The Diary – A Story Of Good Advice

The path to hell is paved with good intentions – learn this now and learn it well

He was five years old and so fond of his teacher
She was always right, you know? He loved her
One day, teacher said maintain a diary
Write down your thoughts or even the day’s activity

Back home, full of good purpose
Announced his teacher’s fine message
Overwhelmed, the father wasted no time
Scouring nearest shop for stationery fine

Don’t waste money, it’s a two-minute wonder
Little boy glared at his spoiler mummy
Father glared too, ‘My son wants to write
I shall get him a diary’

Perfect, slightly larger than his palm
Draw your margin, there’s space for writing
Leather bound, sturdy looking
Write, write it’s good for your mind

That evening, he wrote his thoughts
‘Today, I bot a diary’
Mummy, I wrote in my diary see
He spoke triumphantly

His granny was pleased, ‘Oh very nice’
In frank wonderment of his enterprise
Show, show me, appa cried,
You didn’t come and show me, why?

What is this you’ve written? Bot?
Is that all you been thinking?
What did you think all day, my son?
And the boy blinked, ‘Nothing!’

What do you mean, ‘Nothing?
How much you keep talking,
Late night when sleep is coming
But you are never sleeping

What work of art his appa expected
Remained a mystery to one and all
Granny said, you are expecting too much
Possibly he’s just too small

Auspicious beginnings had begun
But, the diary lay forgotten
One morning, with late remembrance
His mother, while dressing, shouted

Diary you said, diary you do
Pick up that diary and write
He couldn’t, you see, because
Teacher said, write at night

Afternoon came, he was drawing
Evening came he was busy playing
Night fell, he was bored, so,
He started mummy-troubling

She was trying to get something done
Remembered her morning reprimand
She made wide eyes, as if she had
Chanced upon a wonderful plan

Go, go write your diary
He did as she bid him
Quietly crafting his words
Mummy, I wrote, see

There on the first line, leaving one finger-space
‘Today, my mummy shouted at me’
With much chagrin, Mummy asked
Only that happened all day, I see…

Now I’m feeling that all I do is shout
So much happened, you ran the machine
She glared with feeling-filled pout
Why, you sat and helped me with the idli

He looked at her frankly,
‘When you shouted,
I felt sad, so I wrote like that’
Teacher said, like that he did

OK, tomorrow onwards,
Try to write a little more
Six words to a page
Is a gross waste of paper

Mummy, you want the diary?
I don’t like it, I don’t know
What to write
My teacher didn’t even see it
And now, she also forgot
She doesn’t say like that, any more

Good advice with fine intent
Led to mists of happy, unclear expectation
Pretty from afar, like clouds in the sky
Pink and orange before disappearing into the night.

Shobna’s story till now: Mother to a now-20 year old, wife to a huggable bear (who growls pretty often). A Bachelor of Commerce and Masters in Personnel (a choice she regrets to this day), left full-time Corporate HR work after 17 years, works full-time for a travel company (from home), aspiring writer whose manuscript has been rejected (more likely, ignored) too many times to care. She doesn’t get it though, she keeps trying.