Diary – My best friend

I maintained diaries very religiously from my high school till my graduation (or was it post graduation – I am too embarrassed to admit!!). They were safely locked up in my room in a draw. Life went on and I got married, I very conveniently ‘lost’ the key to the draw. Mom was curious about them. She wanted to know what went on in my life – those years, where I was a wicked teenager – erratic, eccentric, funny, weird all at the same time. But then mercifully she did not have the spare key. After couple of years, dad announced that they were shifting – that was the biggest shock of my life… moving somewhere close by to my house and hence giving the house – where I was born brought up and held some many memories – for rent. Moving on is so tough but inevitable. But then he also added very nicely that he was planning to retain the first floor (where my sis and my rooms were). So a sigh of relief – the diaries continued in their hiding place. Another 3-4 years and another big announcement from dad – that he wanted to demolish the old house. Now I was in trouble. I had to take a decision about those diaries – had to face them and take on call on what to do. It was tough. I surely wanted to preserve them – but then those were my teenage days (and post teenage also!!). I vaguely remembered that all the details of the day went into the diaries – with a lot of passion (and exaggerations, spices added). It was as if I had documented my life – the good, the bad and the ugly. Alarm bells started ringing big time.

So finally set aside half a day to look at them. Salvaged them by breaking open the draw and started reading one by one – not all pages – just in random - pick a date and have a peek. Oh man, I had half day of pure fun and bliss. It was a total stress buster. Things like ‘Stand up on the bench’ (8th std, first day, first session, chemistry class) for giggling, ‘Get out of the class’ (11th std, biology class) for the same reason – were written about like triumphs. Close friend getting typhoid resulting in unending depression. Boy friend break up blues – the weep stories went on for days. Invariably wrote ‘have done excellent / very well’ during exam days and again wrote ‘horrible marks / how could I get this’ during results –unwavering pattern for all tests and exams – all years. Not that I was very bad at studies, but I was always a last bencher – and scored just below the top 5 of the class. Sibling rivalries (with my sis) are something that Ekta Kapoor can definitely look into – she can get some new and hilarious ideas. Things like her room was bigger, she had more dresses, I had to mostly wear hand-me-downs bothered me so much – like question of life and death. Defeating my sis in the school level debate competition – was written in BOLD and highlighted with color sketch pens – hah!! Getting a pimple was nothing short of a catastrophe and invited words like ‘why me’? Life was so damn simple – yet I made it sound so damn complicated. My cribbings knew no bounds – from parents being partial to sis, to getting into trouble with teachers at school to ragging the guys in the class to bunking classes and seeing movies to more mature(??) subjects like – wondering why there were only 4 girls in a class of 45 in MBA? Aamir khan found a special place and mention (QSQT had just released) and also, Michael Jackson, George Michael, Andre Agassi – the list goes on. Oh yes it included Madonna, Steffi graf and Martina as well – but not that much in detail – you got the drift right? Family vacations to north India, Himalayas, east India and all other places – is worth a read anyday.

Now, I truly wish I had continued the habit – would’ve given so much insight into me and my thoughts – and how they changed over the years. Its great to relive those lovely years and look back with some pride and satisfaction.