Jitendra Kumar of TVF fame is riding in a rickety old bus through the farmlands of Uttar Pradesh. He keeps asking when the Phulera stop will come. The conductor gets angry with him and tells him that he is not really in the mood to kidnap his passengers and will let him know when they reach Phulera. 

We see Jitendra’s character get frustrated and fall into a sort of reverie. We are taken to a flashback scene at a mall in Delhi. His name is Abhishek, and he is talking to a college friend. We are informed through their conversation that Abhishek applied for a job with the government as a backup option and now it’s the only option available to him. His friend on the other hand, has been placed in a corporate job in Delhi. Abhishek will make Rs 20,000 a month and the friend will get Rs 1,00,000 a month. Ah these unfair times! The friend tells Abhishek that he should think of this job with a sense of adventure - living in rural India living out a Swadesh fantasy. Abhishek is not convinced. 

In present day, he reaches Phulera and gets on his bike and heads to the office. At the office two people are waiting for him - his assistant, Vikas and the Deputy, Prahlad Pandey. Pradhan ji, the head of the Panchayat isn’t there. Abhishek is confused at their conjugation of words. He knows that the Pradhan is a woman named Manju Devi. Vikas clarifies that due to reservations for women in government Manju Devi stood for the position, but she was really a proxy for her husband Brij Bhushan. The little eccentricities of village life are charming in their own ways.

The office is locked and they are now waiting for Brij Bhushan to appear to provide the keys. Abhishek will also be living out of a backroom in the office. 

When Pradhan ji appears, he first wants to “wash” his hands. He’s just come from taking a shit in his farm lands. “We have two toilets”, he boasts, but here is a man who prefers to go do his business out in the open. Once he’s done washing his hands (Thank god! In these COVID times, our collective paranoia levels have skyrocketed) he starts looking for the keys. But alas! They are nowhere to be found. 

Thus begins a long and arduous journey through all the fields in the village, back to the place where Brij Bhushan sat down to relieve himself. As they walk, they carefully survey the earth for any signs of a fallen key. Brij Bhushan also informs Abhishek that he basically owns a lot of land in the village. 

The whole day goes in these expeditions, but the key is still nowhere to be found. At this point, Abhishek in frustration requests that the lock be broken. But there is a twist. The lock is precious to Manju Devi, it came from her ancestors. And so breaking the lock is out of the question. 

So they decide to get a locksmith from a neighbouring village. This means that Vikas will have to take Abhishek’s bike and bring the locksmith back and the whole trip will take over an hour. Abhishek is not happy about this, but he has no other option and so agrees with the plan. 

Vikas leaves and Pradhan ji gets a call on his phone. It’s Manju Devi - she knows about the missing key and chides him. He goes home and the chiding continues. He requests that they offer Abhishek a place to stay for the night, but she refuses because they have a young daughter at home. In the village, sleeping out on the street is really no big deal, as Manju makes clear from her lack of empathy. 

Abhishek, in the meanwhile, walks around the village and finds a small shop from where he buys biscuits. Everyone wants to know who he is - after all the village is so small that a new face is evident. When he mentions that he is the new Secretary of the Panchayat, a poor man starts begging him to clear his dues. The man has no money for food and claims that the Panchayat owes him Rs 525 for his manual labor. The moment is simple and poignant. Abhishek tells him that once the office is open, they will process his request as soon as possible. 

Vikas comes back without the locksmith and with a broken indicator. Abhishek’s patience is very limited now. When he asks what happens, he says that the locksmith sat on the back and they were coming to Phulera, when the locksmith’s wife called to tell him that she was in labor. So they turned around and drove and break neck speed (literally!) and bumped into a buffalo. The locksmith and his wife were both in the hospital, albeit for different reasons. The indicator broke in the aforementioned accident. Abhishek is all but ready to break the lock, but Manju Devi refuses once again. This time though, she softens enough to invite Abhishek over for dinner. Brij Bhushan tells her that they will have to offer the house for him to stay at in the night. Frustrated with the situation, Manju Devi agrees to the breaking of the lock. 

Abhishek is now eating at Brij Bhushan’s house. He praises the food and is shown some good old fashioned Indian hospitality when more food is shoved on his protesting plate. Just as they’re finishing, they get a call that the lock is broken…

…or not! They try to break the lock, but the door breaks instead. Oh my! What a comedy of errors this is. Abhishek enters, for the first time, his future home and work space. As we see shots of the building we realise that the place is a dump. The music is uplifting but Abhishek’s expressions remain neutral. This was a bit confusing - were they trying to uplift or is there a sense of doom or something else entirely? It wasn’t clear. I think they were trying to establish the potential of the job, but perhaps also highlight the fact that Abhishek is deeply unhappy with his situation. 

Our hero looks bummed out in the next scene. He desperately calls his friend back in Delhi and tells him that he wants to quit. The friend tells him not to be silly. Better to earn and gain some life experiences than sit at home idling. He tells Abhishek that having this kind of work experience will set him apart if applies for IIMs. Abhishek demurs and decides to stick on, but study for CAT and start setting his sights higher. 

This episode was a great set up for the rest of the series. The characters are quirky yet believable and the humdrum of village life in India was well-captured through the lens of an outsider. 

Episode Rating 4/5