कुछ मीठा हो जाये

छोटी इ की मात्रा

One frustating feature of Google's transliteration is its treatment of the छोटी इ की मात्रा. I am not sure if you too experienced this but whenever I try to put one on an alphabet, the मात्रा always shifts to the next alphabet. Surprisingly, on some days, these appear to be correct all of a sudden and then go back to being bad on other days. Their on-screen keyboard does help sometimes but not when the 'matra' is to be placed over the first alphabet in the word. I think that the fact that sometimes it appears correctly suggests that the transliterator as such registers them properly against the correct alphabet. However the renderer program might be buggy which displays it incorrectly sometimes (in fact most of the times) . Any Comments ?

Twenty Days of Childhood

Its been a few days now since I returned back from India. But am still feeling the hangover. A visit back home is like a visit back to the childhood. Sometimes I ponder if, given a chance, I would prefer to go back to my childhood? I am not sure. The irony is that today, when I have started realizing the joys of those wonder years, I am no more a child. And when I was, I didn't value them enough. So many things I took for granted as a kid! Being taken care of, by mommy, was undoubtedly the very essence of them all. Maa Tujhe Salaam.

Recollecting some thoughts from the last evening at home, I tried to pen them on the Airlines napkin during transit. If mummy sees this, a scolding for such a bad handwriting would sure be on the way :).

बीस दिन बचपन के ..

आज तेरी बाहों में जो
कल न जाने होगा कहाँ
आज तेरी आखों में माँ
कल से आखों का सपना

यह कुछ दिन थे जो तेरे साथ
जैसे बचपन लौटा बरसों बाद
वो बेफिक्री का अल्हड़ एहसास
बार बार आता है याद

प्यार का निवाला लीये
प्यार से खीलाती थी माँ
मंद सी पुरवाई सी
बालों को सहलाती थी माँ

नीवाई सी, माँ, वो तेरी रसोई
उसमें बैठ मेरा बातें बनाना
कभी काँधे पे तेरे रखके सर
नींद का वो करना बहाना
ज़रा सी चोट पे चिल्लाकर
तुझको डराना और सताना

पर कल से तो ये बस यादें होंगी
तेरा घर छोड़ उड़ जाऊँगा माँ मैं
आज रात भर तुझे हंसा कर
सुबह धुंध मे खो जाऊँगा मैं

वैसे तो सब कुछ है वहाँ
छूने को आसमान , रहने को बसेरा
पर न जाने क्यों तेरे बिन
जी नहीं लागे है माँ मेरा

हँसती बोलती उस भीड़ मे भी
खुद को तन्हा पाता हूँ मैं
बस सुन्न होकर पत्थर की तरह
जीये जाता हूँ माँ मैं