A return of the diary would be nice!

Shiv Sethi

A PERSON who collects books is designated a bibliophile; and someone with a fascination for stamps and old coins is a philatelist and a numismatist, respectively. But I have been maintaining diairies and calendars, for which there is no one-word substitution. 

Often at the beginning of a New Year, one is flooded with diaries and calendars. Usually the complimentary diaries start arriving from November itself. Some companies that care for their customers, introduce something new in their diaries every year, some even personalise them. Other firms will have diaries of different dimensions and for different categories and a casual glance at “your” diary will reveal where you stand in their esteem. There were times when they would leave something for the lesser officers too. But the givers are very choosy nowadays due to the spiralling cost of diary printing.

You would require just one diary. But what if you received more? To date, I have not seen anyone so benevolent as to distribute the “excess baggage”. Since diaries and calendars have no value after that year, such leftovers end up as scribbling pads or drawing books for children. But one man’s garbage can be another man’s treasure. I vividly remember that during my childhood days while gifting a velvet-bound colourful diary, my father would also lecture me on the merits of maintaining a diary. The beautiful diaries of varied hues presented by my family and friends became a source of great delight for me. 

The only person who now looks forward to my diary harvest is my father. His allotted quota would be one “full” and one “half”. It has been his habit to record important events against dates. His typical entries would read thus: “Gas booked. Cylinder lasted for 50 days only” or “Wife went shopping. Two sarees. Rs 1,500”. With this ready reckoner no one would dare to hoodwink him. Because of this overkill, his deputy, my mother, says an emphatic “no” to diaries.

If diaries come, can calendars be far behind? Not many would be dispensing both. A firm would take the headcount along with the details of the religion of those who would get them. Diaries would be the same for all, but the calendars would differ. Chandrika would get Hindu gods, whereas Celine would have Infant Jesus imprinted on them.

Government calendars with stars and religious snippets are a favourite and go for most people. Then there are pocket calendars, just like pocket diaries. Some newspaper houses distribute calendars along with their paper in November, but add the cost to the monthly bill!

Digital organisers and mobile apps have started replacing the “twins” now. But to old-timers like me, they lack the nostalgic charm of the latter.