This episode of Little Things introduces us to Kavya’s mother, Ila Kulkarni (Navni Parihar). 

The episode starts with a busy morning with everyone in the house going around with their chores. Kavya has to go to work but she gives Dhruv ample instructions on how to take care of her mother, who is coming into town later. 

Didi prepares lunch in the kitchen while Kavya greets her mother and then leaves her under Dhruv’s guardianship. 

Dhruv tells Mrs. Kulkarni about all the market and monument visits he has planned for her, but the calm and composed Mrs. Kulkarni surprises him with her ideas. She expresses her desire to see SRK’s Mannat and the beach. 

Dhruv is pleasantly surprised to see this side of Kavya’s mother, while Kavya talks to her friends about how excited she is to have her mother in town.

Mrs. Kulkarni asks Dhruv to take her to an old friend’s house. The two friends are reunited after years and stories about their past come up. Mrs. Kulkarni’s friend talks about the first time they drank beer and the first time they kissed a boy. 

Later at the beach, Mrs. Kulkarni requests Dhruv to maintain discretion and not tell anything about their day to Kavya. While Dhruv doesn’t quite understand the reason behind this strange request, he agrees and simply goes on to talk about how much Kavya used to love the beach as a kid.

I think Dhruv’s reaction in this scene is a subtle commentary on the age gap, and the male-female perspective. It is impossible for Dhruv to comprehend the reason why a woman would want to hide her romantic past from her daughter, to the viewers, it is perfectly clear that Mrs. Kulkarni wants to protect her dignity- an antiquated idea younger people may have trouble understanding.

After a strange but eventful day, everyone slowly arrives home, which is strangely, once again full of life and loud noises. Kavya brings home her friends and Mrs. Kulkarni serves them the best dal, that everyone wants to share on Instagram.

Upon confrontation from Kavya’s mother, everyone puts their phone down and decides to live in the moment. Dhruv makes a joke about dating through Tinder which makes everyone uncomfortable.

Once again, a subtle but realistic representation of the age gap that we all feel in our day-to-day lives. Dating through Tinder or Bumble is something most people have done, but people tend to feel a certain reservation when talking to elders or parents about it. There’s no particular reason behind that, it’s just something we choose to do to avoid sharing details of our lives with others. 

Once everyone—including Mrs. Kulkarni—has left, Dhruv and Kavya finally find a quiet moment together. They talk about their day and Kavya tells Dhruv that he shouldn’t have joked about Tinder dates. She goes on to say that her mother would never understand the concept because “our parents have probably never even been with anyone other than each other.”

That’s it. That’s the longest Dhruv can keep a secret. After hearing Kavya say that, he immediately confesses what he heard about adorable Mrs. Ila earlier in the day.

To his surprise, Kavya is shocked. She never imagined her mother as a person outside of marriage and motherhood. 

After she has had the time to calm down, Kavya comes to terms with the harsh truth that most people don’t find out who their parents truly are. She argues that parents—especially mother’s—lose their personality and become the person their partner or children need them to be. She decides that she wants to truly get to know her mother and build a relationship with her. 

And the episode ends with that strange yet accurate realisation. 

For its combination of dull and brilliant moments that revolve around parent-child relationship, the episode Mumbai Darshan gets a rating of 2.5/5.