JOIN USSeven-day wonder diarist
1.1.2016: Began diary writing today. Resolved to continue till 31.12.16. Granted, one shouldn’t hide things from a doctor, lawyer or a diary. Nevertheless, it will be prudent to confine confidential stuff to the mental files rather than a diary. Why write diaries?
When a glossy diary, a morocco-bound beauty in burgundy with your name embossed in shiny golden letters is in your hands along with a gleaming pen set, it is but natural to wish to record for posterity great thoughts that visit your brain daily.
True, this diary imparts valuable information such as the ISD code of places like Hodeidah in Yemen Arab Republic which may not be used by me ever. However, instead of jotting mundane things like ‘removed the floury coating on my tongue’, ‘cut my finger and toe nails’ or ‘broke the bottle of after shave lotion and created a mess’, one should move to a higher plane and raise such esoteric queries like — ‘Is the body more important than the soul?’ or ‘Why do the righteous suffer?’
Precisely at this time, a sweet announcement that gajar ka halwa and masala dosa are ready booms from the kitchen which extinguishs all higher thoughts. Since diaries have a longer shelf life than hot halwas and crisp dosas, I keep the diary aside and go in to polish off wife’s new year specials.
3.1.16: Didn’t write the diary yesterday. Is there any iron-clad rule that the day’s happenings are to be recorded on the same date? Even a veteran like R K Narayan had his own constraints. He titled one of his masterpieces ‘My Dateless Diary’. When the Malgudi maestro can fail to stick to dates, what about me, a mere 500-word Middle writer?
5.01.16: Forgot about our wedding anniversary yesterday. Though I had made a note in this diary, I did not go through it. Only women can remember such things. It is a pity I am not writing the diary — which is a sad thing. The burgundy beauty which drew my eyes repeatedly more than a week ago, looks not so hot now. Can such a brief familiarity breed contempt? Is the honeymoon phase coming to an end? And so soon? Strange!
7.1.16: It is not easy to handle a diary. Writing it calls for a regimen which I detest. Coincidentally, my wife had been asking for a stout book to (a) write her milk sachet account and (b) jot down the oil-free, fat-free, vegan and other taste-free recipes the culinary channels broadcast during sleepy afternoons. And so, I shall tear off the pages used and turn you over to her. Pardon me, my burgundy beauty.