Moment of happiness are fleeting while times of sorrow seem to stretch endlessly, this oft heard adage kept going through my mind as I watched the Bhatti family’s ecstatic reaction to Peeno’s long-awaited pregnancy. Poor Peeno, much more accustomed to being insulted and beaten up, pretty much fainted upon hearing Billo’s endearments and receiving a huge wet kiss from her– yeh kab socha tha usne ke uski zindagi mein bhi kabhi aisa din ayega!! Alas, though, before she could even say abracadabra, everything went back being the same old same old. It was as if Peeno, and we along with her, had dreamed the whole Billo being over the moon and hugging her daughter-in-law sequence. Mumtaz’s divorce pretty much ensured that Peeno’s status remained just as it was prior to her pregnancy. She was back to being the non-entity she’d always been, her only value being that she was a useful pawn in the watta satta game – used and played according to the whims of the game players, her brother and her in-laws.

I was a Faiza Iftikhar fan before this, but after this I have to say my respect for her writing has grown tremendously. Bilqees Kaur is a fantastic story, touching on a variety of relevant issues, addressing diasporic dilemmas, and speaking to contemporary concerns about the social ills that continue to plague our society. Here characters are deliciously written in shades of grey, and defy easy characterization as heroes and heroines. In fact, there are no bad guys here – all are equally lovable and reprehensible. Just as we think we know what’s coming next, we are thrown another curveball. I was kind of expecting the divorce, and after watching Soha in action last week, it seemed like a done deal, but what I did not expect was for the story to move forward at such breakneck speed, ending with Inayat threatening to leave the house and Sultan probably following in his footsteps. Adnan Ahmed deserves credit for the smooth narration and his handle on this very complicated story, which zings back and forth between two continents at the speed of light.

Since the very beginning, I have enjoyed the intelligent manner in which the background stories have been told, innovatively through conversations, rather than resorting to flashbacks. For instance, many of us wondered about the reasons behind Mumtaz’s marriage to Zia, and today we got our answers as Bilqees bemoaned her daughter’s miserable life. I love the way the past has been woven throughout the story and is in so many ways informing the present and directly shaping future actions. The thought process behind the watta satta clearly did not ensure a secure future for either Peeno or Mumtaz. Rather the expectations arising from such a flawed arrangement have not only messed up Mumtaz’s life but are threatening to negatively impact Peeno’s life as well.

Back to today’s episode, Soha, along with Mumtaz and her three kids, returned back to the US after her failed mission to Pakistan. Many of us had predicted this turn of events, given Soha’s inexperience and her bulldozer approach to a very complicated issue. While I think this is ultimately a good solution for Mumtaz, but still, Soha’s crass handling of the whole affair really annoyed me. I am totally with Bilqees in her annoyance with Soha, but then again it was Bilqees’ fault in the first place, and Sultan too should’ve spoken up and not let her to go on her own or accompanied her. Or was it as Soha said, an inevitable deed, and a matter of time? Who’s really responsible for the fiasco? This is what I absolutely love here: it is hard to be judgmental and assign blame on one person or the other. Mirroring real life, here too the whole situation needs to be analyzed and contextualized before pointing fingers. Each and every character’s actions are a response to an earlier action by somebody else.

In many ways this was an episode of finallys – there was a sense of the story beginning to take a step towards winding up. Inayat finally manned up to his mother and spoke up in defense of his wife. Sultan and Soha finally took tentative steps towards bridging the communication gap that had arisen between them. We saw Sobia take the first step at repairing the relationship with her sister. What was odd here was that we did not see Anjuman at all, whether it was to congratulate Peeno on her pregnancy or to commiserate with Mumtaz on her divorce.  Other than this oddity, another excellent episode; already looking forward to next week!
Written by SZ~ [email protected]
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