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First teenage crush 😙✨💫⭐ Tribute to a fundamental memory.

PKYEK is such a monumental show for me. Airing at the cusp of my teenage this show helped shape the media and aesthetic I would come to identify with later. More immediately, it was dropping clues to how I wanted my persona to be.

I have a vivid image of me lying on the bed with the TV on. Tata Sky used to repeat the ads on their 100 channel over and over. Two of PKYEK's beginning promos caught my eye. A mysterious man swooshes away this beautiful college girl away from a speeding car. The colour pallette, music, fresh plot-딱 맞아! I was enveloped in the atmosphere the makers attempted to create. In another, the infamous "patanga jo ho jaye mohabbat mein fanaah, yeh uski ada h, ya aag ka gunha?", "Koi aag se bhi toh pooche uske dil ki, jisse pyaar se chua, uski bus raakh hi mili"

Dawg WHAT?, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO SO HARD? 😭

Hands down the best show of that era.

I don't remember if I watched the promos after hearing about the show or if I saw the promos and forgot all about them. I do remember a classmate introducing me to it. She only mentioned how the show will have a vampire in it and not in the horror genre Indian cinema/TV is used to. Before that, I had no idea what vampires even were. Now that I think about it, I probably watched the promos after her recommendation.

I loved the slow burn chemistry of Abhay and Piya. Be it side characters, college life, the mysterious charm of Dehradun, it was so well done for that time. Every character had a personality. The costume also did it for me. Pia's outfits were so simple yet impactful. And Abhay's- it just worked. And the promos for each season? Damn, the quality was ✨ Do you all remember the promo for Abhay's vampire reveal? Him walking as shadow trails and Pia's white dress symbolising the purity of her character? Or the one when Abhay erases Pia's memory?

Fast forward from the time I watched the promo- it was my sister's birthday. The day I watched my first episode. It was the one with Kuch Khas Hai dance! I still get warm and fuzzy thinking about how I felt while watching that episode. Abhay saving her from the embarrasment of wearing a torn dress, the timeless charm of Dehradun...I was adamant from that moment on, I will watch this show. The problem? Hiding from my mum. She didn't approve of young kids watching romance. So, everytime she crossed the room, I would switch the channel to Hungama. This was an exercise, as you can imagine. Having to fill the gaps of all the things I missed while channel hopping. Every night, I was excited for it to be 8:30, praying for my mum to not pass the living room. It would be better during the breaks when we visited where Pa was posted because they almost always retired to their rooms by 8:30(simpler times. Can you imagine being awake at 9pm was considered very late!) or if not, I knew the time of the recap the next day. They would be taking afternoon naps, so no stress.

That show led to some new friendships in school. I was getting out of previous,toxic ones; I was beginning to exert more confidence over my being. I was soaking up Abhay's persona in me; history became my favourite subject because it was Pia's-Ah, the sweet and haunting adolescence.

One friend in particular, H, grew close to me because of our love for this show. It was a refreshing friendship because we were polar opposites in every other aspect. I think it must have been brunch period when classmates causally spoke to one another, walked around each other's seats and rows. The memory’s a little fuzzy, but I remember us mid-conversation—when one of us casually dropped PKYEK into the chatter. Instantly, the air crackled. “Wait, I watch that show too!” “No way—me too!” “OH MY GOD, ABHAY!” “I LOVE HIM!!” We erupted into squeals, tripping over words, laughing like we’d stumbled onto a shared secret. That one moment led us from being classmates to best friends in an instant. We hung out in Library period, brunch, art and crafts period, on the way to our vans when the day was over, all to talk about the show.

Another thing I remember is checking The Times of India every day to see if the entertainment and TV schedule section had a picture of PKYEK. Those pictures used to be smaller than a passport photo. But I collected them all! Later, I would give them all to H. Haha, I also remember trying to write down the melody of the show and I kid you not i wrote something like- *haun, haun, haun, haunn, huan haun huan, haun aun aun aun aun aun, haunaw haunaw~~~*💀💀💀. Like I literally wrote it on paper because I was terrified I would forget the BGM.

But so good so far, right? Enter, the bane of my existence. Monsoon and a 15 year old TV. Before we bought our LCD TVs, we relied on the good old gift from Nanaji to my mother for her wedding. I miss that little guy now. One day, while it rained heavily I switched on the TV and it instantly blasted. Not a big explosion but enough to scare anyone in the moment, especially a 12-13 years old kid. My first thought was how fast can we fix this so that I can watch my precious Abhay Raichand and Pia. The mechanic had some bad news for me, the TV was gone for good. I kept waiting for my parents to either fix it somehow or buy a new one. Oh yeah, we would be getting new TV...8 MONTHS LATER 🤯😵‍💫😵😫.

Just imagine, growing up a teenager who is smitten with a fictional character, she's lost the only thing that connected them -the TV. We didn't install internet until much much later. Do you feel it? Like, how was I supposed to kill time at home after studying? I wasn't an avid reader then, I had limited music downloaded on my computer, there was literally 0 entertainment in that house. Every day for 8 months I hoped we're getting a TV soon.

In that tough time, H was brutally ambitious on filling me with every little detail of last night's episode. When I watched the show again last year(after about 10 years) I was surprised at how well I remembered the story because she retold it so well! Every dialogue was on point, every scene. Sometimes, we would be on call at 8:30 and she would narrate the story as it unfolded. During those years, unlimited talking was unheard of and every minute you spent on call was gonna cost you that much more. Sometimes, she would smuggle her little iPod (a prohibited item)to school, the size of the pinky finger to get pictures of the show to feed my imagination. I would crouch down under the desk, pretending to take books out of my bag while quickly swiping away at the pictures. Or, we would look at the pictures in the school bathrooms. It used to be a thrill. Trying to keep secrets from other classmates and teachers.

H and I drifted apart as we grew older but a few days back, being nostalgic, I texted her and revisited those years. It was such a warm conversation. We both cherish the time we spent with each other then.

As expected, I missed out on a major chunk of the show while it was running. Years have passed, I moved on from it, growing, trying new things. When I revisited the show last year and also a few days back when I watched some episodes with my sister, it brought back the same feelings as before. I was once again a little girl swooning over Abhay and Pia. I wanted to scrapbook-it, to keep reminding myself of this little girl. I am pleased with how these pages turned out.

I am excited to see, when I'll meet this show again and who I will be then. Until then, I'll love you always PKYEK.