Friday, June 6, 2014

Happy 3rd Anniversary IPK!


3rd Year Anniversary
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?
What should I name this love?
June 6, 2011- (November 30, 2012)- June 6, 2014

The Journey From Hate to Love

I celebrate the day that this wonderful serial was placed on the air on Star Plus, Monday to Friday with occasional Maha episodes (that I longed for) on a Saturday, which played on my computer and television multiple times a day.
I long for the reliving of those moments of waiting, butterflies in my stomach, palms sweating and the feeling of anticipation, sitting on the edge of my bed to see my ASR turn into my Arnav and wondering what will my Khushi Kumari Gupta do next?  
(Didn’t we all feel they belonged to us?)  
I use to talk to ASR and even myself while watching,
“How dare he?” and “Did he just do that?”
 and then just melt when he looked a certain way.  I laughed so hard at Khushi’s antics and mannerisms.
I got lost in his chocolate puppy dog eyes, which could express every emotion with a blink, a stare, a wink and you could always tell his fury by his eyes.
 It was the emotion of love, unfolding and deep hurt which built walls that would crumble before our very eyes that I came to know and love, seeing it in his eyes, slowly but steadily through his mesmerizing gazes at his beauty, Khushi and her possessive flying dupattas.  I couldn’t wait for his stone cold heart to crumble and melt into the warm and loving embrace of the young, zany, middle class girl who really didn’t know about love herself.
They had a common link, orphaned at a young age from parental tragedies and both were raised in loving homes in Lucknow, only causing both to be stronger individuals.  They were complete opposites as well, ASR didn’t care about anyone or anything, power and money and he himself were his gods while KKG was powered by her devotion to Devi Maiiya, sanskars and tradition.
Their paths crossed with Devi Maiyya intervening many a time.  Starting from Khushi being at the wrong place at the right time where she met the infamous and furious ASR, falling into his arms and ruining his show right before his eyes and as those eyes gazed at the dazzler in his arms and her pink luscious lips… to her dupatta flowing freely over his face caressing him lovingly… to her holding the key to his wish… to her scooter running into his car even though they moved to a different state… to Khushi being hired by his company and her unintentionally ruining a fur coat for a VIP model and that’s when he noticed, really noticed the beauty in red.
How could she make him feel this way…stirring things inside of him he didn’t really care to understand, he chose not to understand or want.  Walls went up, anger took over and revenge settled into his heart.  He would not feel this way and this was his punishment to her; so he sent her out in the rain to park cars and made her work extra long hours knowing she had to go home for her sister’s birthday and then banished her to the guest house all deteriorated and decrepit, ready to fall in a instant only to realize she was stuck there and off he went to her rescue late at night where he was confronted by a lioness and the battle really started. 
Anger took over and as much as he pushed her away she came in front of him.
 Devi Maiyya had other plans for them.
So I sat at the edge of my bed waiting and watching, biting my nails, palms sweating and heart racing in anticipation for those plans to unfold.  I waited and watched, as our couple hated each other, argued, fell upon each other, and continued to come together over and over again and again I waited and watched Devi Maiyya’s plans unfold.

Watching Lavanya become his live-in girlfriend was not easy.  She was the arrogant ringleader at work who hated Khushi but Khushi was there to rescue and help her out at the Raizada Mansion making her fit into the role of bahu of the Raizada household. Anjali and Naniji loved Khushi from the beginning since her sari selling days and were her greatest champions and Devi Maiiya’s matchmakers on earth.  We see Khushi’s magic change a girl like Lavanya into a proper bahu for that same Raizada household only for Khushi to find herself attracted to the man she longed to hate and avoid at every turn.  She didn’t understand what was happening to her but something was pulling her to him, stirring deep inside to her soul…a lifemate perhaps?

I hated Shyam with my whole being even from the earliest I can remember.  He just made my skin crawl and I must say Abbhas did an excellent job portraying his character. The plot thickened with Shyam weaseling himself in as a paying guest at the Gupta house. He followed them there from Lucknow where he first saw and saved Khushi from some very sleazy goons and they didn’t forget the favor.  So the innocent Guptas made a place for him in their home and he was a perfect candidate for marriage with the Sanka
Devi, Khushi.  Babuji’s illness was brought about by the evil Shyam for his scheme to marry Khushi.  In their helplessness it would be good to have another man around the house and someone who could take care of at least one of the marriageable aged sisters.
I was still at the edge of my bed, sitting on pins and needles as I watched Khushi hatch a plan to sabotage a business trip so Lavanya and ASR could be alone but needless to say our Devi Maiyya gave Lavanya a zit and alas the vain woman couldn’t go but Khushi wound up in ASR’s trunk unconscious due to a knock on her noggin’ and there she went instead of La.
What ensued changed everything. 
A trust built in a very strange way between them.  He was angry at first…of course he would be after all she put sugar in the gas tank.  So they walked through the woods and she had to trust him.  He lost her for a while for she was forbidden to speak and she fell in a sinkhole and he panicked a little until he found her.  Her clothes were stolen and she was left with bridal attire so when they stopped at a roadside stand they were assumed to be eloped lovers.
Oh yes, she made him suffer.  Dancing away, Khushi happily let go of her inhibitions and her hips swayed and the beauty in all her glory mesmerized him.  He scooped her up, after all it was their “suhaag raat”, and brought her to their honeymoon suite where he dumped her on a chair and furiously he left her there all night to sleep in the cold dark living room as he slammed the bedroom door.  Honeymoon over.
I saw another side of ASR that episode because when he woke up and went to check on the now unconscious Khushi, he swept her off the chair brought her to the bed and cared for her so lovingly you would think she was his wife. I saw a changing ASR and a little bit of the cold in his heart was warming as he gave her medicine and held her glass for her to drink.  I sighed.
On the way home Khushi was mistaken for that runaway bride who stole her clothes and after seeing Khushi manhandled by a goon, Arnav in a fit of rage beat the living daylights out of the goons until Khushi called out his name and placed her calming hand on his shoulder to stop.  I sighed again. 
What was going on?  Was he changing?  Iss Pyaar Ko Kya naam Doon?
Upon the couples return Khushi finds out about Babuji’s illness and he is in the hospital.  She goes with great despair.  She can’t lose her parent again. I sat there crying feeling Khushi’s pain and sadness.
 I just knew she needed a hug, someone to support her and then there he was….
There were so many times in this show where he supported her as she crept into his heart.  She allowed the cold walls of doubt, distrust, hate and fear to melt away from his heart and she built in him trust, friendship and support and a place where he had no fear to feel and he could feel love was safe.  His attraction to her kept growing but his denial was great and he continued to push her away but again Devi Maiyya knew there destiny. Through twists and turns, misunderstandings and deceptions the plot thickened and our couple fell in love with fairy lights, lit diyas and poolside as its backdrop. Enchanted by the other and mesmerizing gazes across the room, something stirring, iss pyaar ko kya naam doon?  He followed his attraction, her eyes and lips beckoned him that night at poolside, a gaze of permission perhaps but he couldn’t control himself any longer and he surrendered by attempting a kiss.  A kiss that was so breathtaking that had us on the edge of our seats again only to be interrupted by reality’s ringing of his phone.  That night he returned to her, her mother’s precious payal that he had in his keeping- holding close to him but all was destroyed with reality’s ring and an engagement announcement took place instead.  He would hurt her and push her further away.  ASR announced his intent to marry La.
Through twists and turns, again our IPK took us to the limits wanting to hate La but we couldn’t, wanting ASR to openly confess his love to Khushi and he didn’t, but we saw a self centered woman change into a caring respectable human being and became mature as she realized that the man she loved and wanted to marry loved someone else even though he never would admit it.  So La left us and I actually cried, did you?
IPK did that to me, to us, it let us love every character developed or undeveloped, even a goat named Laxmi.
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? Continued with more storylines and we were still waiting with anticipation for this love bud to bloom into the rose. 
This love remained unspoken and I delighted in all the crazy scenarios as well (as the entry of NK, Khushi BFF) and then was destroyed finally by a misconstrued incident by a devious, deceptive, lying and cheating husband and BIL.  Trust was broken and I cried so much, it was heart wrenching to see their pain. 
It’s hard to even write about. 
We all know what happened next with the following tracks… the forced marriage, Gupta House, the bridge and Revelation of Shyam Part 1, Arnav’s kidnapping, The revealing of “I love you, Khushi”, the search is on with detectives Mami and Khushi, Dadi’s entry, Arnav’s Safe, the Revelation of Shyam Part 2, Anjali’s Accident and Miscarriage and Remarriage of A&K with Garima’s Truth, The Revelation of Shyam Part 3 and then all the silly story lines after that I choose not to even acknowledge but I still watched on the edge of my bed in anticipation.
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? a Hindi serial, which although off the air, still stays with us. We gather in threads on this Forum, pagal in love with the show’s story and the actors.  We haven’t forgotten, nor will we.
 Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? Has been our journey from hate to love, from sadness to happiness and because of this show we gather together united in love as sisters.  We transcend every nationality, creed and even age for we have a common bond, a show with brilliant actors that taught us hate can become love,
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?




Sunday, June 1, 2014

Yusuf Islam - Peace Train - OUTSTANDING!

Cat Stevens - Greatest Hits (Full Album, from 1975)



Love Cat Stevens and he was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I love the fact that this man dropped everything to follow his bliss... to search his soul.  Amen to that!!!

Why All the Noise?


I have been staying on Staten Island, New york.
It's noisy here even in the quiet.

I live in Florida on 1.2 acres and it is quiet....absolutely silent and still....
except at night when the frogs come out and you can hear the alligators mating call.

New York.
I grew up here on Long Island.  Water everywhere. The sound of the rushing waters but Staten Island is different even from there.

At all times there is noise.

The sound of a bouncing ball, the reverberating clang of the hammer from the man putting in his fence, the woman next door yelling at her grandchildren and a cacaphony of sound from the other voices of the row of houses, the neighbors across the street gossiping, the aboveground pool filters humming, the cars speeding by, the landscapers mowing lawns anytime of the day, the Icecream Truck's melody calling out to the children to come and buy there favorite flavor, the birds singing but drowned by the buzz of the planes overhead.

It is noisy.  There is a constant hum and buzz.

I feel the energy that is expended here.  It is constant.  Atoms working in a frenzy.  It is not like that in Florida atleast not where I live.  It is quiet and peaceful.

I miss that.