Author: Swati Satish Joshi
Watching NETFLIX or playing Red Dead Redemption II, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Super Mario Odyssey and many such games during classes was the modus operandi adopted by some of the students to avoid boredom of the academics. Dr. Adhikari, the head of our department, knew about this but he pretended not to take notice of it until one Monday morning when he decided to confront the issue. And there was a reason why he decided to look into the matter. Sunday night, Sumedha Bakshi, my best friend had slapped her roommate assuming that she had hidden her project file somewhere, when in fact it was she had herself kept it in the cupboard beneath her blanket. Her roommate, being fed up of putting up with Sumedha’s aggressive and whimsical behaviour, informed about this incident to our HOD and the matron of the hostel. And that is why there was pin-drop silence in the class next morning when Dr. Adhikari entered the classroom. Most of us imagined that he would be furious with Sumedha’s behaviour and might ask her to refrain from attending his classes. But he didn’t do any such thing. On the contrary, he greeted us as usual with a smile and asked us to close get our notebooks on the desk. Many didn’t carry notebooks so they didn’t have anything on desk. Dr. Adhikari was well aware of the situation. He asked those students to raise their hands who didn’t carry their notebooks along with them. The number seemed huge. He asked the class the definition of a journal. No sooner did he ask this question, some students had logged into their account to look for the definition. Looking at this, he burst into laughter. He asked us all to put our phones in our bags and to put all the bags near the blackboard. We all did as he said. He said he would ask us the definition of certain things and we are supposed to define those words the way we honestly feel about them. One of my friends said that for her a journal is her best friend. She can speak to the journal whatever she wants without being judged. The other said for him his journal is his confidante. Listening to the responses of her classmates, Sumedha broke into tears and retorted that a journal cannot solve all the problems in life. To this Dr. Adhikari replied, “Neither can anger.”
He began recounting one of his experiences and the entire class seemed to be gripped by his narrative. As a school-going kid, Dr. Adhikari had the habit of forgetting his homework every day. His teachers and parents used to be angry with him for that and one day when he was still in eighth grade he was taken by his chemistry teacher to the Principal. He said his Principal was a kind lady and when his chemistry teacher started complaining about him, she interrupted the teacher and said that she would handle the matter in her own way. Dr. Adhikari’s eyes had welled up with tears while narrating this incident. He said his Principal sat him down on the chair and offered him some chocolates. Then she asked him about things that seemed like sundries to him back then- where he lived, the members in the family, about his siblings, etc. It was through this conversation that she learned about the emotionally disturbed environment in his house. He said, being an innocent child, he had revealed everything about his family to her, the fact his younger brother having climbed the terrace had fallen from there while playing and that is why his father had left the house considering it to be his mother’s fault. Ever since his father had left the house, he had never written to him and every time he would ask his mother about him, she would say he was fine but he had forgotten to write to him. And Dr. Adhikari as a child was traumatized by this and so this trauma had made him forgetful. His Principal had suggested him to write a letter to his father in his journal and whenever he would come back, he could show him the collection of letters that he would have written for him. And he followed her advice. He started writing a journal and that sorted out a lot of problems. While writing in the journal he felt like he was talking about his problems to someone and that his conversations with the journal will be kept by the journal. And though the journal didn’t speak back to him, the journal-writing had led him to the phase of life wherein he was much more confidant, calm and composed than before to solve the problems by himself. He would never miss a day of writing in his journal. Of all the things writing in his journal had become his priority and he would never forget writing in it. Thus, the forgetfulness (which was the traumatic result of his father’s abandonment of him) was replaced with remembering to write which also helped him remember to do his homework. His teachers were amazed by seeing this positive change in him. He too was overwhelmed with his transformation which was for the better.
He said if his Principal would have not suggested him to write the journal, he would never have reached the position that he was at. He said the journal never made his father come back to him, but by listening to his words the journal had slowly filled in the void created by his father’s neglect of him. He said in the times when the human kingdom is reigned by the dual emperors of zero and one, only words can save us from their atrocities. By saying this he had hinted at the digital addiction of the class. He said he would organize a digital detox class, wherein we would speak to our journals. He ended his class by suggesting us that having some “me-time” in life is important and this should definitely comprise of the activity of journal-writing.
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