Downton Abbey ... the only show which inspires me to write these days.
Changing times ... Lord Grantham, a man struggling to keep pace with the changing times, a man still caught in the old glory days, who thinks the old ways and the old times will last for ever.
Lady Cora Grantham ... her American background makes her more pragmatic, more realist.
The Dowager Lady Grantham ...how I love Maggie Smith ... what a fantastic actress to watch on screen. She is more pragmatic than either her son and even her daughter-in-law ... she is clear sighted ... maybe with the wisdom of age, she is also able to accept the changes as they happen. Probably she has lived through so many changes already, and with the clear vision that her age gives her, she is also more amenable to change. Nothing is so constant as change ... and the Dowager knows that.
I love the relationship between Anna and Lady Mary ... they are truly friends, although the strict social class system doesn't allow them to call each other so. But there is no trace of patronage or talking to a social unequal, in the way Lady Mary speaks to Anna ... and even though Anna shows Mary all the respect as her employer and social superior, she feels free to confide in her, and she knows all Mary's secrets, more so than almost anyone else in the family. And Mary too, takes Anna's advice freely, she knows Anna is clear headed and sensible, and she feels no hesitation in confiding in her, or asking her opinion.
Matthew continues to be my favourite guy ... very sensible, very level headed and his sense of honesty and integrity is so strong ... truly admirable.
Mrs Hughes, Mrs Patmore are women ... they know the pressures, the compulsions, the pitfalls women can fall into ... so they don't censure Ethel ... or they did, but they are quick to forgive her when they see her making the attempt to reform herself. So do Mrs Crawley, Lady Grantham ... even the Dowager and the girls ... while Mr. Carson and Lord Grantham are quick to condemn and slow to understand. Why is it that men are the ones who cause a woman's downfall, and the ones who are the first to label her for that downfall? Hypocrisy of the entire male race.
Read the rantings of the rapist of Nirbhaya on similar lines ... Nirbhaya 'deserved to be raped because she was out with a boyfriend at night, women are meant for cooking and housekeeping, she should not have fought back, and her life would have been spared.'
In this day and age, to hear men speak such despicable rubbish is shocking, disgusting and appalling ... what kind of man, and what kind of upbringing have his parents, especially his mother, given him, that he has such an opinion about the female race in general?
IKNMP ... the wedding continues ... Ragini accepts the news of Neil's engagement with a brave face and even congratulates him, and assures him she is happy he has moved on, they were never meant to be together. Neil doesn't think so ... but then he has to speak up. This comes of having such a bossy sister, and letting her take all the decisions in his life!
Tonight finally Suhani will manage to speak to Ragini ... and the mystery will unfold a little further.