity. Kesoo, flares are Sarju, and obvious reason is that Vishnoo has poisoned his mind, and he has believed Vishnoo, who had once shown himself to have robbed his wife's necklace and given it to his girl friend, right in front of all of them in the temple, some weeks ago, yet Kesoo has drained all logic from his mind. Again they show the he is acting like a fool, and getting angry on his own, and here too any one with common sense, would have found something strange in the behavior of the cousin's family, after their house was burnt down. No hope for Sarju's family, who are shown to be do-gooders, and do things without spending a moment for thought. So, Sarju accepts the shouts of his brother, humbly, not figuring out, why he behaves like this, even though the doctor had said in front of him, that there is hope, if they visited the clinic. The only sensible thing, they refuse to do, and instead, break the family down to pieces, blaming ones own, at the instigation of the guest family, who have always shown to be shady. If they had not known it, may be they could have been forgiven. Ramdei, was always against this idea, and yet, all of them want to stay with Vishnoo's family.
Laxmi comes again, with some oil, she has purchased from the town, (while she has been shown to have no known income, her son always borrowing money, and her husband holding the purse tight), and yet Ramdei has not disbelief, and she accepts a massage from Laxmi. As she pours venom against Radha in her mind, she has no hesitation, to distrust Radha, and to believe this woman, whom she always suspected. Where is her disbelief gone?
This serial is a compromise with absurdities, and we always have a hope, that sooner than later, they will come out with some smart situations, which will seem logical to our minds. Let us hope the stalwarts of Start Plus will start thinking of something, before their bosses think of shutting this serial too from the idiot box.
5/4/2011
Kitchen Work is for Women:
At the dining table, the men praise the chutney, and some one notices that there is some problem with Radha, and she opens her
hand and shows a burnt hand, and tells her that in the kitchen her hand was burnt. Then they ask who did the cooking and Laxmi
tells them that Sarju did the cooking. Sarju is so ashamed, that a man had to do the women's work, and then Ramdei gives her ultimatum.
Modes of Grabbing Fame:
Vishnoo is day dreaming of Rani, looking at girlie magazines. It looks he is more interested in a platonic love, rather than anything
do do with his gender. He wants to present her with a necklace, but does not have the money, and regrets his fate. Thinks how to make money on the sly. He finds a bronze statue, and wants to steal it and sell it to raise money, but drops some other think on the
floor which alerts the passing Ramdei, who tries to figure out who it might have been. She uses her rare powers of reasoning, and thinks it was because there might have been some breeze, but does not notice that all the windows are closed. Vishnoo is hiding
behind some pillars. When she goes, he thinks where to hide the statue, and goes to the store room, and puts it in one of the bags of grain.
Later, Kesoo goes to the store room, and Vishnoo is afraid he will find the statue, but Kesoo, as we have seen recently, has less brains than Vishnoo. A friend comes to ask him for the tractor, but he had not done a favor to Kesoo in the past, so he uses the
opportunity to insult him and sends him away. The person then meets Sarju on the way, and tells him when asked, that he came to see Kesoo, if he could borrow the tractor, and Sarju, in this extraordinary generosity, offes him the machine, without telling his
brother. When Kesoo finds it, he is angry with Sarju, and says, that he is his step brother.
Plotting Women:
Laxmi and Phoolmani are always plotting against Ramdei's family and time after time, they get spared because of the blind spot in the eyes of the host family. Even the sharp eyes of Ramdei have turned blind to what is happening. Of course she stares and thinks that she is thinking, but when she opens her mouth it is always non sense.
Discovery:
Radha is cleaning up the house, and notices that one of the statues is missing, and then the chase starts to hunt. They search and scratch the heads, but the brain is not able to throw any answers. The story writers do not want us to know the answer for atleast
another two weeks. They also help those viewers who can not understand the plot, the whole reason behind the action, in a soliloquy of their character, in this case Vishnoo, who thinks loudly, why he is putting the statue in the gunny bad, why he is doing
what he is doing, etc. and if the viewer too is as dumb as the characters in the story, they might have already gone to sleep. The story writer has not yet come to the final ending of Vishnoo's plot, so have patience for a few more days.Instead, enjoy the verbal fights of Kesoo, with his brother, and the entertainment the family of Heeraman has at his expense. See also the long drawn face of Radha and Sarju, bewildered by the happenings around them.
6/4/2011
As Kesoo has an an argument with Sarju, the two women, Laxmi and Phoolmani, as if magnetically attracted, slide down a slippery glass, like drops of mercury, to find out what more damage they can inflict. Kesoo shouts at his brother and he just stares at him without comprehension, as to what has triggered this anger in his brother. His mother too is drawn towards them and she tries to stop Kesoo, but he is adamant, and finally the mother bursts with her curses on those who have been responsible for sowing these seeds of enmity between the brothers. At least she has guessed so far rightly, that it is the work of an outsider, otherwise these two sensible elder brother would not have been at the other's throat. Her curses hit on Laxmi and Phoolmani, as what Ramdei wants, is for the worms to eat the dead bodies of these people, and one wonders if this has gone into their thick skulls.
Laachi, is in the kitchen, preparing tea, and as the water boils, is deep in her thoughts of self pity, at the fate that she and her husband have to endure. The mercury drops, have now glided to the kitchen, and notice Radha entering, and pleading with Laachi, to allow her to help. Laachi, with her spouting venom, lets her know, that according to the wishes of their mother, it is the the job of Laachi and Phoolmani to look after the kitchen, and she as the heiress, should take rest in her room. Radha finds it cruel, and tells her sister, as to why she is behaving like this, as she has always been a little sister to her, and from where she has got these ideas, of hatred in her mind. Who could have filled her mind with these thoughts. Laachi, by a twist of fate, has ignored the mercury drops, which have been funneling in ther mind these thoughts, and dwells only on the result, which is also an insult to the viewer. Perhaps the writers are aware of the changes in the villages, after the globalization, when modern facilities have come into their lives, but the old set of thinking still prevails. Those living in the cities, and cut off from the village lives, may find it hard to believe, that we have such people in our villages. Should we trust our writers, and are they genuinely portraying the modern Indian village, or is it a figment of their creative fiction? Radha follows Laachi to her room, and knocks on the closed door, as the wailing music, accompanies her paintive pleadings. One of the mercury drops, has been sent by the Mother Drop, to spy on Radha, and she comes behind her, but when Radha turns, she finds the drop, Phoolmani. She points finger at her, and warns her to keep away from them. She suspects her, and Phoolmani, then starts her wailing and comes with her sob story, but Radha ignores her and walks away. The drops are again huddled together to decide on their next move.
Rani is in her room, decking herself in front of the mirror, and Vishnoo, comes in bearing gifts. She accepts a red saree, and as she is planning to wear it, Vishnoo comes behind her and puts his paramour, a necklace, purchased from the money he made from the stolen statue. Rather than get a thank you, Rani tells him, she is waiting for the day, when Sarju will be at her feet, and this rubs him the wrong way.
Kesoo and Laachi, are at one another as the wife is bitter that her husband has taken to drinking.
The Mother mercury drop, goes to Ramdei, and starts her work on her, telling her that it is high time, she takes the house keys in her hand, but she give her a reply she did not expect: "I will not beg from my daughters in law." - Laxmi's dreams get a set back.
7/4/2011
Kesoo and Laachi fight. He accuses her of hiding the truth from him, and behind his back, adopting the illegitimate child of Kalki. He says baby is not his. Laachi is upset. She warns him against saying anything about this child. She says that it is her child. He wonders, if she regrets for having married him. He says it was a mistake he came to this house. Laachi tries to prevent him.
Sarju and Radha want to help. She tells him that he has had drinks and come home. He does not want to intervene, as he says it is a matter between husband and wife. Radha insists of intervening, but Sarju tells her he will not agree. He says, that his brother is angry with him, and he does not want to add more fuel to the fire. He says he wants to go to sleep.
Two women manipulate. Phoolmani jumps on the bed where Laxmi is sleeping and she is gloating on the fight that has taken place between Kesoo and Laachi. Her mother tells her that she thinks that she has won a Panipat war. She tells her that she should think, what benefits them. She stops her from arguing more, and tells her that she has to do what she tells her. She wants to pit the three women against one another: Ramdei, Laachi and Radha. After a silent show of dialog, the scene ends with "samaj gayee na?" and the other says, "wa, wa, Ammaji". She praises her to the skies.
Laachi is trying to feed her child. He is crying and drops the milk, so, she leaves him on the ground and goes out to prepare more milk, and the child crawls out of the room, and goes towards the staircase. In the meantime, outside in the courtyard, Shamboo is reading the newspaper, and Sarju strolls in and is surprised his father, is reading the paper so early in the morning. He laughs and tells him, "I can not read like you, I was just seeing the pictures, and enjoying myself." Sarju takes the paper from his hand, and assures him that he will read the paper for him. Just then Kesoo walks to the courtyard. The younger brother tells Kesoo to listen to the news, that he will read, but he has not interest and walks away, and his father stops him, and asks sternly why he is behaving like this and treating his younger brother so rudely, when he is trying to be very nice to him, and also frank. He tells his father to see how he treats his younger brother, who is so upset due to the partition of their property. He says, then he can talk to him about how he should treat his younger brother. As Kesoo walks out, the father is deeply hurt, and goes inside.
The scene moves to Laachi's room, and we see the child crawling and he has neared the stairway. Laxmi goes to Phoolmani's room and sees her eating some grapes, and is angry with her, and scolds her. Mother tells her to be like a termite and eat up the rest, from within, and to do that you have to pretend to take interest in the housework, and join with them and then they will get what they are looking for. Again, she tells her that it is difficult to bring down the strong wall, like Ramdei. Then she starts, the "silent dialog" with the last sentence, "Samji na?" - this is a tool well worn out by the writers of the Indian TV soaps, to avoid going too deep in the plot, which the viewers are any way not bothered to know. From Phoolmani's answer, we know, she has to go in search of Radha, and out she goes. Laxmi takes the grapes, and shoves one by one into her mouth and passes comments on her daughter in law, quite pleased by her performance.
Just then, Radha comes out and sees him as the background music rises in tempo to a crescendo, for a moment she is frozen like a marble statue, and then she runs towards the child and snatches him from the floor. Radha makes a melodramatic statement asking the child amid sobs, where he was going. The tremulous voice and incoherent pleadings to a child who is yet to learn the spoken language ! All this is to melt the hearts of the viewers, and some may even shed tears at this woeful scene.
Laachi, comes to the room, and ways "Take, I have come with the milk, ..." and she stops seeing her child not in the place she left him. Apparently, she is unable to face the trauma, and drops the milk from her hand, and spills it on the marble flooring of this haveli. In desperation she looks everywhere for the child, saying "babua, babua". We are almost led to believe, that she will make a big noise when she finds him in Radha's hand, and pass judgments before knowing what has happened. When she runs out, she meets Phoolmani, and she just points out to Radha. Laachi, without asking any question takes the child from Radha's hand and hugs him. Radha in her tremolo voice, inquires of her why she had left the child, and if she had not noticed it in time, what would have happened to him? - and one can expect what the answer is. Laachi, with her undulating voice, tells her "There would not have been any unseemly accident. Her God is with her. " Radha gives her piece of her mind and advises her that to take care is their responsibility while also trusting in God. Laachi, comes out with the expected reply, "So you have appointed yourself to teach me what is right and what is wrong?" All the skill of the writers of the dialog have been put to use, with the back and forth accusations, to keep the viewer entertained. The result is Laachi is where she is, and Radha is in her own sanctimonious world. Phoolmani is the only one to be entertained on the screen, with ther dubious smiles. The famous injunction is "Kaan kholke sunlo" - words of immense intelligence come out of Laachi's mouth, which floors Radha who walks away, as it is useless to talk to a uneducated villager like Laachi. Phoolmani is waiting for her chance to rub some salt into the wounded ego of Laachi.
Ramdei has visitors, Shanti and Chanda. She seats them on her luxurious sofa. They tell her that they heard that she had become an owner of the Haveli, so they came to see it for themselves. Shanti, praises the good fortune of Ramdei, and there, comes the pest of Laxmi, ingratiating herself with the guests. Shanti offers her sympathies to Laxmi at the burning of her house, and she tells her, that from that time, they are staying with her Jetani, Ramdei. Radha comes to offer ber obeisance to the guests, and her mother tells her that Chanda is expecting and to bring some cold drinks and something to eat, and she goes obligingly. Laxmi whispers something to her daughter in law, Phoolmani, thinking of a new plot. Phoolmani tells her that she has lit the fire between the two bahus, and Laxmi asks, where Radha has gone up for, instead of going to the kitchen. Asks her to go and find out. Loudly Laxmi tells Phoolmani to go and help Radha, and she gets up and goes.
Radha has gone to Sarju's room, to ask him to go to the bazaar and buy some sweets for the guests, and he gets ready to go, but outside the small worm is itching to see what is happening. Radha opens the cup board, and takes some cash from the stack that is kept inside. Phoolmani watches greedily. Sarju has kept his compensation of one crore he got from Kamya in cash? Is it to show, that he is still a villager, and does all business in cash, and all his experience in the city with credit cards, the ATM and all the signatures he put on the bank papers have all been forgotten? Who has forgotten, the writers of the story, or Sarju, has been made to show that he is ignorant of the business practices which Kamya taught him? It is for the benefit of Phoolmani, so that her plot can be worked out without bugling. Shanti wants to know where Laachi is, and Laxmi shows her expertise, by saying that "There are more things than people in the haveli, and we have to search where each one is". Ramdei tells Shanti, that this is the habit of Laxmi to talk loosely, and actually, Laachi is in her room putting her child to sleep. Shanti expresses her desire to see the haveli and meet Laachi, and Ramdei tells her to go, and to be careful, as the floor is slippery. Possibly some worm will enter Laxmi's head, on hearing this.
Chanda goes to meet Laachi, and tells her she felt like seeing her and so she came. They talk about the pregnancy. She passes a remark about the experience of motherhood, and that hurts Laachi, as she is not able to have it.
In a preview, Phoolmani comes to tell Ramdei, that the key of the cup board is lost. She is stunned.
8/4/2011
After Chanda finishes her talk with Laachi, the last she says to her is that she would not understand the joy a mother feels, when she carries her own child, and seeing her reaction, apologizes to her. Laachi feels hurt, and does not say anything, but Kesoo, hears what she said, and feels bad for his wife, Laachi. Shanti calls her daughter in law, and she goes down.
Laxmi adds salt to the wound of Ramdei, by passing sarcastic remarks about what is going on in the house. Ramdei, is so angry with her, but can not say anything in front of the guests. Laxmi feels emboldened.
Radha is frying snacks for the guests, and Phoolmani is havering around, to see if there is any opportunity opening for her devious plans. Radha removes her keys, and places them on the kitchen table, and then wipes her hands with the towel, and the keys fall down, and Radha does not notice the noise the keys would have made, but the wicket Phoolmani has her greedy eyes on the keys. Ramdei, shouts at Radha and asks when she is going to bring the snacks, and then she hurriedly leaves the kitchen with the snacks, telling Phoolmani to fry the rest.
When Radha has gone out, the creepy Phoolmani picks the keys, and puts them in the milk vessel when Laachi comes to take some milk for her child. Phoolmani is afraid, her plan will fail, but Laachi does not notice anything and she goes with her milk, back to her room. Phoolmani puts her bare hands in the milk, not caring if it gets spoilt, and takes out the keys, and hides them. Laxmi gives some excuse, and comes to the kitchen and takes the keys from Phoolmani, and hides them in the temple area, when Ramdei is watching hder, but does not know what she is up to.
Shanti asks Ramdei to show her some jewelry so that she can make similar one for her daughter in law, and Ramdei tells Radha to bring it.
On the road, the nurse from the clinic is informing the villagers to bring their children for the polio vaccine to the doctor, and sees Sarju coming and tells him too. She tells Sarju to tell Laachi to bring her child, and also refers to Kesoo, who is lonely and worried, and the nurse asks him to convince Kesoo to come to the doctor - and when Sarju tells her that Kesoo will not listen, she tells him, that he is educated, and should be able to convince him. He promises to do his bit, and Kesoo has listened to what the nurse has said. Hopefully, he will change his mind.
In the house there is commotion, when Radha finds that her keys are missing. When Vishnoo and his family had come to the old house after theirs was burnt, there was an instance, when Vishnoo tried to rob her ring, and Sarju had rightly suspected him, as he knew his character. But Radha has stopped him. But now the couple who has newly returned from the city, with civilized inputs, have regressed, after coming to the haveli, and Radha does not suspect Phoolmani, who was with her in the kitchen, when she left it, to take the snacks to the guests, and does not suspect her, and neither does Sarju, who has returned from his trip to the village, and pounces on Radha as the guilty one, for misplacing the keys. We do not know the reason for the regression of their mental faculties. It is left for the viewers to make the cautious guesses.
Previous Week:
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/tere-mere-sapne/1647034/weekly-wu-28-3-to-1-4-2011-tms
Next WeeK:
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/tere-mere-sapne/1658411/weekly-wu-11-4-to-15-4-2011-tms
The washing machine has been filled with water, and the soap by Radha, and she has gone to get the clothes. But Laachi with her vessels, comes to the washing machine, and the illiterate, Phoolmani, who has not seen an electric bulb in her life, living with the kerosene lamps, suddenly knows, which button to press, and tells Laachi, to put the vessels in the machine and switch the button on. Laachi, who did not know how to operate the stove, or the mixer, now goes to start the washing machine. If she had any intelligence, she would have questioned Phoolmani, how she came to know so much about the machine, and why would Radha, who has always been kind to her, not show it to her. This same Laachi, has witnessed the pranks of this cousin of hers, before, yet, she easily forgets, and does the foolish thing of putting the vessels in the machine and switching the machine on. When the machine starts, and she notices smoke, again any one in their senses, would know that the button which she had pressed, started the machine, and she would have to switch the same button, by pushing it upwards. Because one button faces up, and the button which she pressed faces down. This much she can not notice. When Phoolmani puts the blame on Radha, Laachi has no difficulty in believing her rather than Radha. Instead of learning from her, she starts retaliating against Radha, and the funky Radha, gets so disturbed, that she has hurt the feelings of her elder sister in law, runs and sits on the bed thinking of her misfortunes.
Laxmi and Phoolmani are only concerned about their plans to sow doubts in the minds of their host family. They are shown to be very effective, as the hosts, are shown to be dumb, and oblivious of all the tricks their relatives are playing on them. This too is far fetched, as no person in their senses, behaves like this, but we are made to believe, that this is a story, we should watch, but what can we learn from it?
Ramdei, can not understand, why Kesoo are Sarju are upset. Even she has turned blank in the head, and even though she had brains to make Laachi ware gungru on her feet, to find out where she is going, she has no wit left to handle the present situation, but to drown in her self pity. Kesoo, flares are Sarju, and obvious reason is that Vishnoo has poisoned his mind, and he has believed Vishnoo, who had once shown himself to have robbed his wife's necklace and given it to his girl friend, right in front of all of them in the temple, some weeks ago, yet Kesoo has drained all logic from his mind. Again they show the he is acting like a fool, and getting angry on his own, and here too any one with common sense, would have found something strange in the behavior of the cousin's family, after their house was burnt down. No hope for Sarju's family, who are shown to be do-gooders, and do things without spending a moment for thought. So, Sarju accepts the shouts of his brother, humbly, not figuring out, why he behaves like this, even though the doctor had said in front of him, that there is hope, if they visited the clinic. The only sensible thing, they refuse to do, and instead, break the family down to pieces, blaming ones own, at the instigation of the guest family, who have always shown to be shady. If they had not known it, may be they could have been forgiven. Ramdei, was always against this idea, and yet, all of them want to stay with Vishnoo's family.
Laxmi comes again, with some oil, she has purchased from the town, (while she has been shown to have no known income, her son always borrowing money, and her husband holding the purse tight), and yet Ramdei has not disbelief, and she accepts a massage from Laxmi. As she pours venom against Radha in her mind, she has no hesitation, to distrust Radha, and to believe this woman, whom she always suspected. Where is her disbelief gone?
This serial is a compromise with absurdities, and we always have a hope, that sooner than later, they will come out with some smart situations, which will seem logical to our minds. Let us hope the stalwarts of Start Plus will start thinking of something, before their bosses think of shutting this serial too from the idiot box.
5/4/2011
Kitchen Work is for Women:
At the dining table, the men praise the chutney, and some one notices that there is some problem with Radha, and she opens her
hand and shows a burnt hand, and tells her that in the kitchen her hand was burnt. Then they ask who did the cooking and Laxmi
tells them that Sarju did the cooking. Sarju is so ashamed, that a man had to do the women's work, and then Ramdei gives her ultimatum.
Modes of Grabbing Fame:
Vishnoo is day dreaming of Rani, looking at girlie magazines. It looks he is more interested in a platonic love, rather than anything
do do with his gender. He wants to present her with a necklace, but does not have the money, and regrets his fate. Thinks how to make money on the sly. He finds a bronze statue, and wants to steal it and sell it to raise money, but drops some other think on the
floor which alerts the passing Ramdei, who tries to figure out who it might have been. She uses her rare powers of reasoning, and thinks it was because there might have been some breeze, but does not notice that all the windows are closed. Vishnoo is hiding
behind some pillars. When she goes, he thinks where to hide the statue, and goes to the store room, and puts it in one of the bags of grain.
Later, Kesoo goes to the store room, and Vishnoo is afraid he will find the statue, but Kesoo, as we have seen recently, has less brains than Vishnoo. A friend comes to ask him for the tractor, but he had not done a favor to Kesoo in the past, so he uses the
opportunity to insult him and sends him away. The person then meets Sarju on the way, and tells him when asked, that he came to see Kesoo, if he could borrow the tractor, and Sarju, in this extraordinary generosity, offes him the machine, without telling his
brother. When Kesoo finds it, he is angry with Sarju, and says, that he is his step brother.
Plotting Women:
Laxmi and Phoolmani are always plotting against Ramdei's family and time after time, they get spared because of the blind spot in the eyes of the host family. Even the sharp eyes of Ramdei have turned blind to what is happening. Of course she stares and thinks that she is thinking, but when she opens her mouth it is always non sense.
Discovery:
Radha is cleaning up the house, and notices that one of the statues is missing, and then the chase starts to hunt. They search and scratch the heads, but the brain is not able to throw any answers. The story writers do not want us to know the answer for atleast
another two weeks. They also help those viewers who can not understand the plot, the whole reason behind the action, in a soliloquy of their character, in this case Vishnoo, who thinks loudly, why he is putting the statue in the gunny bad, why he is doing
what he is doing, etc. and if the viewer too is as dumb as the characters in the story, they might have already gone to sleep. The story writer has not yet come to the final ending of Vishnoo's plot, so have patience for a few more days.Instead, enjoy the verbal fights of Kesoo, with his brother, and the entertainment the family of Heeraman has at his expense. See also the long drawn face of Radha and Sarju, bewildered by the happenings around them.
6/4/2011
As Kesoo has an an argument with Sarju, the two women, Laxmi and Phoolmani, as if magnetically attracted, slide down a slippery glass, like drops of mercury, to find out what more damage they can inflict. Kesoo shouts at his brother and he just stares at him without comprehension, as to what has triggered this anger in his brother. His mother too is drawn towards them and she tries to stop Kesoo, but he is adamant, and finally the mother bursts with her curses on those who have been responsible for sowing these seeds of enmity between the brothers. At least she has guessed so far rightly, that it is the work of an outsider, otherwise these two sensible elder brother would not have been at the other's throat. Her curses hit on Laxmi and Phoolmani, as what Ramdei wants, is for the worms to eat the dead bodies of these people, and one wonders if this has gone into their thick skulls.
Laachi, is in the kitchen, preparing tea, and as the water boils, is deep in her thoughts of self pity, at the fate that she and her husband have to endure. The mercury drops, have now glided to the kitchen, and notice Radha entering, and pleading with Laachi, to allow her to help. Laachi, with her spouting venom, lets her know, that according to the wishes of their mother, it is the the job of Laachi and Phoolmani to look after the kitchen, and she as the heiress, should take rest in her room. Radha finds it cruel, and tells her sister, as to why she is behaving like this, as she has always been a little sister to her, and from where she has got these ideas, of hatred in her mind. Who could have filled her mind with these thoughts. Laachi, by a twist of fate, has ignored the mercury drops, which have been funneling in ther mind these thoughts, and dwells only on the result, which is also an insult to the viewer. Perhaps the writers are aware of the changes in the villages, after the globalization, when modern facilities have come into their lives, but the old set of thinking still prevails. Those living in the cities, and cut off from the village lives, may find it hard to believe, that we have such people in our villages. Should we trust our writers, and are they genuinely portraying the modern Indian village, or is it a figment of their creative fiction? Radha follows Laachi to her room, and knocks on the closed door, as the wailing music, accompanies her paintive pleadings. One of the mercury drops, has been sent by the Mother Drop, to spy on Radha, and she comes behind her, but when Radha turns, she finds the drop, Phoolmani. She points finger at her, and warns her to keep away from them. She suspects her, and Phoolmani, then starts her wailing and comes with her sob story, but Radha ignores her and walks away. The drops are again huddled together to decide on their next move.
Rani is in her room, decking herself in front of the mirror, and Vishnoo, comes in bearing gifts. She accepts a red saree, and as she is planning to wear it, Vishnoo comes behind her and puts his paramour, a necklace, purchased from the money he made from the stolen statue. Rather than get a thank you, Rani tells him, she is waiting for the day, when Sarju will be at her feet, and this rubs him the wrong way.
Kesoo and Laachi, are at one another as the wife is bitter that her husband has taken to drinking.
The Mother mercury drop, goes to Ramdei, and starts her work on her, telling her that it is high time, she takes the house keys in her hand, but she give her a reply she did not expect: "I will not beg from my daughters in law." - Laxmi's dreams get a set back.
7/4/2011
Kesoo and Laachi fight. He accuses her of hiding the truth from him, and behind his back, adopting the illegitimate child of Kalki. He says baby is not his. Laachi is upset. She warns him against saying anything about this child. She says that it is her child. He wonders, if she regrets for having married him. He says it was a mistake he came to this house. Laachi tries to prevent him.
Sarju and Radha want to help. She tells him that he has had drinks and come home. He does not want to intervene, as he says it is a matter between husband and wife. Radha insists of intervening, but Sarju tells her he will not agree. He says, that his brother is angry with him, and he does not want to add more fuel to the fire. He says he wants to go to sleep.
Two women manipulate. Phoolmani jumps on the bed where Laxmi is sleeping and she is gloating on the fight that has taken place between Kesoo and Laachi. Her mother tells her that she thinks that she has won a Panipat war. She tells her that she should think, what benefits them. She stops her from arguing more, and tells her that she has to do what she tells her. She wants to pit the three women against one another: Ramdei, Laachi and Radha. After a silent show of dialog, the scene ends with "samaj gayee na?" and the other says, "wa, wa, Ammaji". She praises her to the skies.
Laachi is trying to feed her child. He is crying and drops the milk, so, she leaves him on the ground and goes out to prepare more milk, and the child crawls out of the room, and goes towards the staircase. In the meantime, outside in the courtyard, Shamboo is reading the newspaper, and Sarju strolls in and is surprised his father, is reading the paper so early in the morning. He laughs and tells him, "I can not read like you, I was just seeing the pictures, and enjoying myself." Sarju takes the paper from his hand, and assures him that he will read the paper for him. Just then Kesoo walks to the courtyard. The younger brother tells Kesoo to listen to the news, that he will read, but he has not interest and walks away, and his father stops him, and asks sternly why he is behaving like this and treating his younger brother so rudely, when he is trying to be very nice to him, and also frank. He tells his father to see how he treats his younger brother, who is so upset due to the partition of their property. He says, then he can talk to him about how he should treat his younger brother. As Kesoo walks out, the father is deeply hurt, and goes inside.
The scene moves to Laachi's room, and we see the child crawling and he has neared the stairway. Laxmi goes to Phoolmani's room and sees her eating some grapes, and is angry with her, and scolds her. Mother tells her to be like a termite and eat up the rest, from within, and to do that you have to pretend to take interest in the housework, and join with them and then they will get what they are looking for. Again, she tells her that it is difficult to bring down the strong wall, like Ramdei. Then she starts, the "silent dialog" with the last sentence, "Samji na?" - this is a tool well worn out by the writers of the Indian TV soaps, to avoid going too deep in the plot, which the viewers are any way not bothered to know. From Phoolmani's answer, we know, she has to go in search of Radha, and out she goes. Laxmi takes the grapes, and shoves one by one into her mouth and passes comments on her daughter in law, quite pleased by her performance.
Just then, Radha comes out and sees him as the background music rises in tempo to a crescendo, for a moment she is frozen like a marble statue, and then she runs towards the child and snatches him from the floor. Radha makes a melodramatic statement asking the child amid sobs, where he was going. The tremulous voice and incoherent pleadings to a child who is yet to learn the spoken language ! All this is to melt the hearts of the viewers, and some may even shed tears at this woeful scene.
Laachi, comes to the room, and ways "Take, I have come with the milk, ..." and she stops seeing her child not in the place she left him. Apparently, she is unable to face the trauma, and drops the milk from her hand, and spills it on the marble flooring of this haveli. In desperation she looks everywhere for the child, saying "babua, babua". We are almost led to believe, that she will make a big noise when she finds him in Radha's hand, and pass judgments before knowing what has happened. When she runs out, she meets Phoolmani, and she just points out to Radha. Laachi, without asking any question takes the child from Radha's hand and hugs him. Radha in her tremolo voice, inquires of her why she had left the child, and if she had not noticed it in time, what would have happened to him? - and one can expect what the answer is. Laachi, with her undulating voice, tells her "There would not have been any unseemly accident. Her God is with her. " Radha gives her piece of her mind and advises her that to take care is their responsibility while also trusting in God. Laachi, comes out with the expected reply, "So you have appointed yourself to teach me what is right and what is wrong?" All the skill of the writers of the dialog have been put to use, with the back and forth accusations, to keep the viewer entertained. The result is Laachi is where she is, and Radha is in her own sanctimonious world. Phoolmani is the only one to be entertained on the screen, with ther dubious smiles. The famous injunction is "Kaan kholke sunlo" - words of immense intelligence come out of Laachi's mouth, which floors Radha who walks away, as it is useless to talk to a uneducated villager like Laachi. Phoolmani is waiting for her chance to rub some salt into the wounded ego of Laachi.
Ramdei has visitors, Shanti and Chanda. She seats them on her luxurious sofa. They tell her that they heard that she had become an owner of the Haveli, so they came to see it for themselves. Shanti, praises the good fortune of Ramdei, and there, comes the pest of Laxmi, ingratiating herself with the guests. Shanti offers her sympathies to Laxmi at the burning of her house, and she tells her, that from that time, they are staying with her Jetani, Ramdei. Radha comes to offer ber obeisance to the guests, and her mother tells her that Chanda is expecting and to bring some cold drinks and something to eat, and she goes obligingly. Laxmi whispers something to her daughter in law, Phoolmani, thinking of a new plot. Phoolmani tells her that she has lit the fire between the two bahus, and Laxmi asks, where Radha has gone up for, instead of going to the kitchen. Asks her to go and find out. Loudly Laxmi tells Phoolmani to go and help Radha, and she gets up and goes.
Radha has gone to Sarju's room, to ask him to go to the bazaar and buy some sweets for the guests, and he gets ready to go, but outside the small worm is itching to see what is happening. Radha opens the cup board, and takes some cash from the stack that is kept inside. Phoolmani watches greedily. Sarju has kept his compensation of one crore he got from Kamya in cash? Is it to show, that he is still a villager, and does all business in cash, and all his experience in the city with credit cards, the ATM and all the signatures he put on the bank papers have all been forgotten? Who has forgotten, the writers of the story, or Sarju, has been made to show that he is ignorant of the business practices which Kamya taught him? It is for the benefit of Phoolmani, so that her plot can be worked out without bugling. Shanti wants to know where Laachi is, and Laxmi shows her expertise, by saying that "There are more things than people in the haveli, and we have to search where each one is". Ramdei tells Shanti, that this is the habit of Laxmi to talk loosely, and actually, Laachi is in her room putting her child to sleep. Shanti expresses her desire to see the haveli and meet Laachi, and Ramdei tells her to go, and to be careful, as the floor is slippery. Possibly some worm will enter Laxmi's head, on hearing this.
Chanda goes to meet Laachi, and tells her she felt like seeing her and so she came. They talk about the pregnancy. She passes a remark about the experience of motherhood, and that hurts Laachi, as she is not able to have it.
In a preview, Phoolmani comes to tell Ramdei, that the key of the cup board is lost. She is stunned.
8/4/2011
After Chanda finishes her talk with Laachi, the last she says to her is that she would not understand the joy a mother feels, when she carries her own child, and seeing her reaction, apologizes to her. Laachi feels hurt, and does not say anything, but Kesoo, hears what she said, and feels bad for his wife, Laachi. Shanti calls her daughter in law, and she goes down.
Laxmi adds salt to the wound of Ramdei, by passing sarcastic remarks about what is going on in the house. Ramdei, is so angry with her, but can not say anything in front of the guests. Laxmi feels emboldened.
Radha is frying snacks for the guests, and Phoolmani is havering around, to see if there is any opportunity opening for her devious plans. Radha removes her keys, and places them on the kitchen table, and then wipes her hands with the towel, and the keys fall down, and Radha does not notice the noise the keys would have made, but the wicket Phoolmani has her greedy eyes on the keys. Ramdei, shouts at Radha and asks when she is going to bring the snacks, and then she hurriedly leaves the kitchen with the snacks, telling Phoolmani to fry the rest.
When Radha has gone out, the creepy Phoolmani picks the keys, and puts them in the milk vessel when Laachi comes to take some milk for her child. Phoolmani is afraid, her plan will fail, but Laachi does not notice anything and she goes with her milk, back to her room. Phoolmani puts her bare hands in the milk, not caring if it gets spoilt, and takes out the keys, and hides them. Laxmi gives some excuse, and comes to the kitchen and takes the keys from Phoolmani, and hides them in the temple area, when Ramdei is watching hder, but does not know what she is up to.
Shanti asks Ramdei to show her some jewelry so that she can make similar one for her daughter in law, and Ramdei tells Radha to bring it.
On the road, the nurse from the clinic is informing the villagers to bring their children for the polio vaccine to the doctor, and sees Sarju coming and tells him too. She tells Sarju to tell Laachi to bring her child, and also refers to Kesoo, who is lonely and worried, and the nurse asks him to convince Kesoo to come to the doctor - and when Sarju tells her that Kesoo will not listen, she tells him, that he is educated, and should be able to convince him. He promises to do his bit, and Kesoo has listened to what the nurse has said. Hopefully, he will change his mind.
In the house there is commotion, when Radha finds that her keys are missing. When Vishnoo and his family had come to the old house after theirs was burnt, there was an instance, when Vishnoo tried to rob her ring, and Sarju had rightly suspected him, as he knew his character. But Radha has stopped him. But now the couple who has newly returned from the city, with civilized inputs, have regressed, after coming to the haveli, and Radha does not suspect Phoolmani, who was with her in the kitchen, when she left it, to take the snacks to the guests, and does not suspect her, and neither does Sarju, who has returned from his trip to the village, and pounces on Radha as the guilty one, for misplacing the keys. We do not know the reason for the regression of their mental faculties. It is left for the viewers to make the cautious guesses.
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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