I have seen various posts today, expressing sharp disappointment with Teju on two grounds:
1) for the way in which she confronted Archana and dressed her down, and
2) for telling Ovi about Archana's challenge to Arjun, and thus, the complaint goes, precipitating Ovi's descent on Arjun in the garage, and leading to the possibility, now that she knows of Arjun's whereabouts, that she will haunt him and nix any chances of his getting together with Purvi in the chawl.
The strength of these reactions seems directly proportional to the depth of the regard that we had developed for Teju, as a sincere, good-natured, fair and honest person, with the habit of calling a spade a spade, if not a damned shovel. We had also started looking to her to help unravel the tangled skein of the Arjun-Purvi-Archana relationships.The disappointment felt now is because she is seen as doing the opposite, by complicating the situation and making it worse for Arjun and Purvi.
I feel, however, that these negative reactions towards Teju are not really justified. I hope all my readers will take it in the right spirit if I say that I too am a trifle disappointed, but not in Teju. I am disappointed in all those who, in a knee-jerk reaction, condemn her for being 'selfish' and worse. Let us just look at the facts of the case.
Teju learns from Arjun about Archana having agreed to let Purvi marry Arjun when he can produce Rs.10000/- of his own earnings. This decision of hers is patently in contradiction to what she told Savita earlier:
1) that she would stop any meetings between Arjun and Purvi and
2) that she did not think he was good enough for either Ovi or Purvi. This, by inference, would lead anyone to assume that she would forbid an Arjun-Purvi marriage.
How can one then blame Teju for concluding that Archana is a two-timing cheat, who has not banned the Arjun-Purvi marriage at all, but instead has set such a low bar for him that his coming through, and thus winning Purvi's hand, is a given? Or, in a small step from this, concluding that she is out to get a rich husband for Purvi?
Such a conclusion by Teju would be further reinforced by the fact that Archana did not tell the truth about her challenge when Ovi was hysterically blaming Manav for Arjun's descent into temporary poverty.
Imagine that one of us was Teju, that Ovi was her beloved sister, and that the Archana Aunty – whom Teju had slowly started liking despite all the backlog of negativity about her - had been both devious (so Teju believes, and with justification, seen from her point of view) and mendacious (a matter of fact; she suppressed the truth that it was all her doing). What would that person have done then?
Most likely, that person would have behaved exactly as Teju has done. Remember that for both Ovi and Teju, there is all this back history of Archana as a totally neglectful mother, whom both the girls resented, and still resent deeply. This resentment was temporarily blurred in Teju's case, but at any sign that Archana just might be what Savita always says she is, it surges up again like a subterranean stream of lava. 18 years of acute resentment is not easily overcome even if nothing else goes wrong, which is not the case here.
Finally, one cannot expect Teju to cut any slack to either Archana or Purvi when Ovi is concerned. Her sister would naturally come first. Teju is eminently sensible, and she does NOT want Ovi to marry Arjun any more. She also tries her best to rescue Ovi from her delusions. But she does all this not to make matters easier for Arjun and Purvi, but to get Ovi back to normalcy as soon as possible.
One cannot ask of Teju that she should rejoice in or even easily accept that Purvi is going to get what Ovi has been deprived of. What is Purvi to her compared to her own sister ?
Moreover, when Purvi's own mother does not seem to care for her feelings for Arjun, her evident distresss, or her fate, and is instead obsessed with Ovi, the daughter who hates her guts, why blame Teju for not living up to impossible standards of benevolence?
It is also natural for Teju to tell Ovi about the challenge once she learns (from Ovi) that she has overheard her conversation with Archana. Since Ovi knows everything worth knowing, the details of the challenge would hardly add anything dramatic to what she knows already. Once she had overheard Teju dressing Archana down, her irruption into Arjun's garage was a foregone conclusion.
I am sorry if this seems too long-winded an exposition, but it is important not to expect characters to behave the way we want them to, even when that is not logical from their point of view, and on the basis of what they know.
Coming to the Purvi-Archana equation today, I was just a bit surprised to see Archana's smiling acquiescence in what Purvi very hesitantly proposes wrt a new job for herself, and her deliberate air of being positive. This was such a sharp change from her glowering visage of the last few episodes whenever she was face to face with Purvi, that it leads me to suspect some hidden motive behind this unexpected show of benevolence.
I had written yesterday welcoming what seemed like Purvi finally beginning to assert herself, even if hesitantly, vis-a-vis Archana in the context of the Arjun-Purvi relationship. I was hopeful that she would progress, even if slowly, along these lines. Alas, one look at her timorous (not just timid) face today, and the tone of abject submissiveness she used while asking for her aai's permission for her job-related proposal, and these budding hopes were withered on the vine. Jyoti was right, we were counting our chickens before they were hatched.
This doormat syndrome is obviously catching; Archana is a doormat to the Deshmukhs, and Purvi is a doormat to Archana. Catch any kids these days, adopted or not, being so crushed under the burden of gratitude that they end up having spaghetti for a spine when the parent is concerned! Our sanskaari Purvi, however, defies this 21st century norm. One's heart goes out to poor Arjun!
Shyamala B.Cowsik
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