It being December, I decided to focus on the imminent year-end.

I can't tell you what I did on Dec 10th, 1996, but I can tell you a little of how my day went on Dec 10th of 1997, 1998, 1999 and onwards. It is not that I won't tell you about '96, I simply cannot. The reason is that back in 1996, I didn't keep a journal or a record of my days. I started this journal business sometime in 1997, and though it takes more discipline that I possess, I do my best to attend to it on and off.

I can hear you thinking -- big deal if he doesn't know what he did on Dec 10th 1996. Who really cares? Actually, I think it is a big deal. I have noticed that once a big stack of days goes by, invariably, the days, weeks and the months just get stapled together into one undecipherable amorphous blob.

Was it Cortazar who talked about our desire to mark "a scar in the universe?" My journal is to both record my scar, but some days I think that it is my scar as well. Journalito ergo sum. (I record, therefore I am.)

Try this experiment:
Ask a friend or a colleague to list some important things that happened to them in 1998.
"1998? Why?" they will ask.
No, just tell me what occurred in that year in your life.
After much hesitation, the friend might reluctantly begin to think aloud.
"I got married in 1996, got promoted in 1997. In 1998…hmm. We went to San Diego in 1998."
Anything else, you ask. The friend thinks again and comes up empty.
"Arrey, leave it, yaar." Said with exasperation.
The friend is redirecting their anger on you, because their memory is encountering one giant black hole. (Don't try this experiment on your spouse, esp. if you are a male. They will remember 10 different things about 1998 and you will get into trouble because "how could you forget that?!")

I have noticed the following. If I record the very same day, I have lots and lots to write about. The whole incident is fresh in my mind, all the color and the flavor. One day late, and much of the drama is already gone. Two days, and I might as well forget it. Whatever I wanted to write about has been reduced in my mind to a skeletal sketch -- a mere caricature of the whole thing. Makes you wonder if Flaubert was thinking about a diary when he proclaimed "God is in the details."

The trick seems to be to adapt the diary constantly, to keep the contents fresh to the writer. I play with what the contents, with my style. Like everyone else, I too grow lazy and fail to record anything in it for days on end. To counter that, I came up with another idea.

The One-word Diary.

An entire day summarized into one word or phrase. The entries seem cryptic but they are meant for me. I have one that says "Anniv 5." for October 24th, which was my fifth wedding anniversary, and other entries read, "promotion," or "4 books from library," or often a movie title. If you have given yourself the excuse that you are too lazy to keep a diary, you should try the one-word diary. You will be surprised at how many days defy going quietly into their one-word compartments

I tell everyone I can to keep a journal, a diary or some written account, but I am afraid I have had no successes in this endeavor. When Aarthi went to her Design school, I told her to do so. When Jagan went to Mussoorie I told him to do so. I have asked Vidya to do the same. And now that Jagan is setting off on a Bharat Dharsan tour (which I cannot envy enough) I am asking him here. But it all falls on deaf ears. (What I wouldn't give to have recorded my college days?)

I rarely re-read my entries, but when I do I am often learn something. After finding too many mundane chronological entries ("Went to work, had beans for dinner, slept") I decided to make the journal for the year 2001 purely an impressionistic one. That is, I write about whatever catches my fancy momentarily. There is only one rule -- it shouldn't be boring. (One recent entry simply has the words of two bumper stickers in an SUV I saw on my drive to work. "Get U.S. Out of the U.N." and "Too many pedestrians, too little time!" I jotted that down because it made me wonder about the angst inside the driver.)

Surely, just because I said it was a good idea, you are not going to start keeping a journal anytime soon. You are not that impressionable, nor am I that naïve. But consider doing just one small thing. Write down a couple of paragraphs titled "The year in review." It is meant only for you, so you don't have to bother about the grammar or the sentences. In my case, I write about what I think went well in the year, and what didn't go right, my aspirations and failures. Give it a shot, you will be surprised. Remember, it is just for your eyes, so who cares if it doesn't come out too well? Store it in a file somewhere and you will have something to read (and laugh at) a long time from now.
Finally, I want to draw your attention (as well as your mouse) to http://www.oocities.org/mostenjoyed/. Go there and take a look around. It is simply a list of the movies, books, trips and the activities that folks I know enjoyed the utmost in a given year. I happen to find these lists very interesting. Also, they are great sources if you are ever looking to pick a movie or a book up. Take the few minutes to compile the list, and I will surely include it in the web site.

I plan to add a new category, shed one that didn't work. This year, I am adding the following new category: The most interesting person you encountered in 2001.

Back in the second week of this January I saw a film which blew me away so completely that I thought that it might be the best I would see all year. And it turned out to be true. (Offer: If you mail me your Most Enjoyed List, I will tell you what the movie was. Believe me, I am almost positive that you haven't seen it yet!)

It seems appropriate to conclude with what Jonathan Swift said: May you live all the days of your lives.

Ram Prasad
December 2001