This episode was the perfect prelude to the much-anticipated finale next week. Yasmeen finally uncovered the mystery surrounding the letters- usney pyaar karney ka dosra rasta dhoond liya- wohh tumhari taraf se Afzal ko khat likhney laga… jo baatein wohh tumse sunna chahta tha, wohh khat mein likh ke apne doston ko sunaa deta… usney believe kar liya ke tum ussey pyaar karti ho aur saath mein yeh bhi maan liya ke tum ussey kabhi nahin milo gi… That’s pretty much how Afzal went through living his life- a life he felt was incomplete without the woman he loved- a love so pure, so unattainable yet completely unforgettable. Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it. And we have all been guilty of denial at one point or another. Deep down, Afzal had always been a simple man- a man whose heart had no place for anyone except Farah Ibrahim; a woman who was forbidden fruit for him since she belonged to the elite class whilst he was the son of a molvi barely making ends meet. His dreams of wanting to become a bara admi were born from his desire to try and possibly reach the same social class as the woman of his dreams. Afzal never became accustomed to living a life of luxury- his spirit remained in Hyderabad, in the confines of his mohalla where he grew up playing cricket and catching glimpses of his lady love.
As much as Yasmeen loved Afzal, she knew he would never be hers. Even when Afzal brought her all the letters rather mohabbat ki ek gumnaam kahanai, she refused to burn them and advised him against doing so himself- Mohabbat mein likhe huey khaton ko jalaaya nahin karte… chahey uskey gham mein jaltey raho par unko kabhi mat jalaana… Love in its truest form is selfless and Yasmeen loved Afzal with such depth that she couldn’t imagine him miserable and she knew only too well that Afzal would remain miserable without Farah. Yasmeen grew frustrated with Farah’s denial of her feelings- jaag jao Farah; iss keemat pe kabhi mat sona- tumne kaiyyoun ki neendein haraam kardein hein… Iss liye shayad tum ek psychiatrist se shaadi kar rahi ho , andar se tumhe pata hai ke tum bemaar ho… Ussey bas tum chahiye ho, ussey torh dene wali; wohh Hyderabad se tootkar aya tha aur jo Hyderabad se toot kar aye, wohh Karachi mein jurh nahin sakta! Yeh karaara jawaab deney ka khel bas tum dono kyun khelte ho? And finally, Farah could deny it no more- her tears did the talking this time around and her tears didn’t lie.
Molvi Sahab and Ruqaiyyah Begum were extremely uncomfortable with Yasmeen’s quest- Iss tarhan dhoondney se khooj lagane se apna kuch gumm karde gi… Aaj khat jalaakey tumhari mangni ka sadqa utaarein gein… But Yasmeen was adamant and stayed focused- Mujhpar be’adbi wajib hogayi hai! She made her intentions very clear- she wanted nothing more than Afzal’s happiness and the only way Afzal was going to be happy was if he ended up with Farah. Also, she saw the way his parents had grown to love Farah and when Afzal confronted her she had enough reasons to justify her acts- Molvi Uncle ke coconut wali bicuiton ki khatir aur tumhari Ammi ki khatir- unko Farah mein tum dikhte ho!
Lubna finally put things in perspective- Jisko tum mangni samajh rahi thi, mangni nahin horahi thi; ilaaj ho raha tha tumhara- hum dono ka khayaal tha ke tumhe kuch different kasam ke shocking treatment ki zaroorat hai… Tum dono ne maar daala ek dosrey ko lekin ye nahin kaha ke ek dosrey se pyaar karte ho! Lubna had lied all along- she was never involved with Afzal but on the insistence of Sabtain, she tried to gauge her reaction but Farah gave away nothing. The engagement was an elaborate set-up too; one that Sabtain felt would do the trick. Here again, he was proved wrong because Farah didn’t budge. She was even geared for the make-belief wedding for the sake of her karaara jawaab in response to Afzal’s. Little did both of them realize that the only ones who they were playing with were themselves and their feelings!
We know we are a week away from the last episode and the story seems to be shaping up towards the happy ending we’ve all been hoping for. Do you think the last episode will be as straight-forward as it seems or does the writer have a few more surprises in store for us before wrapping the last 40 odd minutes? Yeh akhri akhri batameezi hai pyaare, phir mein kahan tum kahan…
Kanwal Murtaza
