Emily's Dilemma

Emily is shown to be a Catholic, by the interior of their house which are unique to that Faith. Her parents are conservative, but have given a good education to their daughter. She however has not thought of the consequences of marrying a non Catholic. Her Faith requires that both parties to the marriage have to undergo a pre marriage course, obtain a dispensation in case of inter religous marriage, give undertaking that they will accept children, and will not prevent them from coming into this world, and that all children of this marriage will be brought up as Catholics. The Bishop of that diocese grants them a dispensation, and the marriage is solemnized in the Church. They also have to undergo a Civil Marriage in Court. If for some reason, they do not get the dispensation, the court marriage is valid, as it will be done under the Special Marriages Act.

Now Emily was always asking Mohit to ask his parents and he was promising to do so but he did not have the guts to do that. He gave false hopes to Emily, and she trusting him, had relations and conceived. She left her studies, and was trying to contact Mohit, but he was trying to gain time. Finally, the matter came to the notice of Sandhya, Suraj and Bhabo, but they did not know the father of the child. Sandhya had her doubts.

If the Producer has not researched his subject well, and goes by his own concept, he may write any type of script. All are focussing on what Bhabo says, after the Holi festival. No one has given a thought what Emily will do. First of all, the court will decide that Mohit's DNA does not match that of the fetus. Emily will wonder what game Mohit has played. Sandya knows the fact, as as she is a woman of integrity, will she keep silent ? Will Emily demand a new sample ? In the Rati house, she had tried to treat the wound of Mohit, and could she have some blood sample of Mohit on her handkerchief ? All these are possible angles on which the story may be directed, but ultimately, if will go according to the conception of the writer, and that is why I would have hoped he had done his home work well.

If Emily is forced to marry Mohit, with all these conditions of Bhabo, she may as well opt for single motherhood as she is educated and can look after her problem with the help of her parents. Indian Law does not permit forced conversion, so there is no chance the Rati's doing it, especially, when the wrong sample is with the police. This is a dilemma, even Bhabo has not thought of. She only wants her 'Varis'. It is very myopic view, especially in the modern day and age.

I would like to see how the story unfolds. News are out that a new character is being introduced, and wonder what the angle is. Any way, in this imaginary world of television, anything is possible, and it may even turn out that the whole plot was some one's dream, as has happened in so many of these serials.

Nice post walquestji. They are not even going to explore the angle of Mohit converting. That I am some how sure of. That would have happened if Mohit had been madly in love with Emily. As that is not the case it will be Emily who will be married to Mohit maybe through court marriage or through Marwari customs. Marriage will happen as they will show this as another aspect in which Bhabo needs to broaden her vision. I do not think they will show Emily being a single mother. If that happens what is the purpose behind introducing this track. The idea is definitely to highlighten Sandhya's persuasive abilities.To get Maasa's approval for marriage.

Excellent thoughtful post with some

From My own experience of marrying a catholic...You don't need to convert, I took the course, when we did the catholic church wedding.

yes this is quite sensitive and the cvs should not hurt both the religions but convey teh message in a correct way

Even the Catholic Church with rules established over the two thousand year history, felt the need to relax its rules, to accomodate a changing world, after two world wars. It was realized that a more charitable view was needed to other people's beliefs. It does not insist its own adherents to follow these rules, as this is left to the individual's ocnscience. The final arbiter is God. I too have changed my views over the years, and have had to respect the choices of my own children, four of whom took spouses of the Hindu faith, and only my own child felt he could not keep to the rules, and went for the court marriage. I do not want to judge anyone, as only God can know the hearts of people and their situations. My only hope is that our country which is so rich in its culture, beliefs and customs will retain this harmony, and try and understand one another's compulsions and adjust. Even nature is a witness to beauty where different colors, fragrances, and creation lives in harmony and beauty. Those who have eyes to see, find beauty in diversity.

Originally posted by: walquest2000

Even the Catholic Church with rules established over the two thousand year history, felt the need to relax its rules, to accomodate a changing world, after two world wars. It was realized that a more charitable view was needed to other people's beliefs. It does not insist its own adherents to follow these rules, as this is left to the individual's ocnscience. The final arbiter is God. I too have changed my views over the years, and have had to respect the choices of my own children, four of whom took spouses of the Hindu faith, and only my own child felt he could not keep to the rules, and went for the court marriage. I do not want to judge anyone, as only God can know the hearts of people and their situations. My only hope is that our country which is so rich in its culture, beliefs and customs will retain this harmony, and try and understand one another's compulsions and adjust. Even nature is a witness to beauty where different colors, fragrances, and creation lives in harmony and beauty. Those who have eyes to see, find beauty in diversity.

I would like to make a point here which I find it unacceptable. The CVs no doubt wanted to convey the message of unity in diversity by promoting the concept of inter religious marriages but the message which I get from the episodes is not a change in Bhabo but Bhabo being compelled to accept a situation where she has no other alternative. That hardly to my mind is real acceptance. By introducing the pregnancy track they have destroyed the message. Had they shown Emily being accepted without the pregnancy, than we can say the message is in support of inter religious marriages.The concept of unity in diversity is no doubt noble and should be practiced. However be it in India or rest of the world religion is one of the major causes of divisions and disputes between different races.One would have believed that with the spread of education man would become more broadminded and accepting, unfortunately that has not happened. The more these divides get strengthened the more people become insecure about their religion. They are willing to sacrifice the love life of their children to prevent the demographic decline of their religion. Idealistic and Utopian concept of live and let live, I am afraid have remained within the confines of textbooks to be read and forgotten.The irony is all religions give message of love and peace but it is the same religion which is used by a few to spread hatred and violence.

What people like Richard Dawkins promote to solve the problem of divisions caused by religions is atheism. It is a cure not for the disease, but for the symptom. The division is not in God, but in man. Men do not have that depth of intelligence to understand the reason God himself has retained diversity in his creation. Our limited understanding causes division, due to historical reasons and distances from one another and in order to preserve our personal interests and beliefs, we try to put the others down, especially those who can not defend themselves. Take any object in creation, for example a tree. You call it by different names in different languages. I would like to tell you the solution two little kids found, one Korean and one Indian. The Korean did not speak English, and they communicated with each other by means of drawings, and became the best of friends. I speak of my grand child. Thus it is important, that we know more of each other, and a medium like television is a good way to do it. Unfortunately, even our tv channels are afraid to offend, and that is why perhaps, some choose only themes relating to the majority, for the TRP. Door Darshan had a policy of showing diverse themes of the communities living in India. This helps in building understanding. Also, to explain the meaning of the different festivals, and lessons hidden in them. This opens our minds to the beauty that led to these festivals. Again, I hope we will reach out to one another and appreciate. I appreciate the deep meanings hidden in our rituals, and that applies to rituals of every religion. Since the rituals of the Hindu religion are in Sanskrit, few understand the meaning. But if one sees deep, it is not different from any other. It says the same, fidelity and loyalty to one another till death separates each other.

All well written posts. Really gives lot of insight into religions and their effect