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Read THIS First..
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Sunday, July 7, 2013

Notebook-ing Memories!

There’s this thing about me: I like notebooks. All kinds of notebooks, especially those which look cute and colorful! As a kid I always loved pretty stationery, I was that one kid in class with, if not fancy, a cute pencil case, different kinds of pencils instead of the standard Nataraj, erasers shaped as fruits, animals or just printed with cartoons, collecting pretty junk for crafts, covering the school diary (which wasn’t standard. We were free to decorate!) with a pink sheet, pasting cut outs of graphic drawings and practicing cursive writing on the cover pages, getting pinkish and cuteish stuff as gifts whenever dad made any trip. Ever since I remember, I’ve always had a personal notebook. The one stacked in between other books and retrieved time and again to jot down anything interesting I came across, or thought of. The name of an interesting movie, quotes from Children’s Digest I liked, books I’ve read and want to read (yeah :P ), anything and everything. I’ve lost most of them, for there was always a new one.

I don’t think I ever finished any one of them. If there was a new one which was cuter than the previous one, I’d shift. Of course, I’d first make promises and classify the notebook for a certain something. ‘This is going to be my quotes book’ or ‘this one will be only about books’, but I’d end up jotting down just whatever I wished. Two days ago a friend told me of a 75% discount on books in those Mediamart kiosks at metro stations. While returning from college, I picked up a book on palmistry for mom (who reads such stuff for time pass) and just then I was drawn to a different shelf with different kinds of notebooks. The plain school kind, the spiral, college kind and then those with Superman, Batman, Barbie on them! I had a two minute mental debate over Superman/Batman for my brother, who isn’t very fond of notebooks as such, but he always appreciates whatever I get for him. And I figured it’d be a nice reminder of the childhood days. As for me, I had been deliberating over the idea of having an ‘idea notebook’ handy, since while travelling when I’m in the ‘relaxed’ mode, I do get a lot of funny, weird but workable ideas for writing. And I tend to forget those very soon. So I picked up a small purple notebook for the purpose and yeah, it’s still unused but looks very cute. ;)

The idea notebook! :D


My property, y'know?


















This morning I picked it up to jot down story ideas and as I opened up to the first page, feeling that surge of excitement that comes with something new, already imagining all the spectacular ideas the book would contain, feeling the cardboard and paper beneath my fingers, all smooth and perfect for writing, it simply made me remember all the wonderful similar feelings I’ve always had previously. Thankfully, I still had a few of those notebooks, which I took out and went through again. Ah, the memories! ^_^

Starting with the earliest (among those I’ve got still), this one was gifted to me by an aunt in Ludhiana when we visited their place, once upon a time in 2002 when I was 10 going on 11, and the first entry is a recollection of our trip to Amritsar and how I came upon that diary.

Cute! :D


In case you're wondering, I've deliberately messed up the details!





It’s funny to see my kiddish handwriting, trying to describe everything as it was, crossing out a wrong spelling and following it with the correct one. Here’s a small sample: “When we reached Amritsar and when we were near the hotel, we stopped to see the Jalianwala Bagh. I had never been to Amritsar. This was the first time I went. My father took me (^ inserted: and my family) there. There, we saw many things like the place from where the britishers (small b overlapped with a capital B) fired their guns at innocent people, the place where the britishers (forgetting to overlap this one with a capital B) fired on the walls ie, the spots of guns  bullets on walls and one wall has’nt changed.

One more: “We went to Golden Temple. There were many people rushing. First, we had to walk a long distance to enter it. It was at in the middle of the Sarovar. It was made of gold. We enjoyed very much. We saw Ber trees also. My father told me a story of that tree and in the last he told me that it was a magical tree. My mother and I washed our hands and faces in the Sarovar under the Ber tree.”

Not to be narcissistic or anything, but I think I was a pretty cute 10 year old. A few pages on, dated August 2005, I’ve written how my brother made a ruckus one evening and how I hate him for it. That was the time when dad had to go on an official trip and he asked me to write down whatever trouble I had and he’d see it when he returned (the awesome days when cell phones weren’t stuck to our ears). It’s heart-warming to just see the change in one notebook. A few years on, in a more controlled and better cursive, I’ve made a list of ‘Books I long to read’, following it with some quotes I made up and the stories behind them. I wonder if kids these days even make any memories this way. I don’t think digital devices can make up for it in any way.

Pink love ^_^
Then there was this pink one featuring Barbie, which did not seem enough and so I pasted more Barbie stickers on the cover. This was when I wondered if I could write a diary entry every day. Turns out I could not, because I skipped a lot of days and then just stopped. But it’s funny and nostalgic to read about high school and homework issues, how my class was suspended for three days for scribbling on our school shirts and I was scared as hell.

While in college, I got this one with a Hannah Montana pop-up on the cover. And yeah, a heart-shaped mirror too. I used to be a huge HM fan while in school, never missing those episodes. HM was the reason I was glued to Disney channel. This one contains self-motivating stuff. Lists of things I can do, those I’m proud of, those I wish to do. The first cover is full of HM stickers too and the first line reads, “If life is a journey, then your vision is a picture of your destination”, dunno where I sourced it from.

Hannah Montana :D



Inside first page!


















Apart from these, there have always been notebooks for other stuff, like I mentioned earlier. I was gifted this pink one by my dad when he went abroad and got it for me! I admit, I am a miser when it comes to using it, considering how it’s so cute and all and I don’t want to finish it soon. This one is mostly bookish and the first thing I did with this was to do a mind-map for ideas for my book blog (back when I just had to start Journal ofa Bookworm). The red one is my present, favourite notebook. I’ve covered the first page text leaving only my name, because it’s got all sorts of dreams and secrets. ;)






















As I’m writing, I’m remembering others I’m missing, those I haven’t located today, but I know they’re somewhere near, just out of sight. I love all of them to bits. I can be weird in a lot of ways, but who cares? This weirdness defines me. Do you have any such fetish?  




18 comments:

  1. This was so cute Ashna... I also have many note books like these

    And the most secret one is the one I am writing to be given to that someone special in my life... it has loads of secrets , dreams, desires, wishes and yes a part of me which everyone is not allowed to see :)

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    1. That is such a cute and touching idea! :D You must love that someone special so much. I don't think I could do that, wanting to keep at least something only to myself. You're awesome ;)

      Hi-5 on keeping such notebooks! Feels good to know I'm not alone! :)

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  2. OMG I do this too! :D But I don't have multiple notebooks. I just have one notebook that I'm using right from eighth standard :) I've written poems, bad stuff that happened (no, I'm not a pessimist!) and so on. It's great to read it after so many years and spiral down the memory lane. You made me nostalgic :') Lovely post!

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    1. Oh wow. One notebook dating back to class 8 is awesome! :D Glad you share this! :) Thankyou!

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  3. This is cute and kiddish. Loving and Ashna-ish. Hi-5! Because weirdness defines me too! :)

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    1. Hi-5 weird friend ;) You're cute and kiddish and loving and Ashna-ish too ;) :P

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  4. Wow..I share this hobby too...with notebook I keep small papers and old tiny stuffs..just a few days back I got a notebook of standard one stacked in my room and my handwriting was really funny then...and I had misspelled my name on it and had erased later...when I moved my fingers over that etched gape, magical feeling brewed in heart...:)

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    1. Standard 1? :O whoa! That is cute! :)
      Glad you share it. Thankyou for your comment :)

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  5. I loved the Lock Notebook! Kya sayi! Also, you are such a girl :D

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  6. This post is plastered with cuteness! Seriously, this is so cute, it makes me picture you pasting those barbie stickers on the diary with your tongue out and on your left side of the cheek( like this >> :P ) ;)

    You were such a big fan of Hannah Montana? :D I'm love this post. Love it. So many diaries and so many ideas you had. WOW!!
    Although it makes me curious too, like always. But koi nai, personal diaries should be kept personal ;)

    Special mention, this part >> When dad had to go on an official trip and he asked me to write down whatever trouble I had and he'd see it when he returned Cute!! :D ;)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Ahaha! Your comment is cuter than the post! :P
      Yeah, keep your curious cats to yourself ;) Although I might share some bits sometime.

      Yeah! I'm more of a I-only-want-dad-because-mom-does-not-listen kind of a kid, and we didn't call every day, so that's what he asked me to do. :D

      Thanks so much for this uplifting comment. Loved it :D

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  7. Very cute Ashna, It reminds me how I used to go on writing on my own personal diary but mom and brother found it and they were not accepting this diary writing culture. I had to burn around 5-6 diaries of mine. I come from orthodox family na.

    But things changed. Now mom does feel bad, but she is happy that I blog. You made me nostalgic.

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    1. Aww! It's bad that you had to burn those! But well, blogging comes close, in a way. :) I wasn't much for personal diaries, if it came to writing down my day's events and how I'm feeling. These are more like a record of things I thought of at that particular time. It's funny to see what kind of things seemed important. :P

      Thanks for your comment Sridevi! :)

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  8. This is the loveliest, cutest and the awesomest post that came from you, recently.It was like, I am reading a sweet little girl sharing her love for these notebooks and diaries. :D
    And tell you what, I had been procrastinating writing a simlar post, related to my very first diary entry. Let's see when it comes up. :D
    The point I loved the most is where your dad asked you to write down the troubles you face behind him. Lovely! :)
    And all these diaries, they look so adorable!...and most important point, a mutual hobby this is! :D. I too have many of these notebooks, most of them untouched, but I still love the view of them, and don't use a few fearing that I'll spoil their cuteness :D.

    Loved reading it. <3

    P.S.: I guess this is my longest comment on your post, till date! :D

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    1. Haaa Srishti! :D Thanks for the lovely (and long) comment :P So good to know you share the hobby :D

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  9. Gosh this post brings back so many childhood memories! (specially that lock diary that every kid has once had :p)
    I too have diaries, allover my place! full of poetry, pictures, random stuff. Somehow nobody dares to touch them :P

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    1. Of course, who would want to get themselves straight into a hunt if they touched them? :P Thanks for your comment! :)

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I would like to hear what you have to say.. :)

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