Umm. I've been thinking since the last five minutes. Where do I start?š¤
So, let's get the chillar stuff out of the way and then concentrate on the crispy, sexy notes ;)š
Chillar Bits:
The guy who just entered the Rathi home, recording Payal's conversation with her mom is Purab. He did not introduce himself right away of course, but he clearly conveyed his intentions by telling Payal, "Filhaal aapke liye, bhagwan bhi main hun aur shaitan bhi. I think he later asks her to serve him food, post which he would tell her what he wants in liue of saving her ass (Did anyone here notice how Payal frequently needs someone or the other to save her ass. Earlier people used to do it in good faith, because they cared about her as a human being. Now they're doing it because she's such an idiot and such a wretched being.)
So anyway, Payal pleads with Purab, asking him to leave asap. He doesn't listen of course. And in due time Bhabo and Ved come in. I was expecting Bhabo to go all suspicious on Payal, but nai, she was surprised and happy seeing Purab. We are then told it is Imli bindhani's son. Imli means the third bahu Emily right from DAB? My mind went straight for Meena bindhani coz that's the only other bindhani in my memory right nowš... To be fair, Bhabo did have a shred of suspicion, for two seconds, which Purab cleared in the next two secondsš..
The Rathis introduced Purab by singing praises about his khurafati, about how he doesn't stick around in any one college coz of his khurafati. Aisa intro de rahe the maano Purab khud mein world-class brand ho. I was thinking if a chap keeps changing colleges/universities, shouldn't it be a cause of concern? What's there to thump his back for? I'd have got chappals as a gift from my family if I were that khurafati. Anyway, so the deal is, Purab will stay in Pushkar, possibly with the Rathis to pursue his studies.
Ved even asks Payal, "Isne tumhare saath koi khurafati toh nai ki na?
Payal is visibly chickened out. Jab itna bada hathoda leke khud hi ke pair mein de maara hai, toh kaise bolegi dekho chot aayi hai. Yeh bhi batana padega na ki usne hathoda kyun maara?
You deserve this Payal. I just hope he doesn't ask her for sex in exchange. That'll be too much to bear in this sanskaari show.
Now over to Kanum and Meera:
Kanak was happily making malpuas for the kids back in Ladno. You could see golden brown malpuas floating in syrup, I toh just wanted to get inside the phone screen and pick one āŗļø
There was a very interesting conversation between Suman and Kanak which was screaming for attention. Suman was teasing Kanak, saying, now that dadusa would get busy with his work, you'll need to feed him malpuas to keep him hooked to you, isn't it? To which Kanak says, she doesn't need to feed him malpuas to keep him hooked to her. She already rules his heart. In her words, phail chuki poori tarah se. Kisi aur ko andar aane tak nai dungi.
I was thinking, ab tumhare haath mein kya hai Kanak. Who chudail aa chuki hai. Ab usko bahar kaise fenkna hai Uma ki life se, you'll probably have to start thinking about that.š
So anyway, she was chit-chatting with the kids when she received a call from Uma. As we next see, she immediately rushes to the site - a tall under-construction building, and finds Uma standing on the edge. Panicked, she runs all the way to the building, climbing the floors and reaching the terrace where she runs to the edge to see where Uma was, not finding him there, and (quite nauseatingly) not finding him on the ground below as well.
She only turns around when Uma calls her from behind. Worried sick, she first scolds him aise kaun kinare pe khada hota hai Uma. And then she asks him about the meeting, how it went. He says meeting acchi nai thi. Kanak too looks disappointed, but quickly masks it by cheering him up.You obviously think he's saying the truth because Meera Mittal gives him just 5 minutes to prove himself, as to why he's worthy of her time. And so now, looking at Uma's crestfallen face, the pallid expression, you think he probably blew it. Trust me, I know this sounds mean but I'd have preferred he blew it.
Because when he next says, "Meeting acchi nai, bahut acchi gayi I was like, Oh no. Why? (I know, I'm such a mean, selfish Kanum fan). So apparently, Meera Mittal was all ready to dismiss him saying his 5 minutes were over. Now here comes the shocking part. Uma stands his ground, doesn't look dejected at all and instead tells Meera it was a loss for her. Till date she had been partnering with Nanda, who had no real knowledge of medicine and was simply selling a few medicines he had invented the formulas for. Moving forward, Meera would only be able to sell the same medicines in the market, but not cash in on new medical breakthroughs, the key to which, lay with him.
So essentially, he tells her it would be her loss and not his, if he doesn't come on board.
Man, I was so impressed.š And shocked. š²And kinda didn't like it deep down in my heart, because hey, our hero's changing too fast and in too many ways for our liking.š Where did so much business acumen sprout from all of a sudden? Itna vyapari dimag pehle kyun nai tha jab dawai pe dawai bana rahe the, patent kyun nai kia?!!
Kanak is overjoyed of course, and asks him why he called her if the meeting had really gone well. To which, he walked around open expanse of the terrace, a newfound gleam in his eyes, as he kept hopping from one position to the next, speaking out his heart about how this deal would take him to the height of success. How he would set up his own office in that very building, and how his cabin would look like, and where his staff would sit, etcetera.
Kanak looks at him happy, proud, but also with a tinge of uncertainty because she realizes in all of this, Uma hasn't once mentioned her name.
She asks him, "Par Uma, in sab mein aap ne mere liye koi jagah hi nai rakhi."
That. Just. Broke. My. Heart.š
You could feel how left out, how unsure and probably distant Kanak felt from Uma at that point.
Uma had this child-like enthusiasm and glow on his face today. We know this is probably the first taste of anything close to real-world success for Uma, a man, whose whole world till date had remained within the borders of Ladno. We feel happy for him also, but somewhere, our hearts are kinda breaking too. Coz we don't see the same intensity in Uma's eyes for Kanak. Or that warm, guzzly feeling Kanum shared, way back in Bangkok.
When Uma tells Kanak, "sab tumhara hi toh hai, you know he probably means it the way he says it but you just don't see the same invincibility in their relationship. That strong, subtle force in their bond that was so untouched by bahari chamak-damak and distractions way back in Ladno even when they were going through that whole divorce drama. You could see Uma pining for Kanak.
Here Kanak has already started talking like she knows Uma won't have time for her. She's started telling him how she'll chandan ka souvenirs and all on his desk, so when he is busy and doesn't have time for her, the chandan, with its exquisite fragrance will remind him of her.
Uma says, that'll never happen that he won't have time for her.
And just when you start feeling all gooey inside, that witch Meera calls Uma, telling him she's ready to move through with his proposal, but only if he reaches her office in 60 minutes.š”
Here Kanak, who was getting ready to treat Uma to malpuas seems busy rummaging in her bag, when Uma makes a dash for the exit, telling her he had just 60 minutes to reach Meera's office, or else the deal will be called off.
Poor Kanak, she runs behind him, with the dabba half-open, calling him out to just have a bite. After all, shubh kaam se pehle meetha khana accha hota hai. But Uma runs on, not looking back even once, screaming back that he couldn't afford to waste even a single minute.
And so, on and on they run, Uma racing ahead of time, Kanak behind him. But this time they are on divergent paths. Amidst all this running, the dabba falls from Kanak's hands, all the malpuas fall down to the ground, scattered, like confetti, just that they don't look as pretty.š
Uma doesn't even stop to look and survey the mayhem...š
He get inside the jeep, pulls on the ignition and without even glancing once at Kanak, makes a dash for Meera's office.
Looks like not even the best of her cooking can stop an unstoppable Uma now. So much so that he probably doesn't care about looking back at the destruction and hurt he might have caused.
My question is: what kind of businessman/woman enters a partnership with another, by making them run for their life? What kind of prospective businessman agrees to this set-up and makes a desperate run for the money?
Weren't they supposed to be equals? Uma and Meera? I thought Uma had already impressed her back in the office. But then by agreeing to this desperate act, hasn't he proven he is in fact, not her equal? As a business partner? Had I been in Uma's place, I'd have asked Meera to stuff her face and asked her to learn some business ethics first and then and try talk about my proposal.
I cannot even describe the look on Kanak's face. It would have been better if she'd have cried. She just kept standing there for long, alone and abandoned, her eyes moist and her heart breaking into a million pieces, but the tears not falling like they should've. She picked up all the malpuas and placed them back in the tiffin, the hurt crushing her joy like a big, giant boulder.š„ŗ
Uma manages to reach Meera's office on time, before time in fact. She is surprised, and glad to see him there. Maybe she was ticking his little feat off in her mind - that yes, here's man who is willing to do my bidding. On Uma's end, he probably thought he successfully passed the first stage to becoming someone who deserved to reach the top.
I was so furious and disappointed with Uma.š”š” You're winning all the bets Meera is throwing at you, but losing all the ones that will truly matter in the end.
P.S.When Uma knocked on the door and came in, Meera sent him back saying, just because you knocked on the door doesn't mean you can come in.. Please ask for my permission before you enter. And so he goes back out again, knocks on the glass door, to which she responds by allowing him to come in. Chudail, you could've done the exact same thing the first time he knocked, couldn't you?š¤¬
P.S. 2 Seems Uma's background has been ferreted out like viruses using a QuickHeal anti-virus software. "Pink Shirt as Meera addressed his secretary (or whoever the spotboy-type guy was) gave her all the snippets he'd found out about our man. When he talked about Uma being married, she turned around sharply, probably thinking, "How dare you be married, Uma? I thought you were my favorite flavour of cheesecake and you shouldn't have ever be taken, because hey, I want ya!š¤ When "Pink shirt told him he was divorced, and began to mention Kanak, Meera shut him up saying, she didn't want to know any more about the things and people attached to his past. She only cared about his present and future. Ya babes, we get youš”
P.S. 3 Pink Shirt ko roz Pink Shirt bulati hai kya? Ya phir, mann kiya to "White shirt "Blue shirt wagairah wagairah bhi bulati hai?š Who wrote this episode btw? I know CEOs can be snooty, but for Chrissake, they don't move around calling people "Pink Shirt "Green churidaar "Laal dupatta wali and all. Duh. Scared to think what she will say and how she'll react if she ever Uma shirtless, his staple Ladno look.
P.S. 4 Meera has agreed to have a 50-50 partnership with Uma, when she apparently doesn't let people get more than 1% of profits. We all know why, don't we? Poora ka poora Uma chahiye, to kya 50, kya 75!
PRECAP There's a party the Mittals have thrown to usher in Uma as Meera's new business partner. She raises a toast to this, and effectively makes Uma gulp down a glass of wine. Yes, alcohol. Something Uma has never, ever touched in his life. When madira comes into the scene, women naturally follow suit. š³And so, with Uma intoxicated and having no awareness of what's happening around him, Meera tries to take advantage of this situation and touches his face seductively. You can see she is mesmerized, and likely leaning in to kiss him.
Apparently, Uma has been disconnecting Kanak's calls. Or is it Meera's doing?šš¼
P.S. 5 I hate the way Uma was going on and on about Meera being a shaktishaali woman, her thehrav and all that. Itni tareef kabhi Kanak ki ki?!š”
Note: We really didn't want to think so far ahead when the first signs of Uma's drastic change came into the picture. But I'm sure none of us imagined it could get this bad. What happened to the sweet, innocent, determined Uma who had his own principles to get by in life? What happened to not drinking wine, etc etc. I'm not saying it's per se bad. I drink occasionally too, I'm sure we all drink. Office parties, at friends' gathering, etc. I'm just so disappointed and dejected with the speed of this change. Clearly, going by the precap, he has knowingly not got up and close with Meera. But when you've never had a drink in your life and probably have no practice whatsoever handling the after-effects, a drunk blunder or two is the first obvious consequence.š³
Is it necessary to forget the core of your very being to attain success? This is the lesson Uma will need to learn through these experiences. That you attain true success, in large measure, because of who you are. And if you follow the herd and end up behaving like everybody else, even if you achieve what the world considers a success, what kind of success are you inviting in your life?
For me, I just want Kanak to find her way into this whole Uma-Meera thing and lodge herself firmly and make it clear to Meera, in whatever subtle/forthright way she can that look Madam, don't you dare cross that professional boundary. He's mine and he'll always be mine. And I'm ready to gauge your eyes out, if need be.
But I also want Uma to stop. Press the pause button and reflect on what he's doing and who he is becoming in a mad dash to keep up with the world.
The world doesn't look up to us because we become more like it. It does only when we have the courage to live in it, by becoming more like us.
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