'My diary and me – we’ve had a reciprocal relationship...I also felt that, online validations are not important to me anymore!'

And the Winner… 🏆 | of the Diary Challenge 2022 

Well, at the very beginning of last year, I had posted two little challenges on my status on Whatsapp, for both students and faculty, meant to exhort us all to write our daily diaries, and writing a blog as well.

It goes like this –

If you have taken a resolve to write your daily diary jottings for this year, do ping me by 5.59 pm today, [on the same day] and I shall send you a diary worth Rs. 500/- free of cost, with free postage as well, anywhere in India.

And yes! if you have managed to write your diary for the entire year, I promise to honour your commitment and consistency with a prize money of Rs.10,000/-

[The same applies for the blogging challenge as well. You had to write ten posts on an online web blog, by creating a beautiful blog all for yourself. That means, you do 10x12 = 120 posts at the end of the year].

So yes! I promptly dispatched 12 diaries to all those who had taken up the challenge from all over India, and the rest – fourteen of them, to our students – hand-delivered in College.

Accepting the challenge meant, you had to –

Ping me on the same day by 5.59 pm,

Write your diary consistently, and update me on your diary entries periodically,

And

On 31st December 2022, you had to ping me on completing your challenge.

[Well, some faculty and students had accepted to the challenge the next day as well. So they technically do not come under the challenge. However I dispatched the diaries to all of them, for the love they had for diary writing.]

At the end of the year, one student had emerged victorious in the challenge.

Presenting Mr. Ganesh Aadhitya S, ladies and gentlemen.

And one vibrant faculty member [who opted for the challenge the next day] had also completed the challenge. 

Presenting Dr. Nazneen M.Y. with B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science & Technology. Congratulations dear Dr. Nazneen!

And yes! A special word of appreciation to Ms. Kowsalya, who had attempted the blogging challenge with seven good posts. Congratulations Ms. Kowsalya! 

Well, Ganesh regularly gave me updates on his engaging, exhilarating and rewarding experience in writing down his daily record of events.

On the 1st of February 2022, he wrote to me, thus –

Successfully completed one month in the Diary Challenge, sir!

My ‘reflective self’ is having a field day everyday since I ventured into the delightful realm of diary writing. January 6th is my favourite entry!

Sir, as you had so rightly pointed out, I feel accountable to my new companion. Onto February now!

Thank you for this opportunity!

And on 30th December 2022, he had written to me, thus –

Just one more day to go for the Diary challenge to come to an end! What a journey it had been! Thank you for the wonderful opportunity!

Simply put, a diary never judges you. It’s a silent listener and sometimes you need those non-judgemental ears!

Finally, when I got to meet with him at our Office over a long chat, I asked him about his tryst with writing a diary. He had this to say –

Firstly, the small things / the little things in life – that mean a lot to us – but in real life we actually ignore them. Like, a small gesture from some well-wisher, or some little act of kindness. All these form part of my daily diary entry, sir.

Secondly, I realised how much I love my family – of which you’d find mention in every page, especially my sister who left for her higher studies – and its impact you could find in the 15 subsequent pages.

Thirdly, my diary entry contains a mix of both positive and mixed feelings as well. I’ve critiqued things in equal measure.

Fourthly, it has improved me as a person. My diary and me – we’ve had a reciprocal relationship. Sometimes, when I feel I’ve not done anything on a particular day worth mentioning, it would give me a complex! So it egged me on, to do something, at least to write it down in my dairy.

Fifthly, it has made me a political being. In September, I took up poetry – Neruda’s poetry. In fact, my MA project finds its roots in my dairy. I also felt that, online validations are not important to me anymore. Sadly, I find people losing themselves in the process of looking out for online validations of themselves. Diary writing in a way helped me to stop looking for validations in other people.

With a teacher’s sweet little pride, presenting Ganesh Aaditya, dear ladies and gentlemen!

Here’s wishing you all the best in your diary writing and blogging for this academic year as well!