Tailor-made lyrics

So today was one of those days when you hear a song and an old memory associated with the song suddenly rushes at you. The song in question was 'Mere haathon mein nau nau choodiyan hain' from Chandni, and I can't quite remember where exactly I heard it today. (Could be my head actually, can't rule that out, happens quite a bit).

The important thing is how it suddenly reminded me of Piya. Piya, our neighbour's 5-year-old daughter. She would be a teenager now, but back then, she was the tiniest and cutest kid in the neighbourhood. Mom had a special friendship with her and she'd be forever seen at our home. So once, during my summer holidays, I heard her attempt to sing, 'Mere haathon mein nau nau choodiyan hain' and thought to myself, "Ah! Here's a good holiday project!" (Yes, yes, you can say it. Geek of the highest order.)

So I took it upon myself to teach Piya how to sing the full song, and eventually do a 'show' for Mom. Initially, she struggled with the lyrics, and although she had perfected the mukhda, she would often forget the first lines of the antaras 'Mere darzi se aaj meri jung ho gayi' and 'Mere ghutnon se lambi meri choti hai'.

After weeks of practice, I decided she was ready. So off we trotted to Mom, and I said, "Mom, Piya has a surprise item for you." Mom was indeed very pleasantly surprised when Piya started singing. She sounded unbelievably awesome.

So when she got to the antara, I crossed my fingers that she wouldn't forget the lines this time.

She didn't.

In fact, she remembered the words of both the lines that she used to forget.

However, a little technical error happened, which made Mom and me explode into hysterical laughter.

"Mere darzi se lambi meri choti hai..." sang Piya, very earnestly.