Update: Thursday On Young Dreams (Episode 399-401)

Gunjan and Rachna each contemplating their goals and how they will achieve them.) Gunjan plugs in her phone and begin typing in a blog online:

“Alone, a girl cannot fight guys who harrass her…but if we all work together as a team, we can overcome not only our fear but the harassment that these kind of men perpetrate…today such an incident happened to me, but tomorrow it can be you, or your sister, daughter, or friend…we girls cannot just hide our faces in shame and let injustices happen to us, we must speak up! We must band together and stop the abuse we face every day. I am Gunjan Garg, a free citizen of a free country and a college student “. Gunjan hopes to herself that people will
join her fight and prays that no girl has to face what she went through. She uploads the photos she took of her attackers and hits send. Then she smiles in satisfaction.
At the same time Gunjan is blogging, Rachna is shown sketching her fashion designs.

“Aashayein” is playing in the bg. Rachna recalls being made fun of by the “city girls” and then remembers Mayank’s advice to her about not letting any big city people instill fear in her and to just use her talent. Rachna works tirelessly on her sewing machine and stiches dresses. She holds up all that she made against herself in the mirror and checks them. Dayal wakes up and comes to see what’s going on. Father and daughter chat and Dayal is amazed at all the work Rachna did. He tells her she should get some rest too and to finish her work in the morning as it is 2am. Rachna replies, I just want to add some finishing touches, then I promise I will sleep. Dayal blesses her and goes.

The next morning Rachna is fast asleep and Dayal orders breakfast for them. Suddenly he realizes that he knows so little about his own daughter that he doesn’t even know what she likes to eat for breakfast. So he orders one of everything on the menu plus milk, juice, and lassi! Rachna awakens and is stunned to see it’s 9am. She says, Hey Bhagvan registration is going to close at 10, I need to hurry! But she makes sure Dayal takes his meds. She goes to get ready and Dayal has a look on his face like, wow she’s running late but is still stopping to inquire about my breakfast and meds.

Over in Benares and other locales it is shown that multitudes of people are seeing Gunjan’s blog post and talking about how the condition of India is going down. A news channel manager tells his staff to contact Gunjan Garg now as he wants to put her story on the air. Mayank is in his room dressed for work in a tie and sees the news report about Gunjan on his tv. He’s stunned. He calls his boss and tells him he has to leave for Benares right away because it’s an urgent family matter. The boss grants him permission based on his good work over the past several days and says you can even use my car if you want to. Mayank quickly packs and rushes out.

In Delhi Rachna goes to hand in her forms and the two girls at the registration table make fun of her and say, oh look who we have here…Miss Small Town Big Dreams! One girl tells Rachna and her dad to save their money and not register for the contest at all. Dayal defends his daughter and says it doesn’t matter whether one comes from a small town or big city, what counts is one’s determination, capabilty, and talent. The girls roll their eyes at him. He threatens to call the management and the girls reluctantly accept Rachna’s portfolio and dresses but are being real b*t*hes the whole time.
Dayal can’t tolerate Rachna being made fun of so he lectures to the girls and few boys around there who call her ‘gaon ki chori’ and other derogatory words. The gist of his lecture is that one should be proud of their roots and it’s often in small towns where the highest, most sophisticated thinking is found. He has his finger pointed at the and is giving them a look which could kill and they all shut up quickly and look a little scared too.

Gunjan is at college and notices everyone staring at her. She says to herself, let them stare I have done nothing wrong, and confidently walks past the other students. Little by little Gunjan’s friends start praising her blog post and bravery. Chhaya comes and says why did you put up photos? What if those guys seek revenge? Gunjan tries to explain to her that she and other girls cannot sit quietly and let harrassment against them continue. The principal calls in Gunjan and inquires if she’s ok. But he discourages her from pursuing the blog or her fight any further. He tells her that by pursuing the matter she is bringing a bad reputation to the college. Gunjan tries to explain that she was the victim and tried to raise her voice for the benefit of other girls and women but the principal argues that what she’s calling a good intention is actually detrimental to the college because so many parents have complained and threatened to pull their daughter’s out because they’re afraid for them. Gunjan vehemently disagrees and says it’s high time everyone took action towards the crimes comitted against girls and women.

The principal threatens to take disciplinary action against Gunjan if she does not drop the issue. At Garg house the phone rings and Seema answers. A lady tells her to switch on the tv, look at all the dhamaal Gunjan has created, Seema is shocked. Sangeeta turns the tv on and she, Seema, Shail, Prabhu, Gopal, and Buaji all see the news report with Gunjan’s photo and the photos of the guys who harassed her. Seema is upset and says, Gunjan has no regard for our reputations or the peace of our family. Mayank arrives and accuses Seema of not telling him what happened with Gunjan. He says, I even spoke with you on the phone and you didn;t tell me.

Gunjan also arrives home and tells Mayank not to blame his mim, she (Gunjan) was the one who asked Seema not to tell him anything. Mayank is very angry that the whole world knows about his wife’s personal business even before he is told anything. He says to Gunjan, I was even in the same city where this incident took place and you still didn’t tell me anything just so I wouldn’t worry! How ridiculous is that Gunjan! Gunjan tries to apologize but Mayank cuts hr off and says, do you even realize what you mean to me, why I married you? Because you are a part of me Gunjan and when you get hurt I get hurt. But you obviously don’t consider me a part of you otherwise you would’ve shared your pain with me. He storms out. Episode ends with Gunjan looking distraught.


Rachana and Dayal are watching TV and see the news reporter mentioning about Gunjan’s blog and the incident that took place. Rachana is worried and immediately calls home to which Shail picks up and lets her know that Gunjan is fine and not to worry. She tells Shail to let her speak to Gunjan. Gunjan tells Rachana she is safely home and has to appease Mayank as he is a bit angry but tells Rachana to focus on her competition. Dayal then speaks to Shail and tells her to advice Gunjan to be careful. Gunjan goes to her room seeing Mayank upset. Mayank hugs her and says he was scared something bad would have happened to her and was worried. She tells him of wanting to voice her opinion regarding the issue and Mayank supports her saying that the guys that did this to her will be punished for their deeds.

Seema comes and tells them neither Gunjan nor Mayank will take any such step. She says that Gunjan has done enough and now that she is safely home should forget what has happened. Mayank tries to make Seema understand the importance of raising this issue on a publice platform but she feels that they don’t take her opinions into considerationa dn angrily leaves. Mayank tells Gunjan there is no point trying to make her understand. Meanwhile Rachana tells Dayal that Gunjan needs her at this time after what happened. She is ready to withdraw herself from the fashion competiton and is leaving when her name is announced as one of the top 5 finalists. Dayal encourages Rachana to pursue her dream and not miss the opportunity this time. Rachana enters the hall and the host requests her to come up on stage.

Rachna running on stage to accept the title of one of the five finalists. One girl calls her a ‘behenji’, but a fellow male finalist congratulates her. The announcer says all finalists have 2 days to come up with a mind-blowing design for the final round and all will be assigned models. There’s a fifteen minute break and Rachna calls Gunjan to tell her the news. Dayal is happy and says out loud, if you were here Shail, you’d be so proud of Rachna.

Gunjan is explaining the Joy of Giving Week to Dholu. She shows him the posterboard with the donation slips and selects a slip. She says she will donate pencil boxes to needy kids and everyone should help out. Gunjan gets Rachna’s call and congratulates her and encourages her.

She goes to share the news of Rachna making it to the final round with Shail who is sitting in the drawing room with a group of ladies. They recognize Gunjan from the tv report and criticize her clothes. Gunjan fires back that girls in suits or sarees are not any safer or more protected than girls who dress like her. She says the fault lies with boys and today’s society who doesn’t even bother to try to understand girls. She asks them to look back on their own lives and see if they were never harassed.

Sangeeta and Seema are watching and are surprised and uncomfortable at all that Gunjan is saying. A soft spoken lady in red saree says, I wish I was as brave as you Gunjan. Bua ji intervenes and nervously says, we were talking about Navratri preps lets get back to do doing that. She calls them away from the room. Seema and Shail are left in the room with Gunjan and Seema scolds Gunjan. Shail defends Gunjan’s actions saying it took guts to answer back to those ladies and what use is all the education that Gunjan and Rachna are getting if they don’t progress forward in life and learn to defend themselves? Seema storms out of the room.

Dayal goes to keep the luggage back in the hotel room and order food for himself and Rachna. A model coordinator comes and announces which models will be matched with which finalists. Rachna is excited. Rachna gets matched with a model named Nidhi Malhotra. She seems to be a bigger name compared to the other models because her introduction is longer and more detailed. Nidhi saunters onto the stage. She thinks she’s all that and God’s answer to beauty and grace (Oh please…Rachna and Gunjan are both much more beautiful inside and out than this girl! ) Nidhi is horrified at seeing Rachna. She’s very mean to Rachna and calls her a “behenji” and joker and publicly says, I would never wear any designs created by this girl. She tugs on Rachna’s braid, flings it back, and tells Rachna to get lost. She threatens to withdraw as a model and the guys in the crowd protest.

Dayal is pacing the room wondering what’s taking Rachna so long. He prays that all goes well. Rachna thinks aloud to herself that Mayank bhaiya was right…these big city people think they know it all. But I will not back down. She marches up to the b*t*hy model and the announcer and says I may be from a small town but my abilities are definitely not small. The announcer agrees and says Rachna is talented and her designs were the best among all the finalists. The b*t*hy model and another finalist try to persuade the announcer to remove Rachna from the contest but the announcer says it’s up to the jury and she alone cannot decide anything. She tells them all to go to their rooms and she will get back to them with a decision. Rachna comes back to her room and Dayal notices that she’s upset but she doesn’t tell him anything, she just says she’s tired. Rachna remembers the rude comments Nidhi made to her and looks sad and worried.