20/4 Dragon Club: The Tohfa Tamasha :)

lams : Lamya

What a wonderful way to end the week! There was a wonderful combination of closure and anticipation that I felt when I saw the last bit of the episode and of course, needless to say, Monday seems entirely too far away now.

I was reminded of some quotes by scenes today and so here they are:

"Empty vessels make most noise"
Gayatri was so awful today that it was almost funny. I mean how can she not know that some of the things she are saying are preposterous and hurtful. She certainly rattles off and her insistence on winning every battle is going to cost her the war in the long run because though she might have every opportunity to harangue Aarti during the day, in the end Aarti will have the support of Yash for every such decision she makes. Today it was so interesting to me that we see the common thrread of Aarti defying Gayatri for Ansh, but the writers have so subtly brought it around from Monday, where we were all in support of Shobha to today, when I don't think anyone will fault Aarti for what she did but rather cheer for her! I myself am baffled today by how they brought this transition in the audience about but I think a lot of it had to do with the focus on Ansh and his own behaviour trajectory over the week.

At first it looked like he was spoiled and Aarti indulged him. We saw them as outsiders would. But as the week wore on we zoomed in further and further and discovered the beauty of their relationship and why Aarti is truly a wonderful mother. Today she saw an opportunity to teach him about faith and trust and she did not let it go so I salute her and the writers for imperceptibly making me salute her!

"Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood."

-Oscar Wilde
This seemed to be Paridhi and Prateek's motto today. Paridhi showed Prateek that she didn't really need material things and that she was just pulling his leg when she was angry. The fact that Prateek took it so seriously worries me for the future, though. He seems to be so eager to please everybody that he doesnt really stop and take a moment to really assess the situation and whether Paridhi is actually angry at him or not. Given how long they have known each other, one would think that he could tell if she was acting but that did not turn out to be the case. For now of course all their problems can be solved with one all-purpose method 😉 but I think there is going to come a time when they are going to actually have to face these issues. Prateeek won't find Paridhi's nataks so endeairng and Paridhi won't be as willing to put in effort to make it work with his family. All in good time though. For now I will allow them to enjoy themselves.

OK no quote for the Dubeys' phone call but I absolutely loved that scene. For one thing I loved Aarti's palpable loneliness which just sort of oozed through my TV screen, making me empahise with her deeply. i loved that Shobha could tell that something wasn't right immediately (such is her connection with Aarti) and Aarti's curt reply about the lie. I think more than her really being mad at them, Shobha's call also caught her at a really bad time when she was still reeling from Gaya3's mouthful. For that moment the Dubeys were responsible for her pain and she sort of took out all her problems and centred it around the divorce lie. The good thing is that Shobha will be there for her and won't stop trying to break the barier that her husband built with that one word, "karz". Aarti will need them when the divorce truth does come out. I was secretly releived to remember that this was serial world and the truth would have to come out at some point. Imagine living with that for the rest of your life as Aarti plans to do! 😕

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Maya Angelou
This is where I feel Yash and Ansh are at right now. Mostly, Ansh is holding on to that neglect he felt from his new dad and poor Aarti is caught convincing him that his dad is not at fault. She was brilliant today in the scene where they thought they couldn't go to school. Not only did she defend Yash, but she called Ansh his son. Whatever her reservations might be, she has made a real commitment to make Yash a part of Ansh's life and has found Yash receptive to the idea so she is putting her all into forging that relationship. But really there is only so much she can do without Yash and Ansh's participation. She can only build the bridge, they have to cross it.

And poor Yash did make that effort today:
"Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives."
-Oscar Wilde 😆

We were all expecting a twist in the tale with the gifts but I loved the twist they did decide to go with and the way they decided to execute it so that progress was made intentionally and unintentionally in all directions. Because of this very believable and endearing blunder on Yash's part (I mean the toys looked neutral to me, not overly girly) he will have to go and speak to Ansh in person which he seemed to be avoiding. I think he thought he would mutely hand Ansh the gift and all would be well but that was not possible because Ansh is expecting something else althogether.

But more than the impending progress with Ansh, Yash sort of cemented his position in Aarti's eyes even further. She saw the intention behind his gift though it ended in a fiasco. I think part of the problem was that PayPal were playing on Ansh's mind in the first place as he was treated as inferior to them. Now the gifts not being very clearly for him makes that insecurity rise up. This is an issue that Yash needs to deal with with quality time and an affirmation that he is here to stay and here to love. (Divyam was TOO cute today. I swear my heart melted all over the floor when he was giving Yash those sidelong glances outside the bathroom and even poker-face was not immune!! ❤️)

This blunder does only good because it also resolved the PayPal issue on its own! Sometimes kids don't really need the toys but need to feel importnat. When Yash buys the wrong gift for Ansh, he gives PayPal a chance to lord over him and feel like little women which is even better to them than a gift would have been. It is also a perfect way to help them bond with Ansh as they will "teach" Yash what to buy for him and so feel invested in his happiness too.

So this might just be the best mistake Yash has ever made! 😃