Calendar Calling

Once upon a time there used to be wall calendars. A month in advance, their arrival reminded us that the New Year was round the corner. Given that my dad was a doctor, medical representatives left an assortment of calendars as souvenirs. While the ones with a scenic view brought joy for me, my brother fancied calendars featuring cars, bikes and Tom Cruise. Ma would then borrow a sketch pen and encircle important family events, payment schedules and PTA meetings. For me, turning a new page was strangely exciting – it signified a new beginning.

Currently, I am on a calendar check spree. In most Gurgaon abodes the humble wall calendar, once a drawing room display has been dumped behind the kitchen door. Instead, I find paintings of Ganesha and Buddha. The universal appeal of the above two deities have sidelined the other 330 million Gods in the Hindu pantheon. Religiosity may not be about displaying divine pictures, but I tend to agree with Richard Dawkins, when he says religiosity recedes with the advancement of knowledge and prosperity.

Coming back to calendars, the transition has been rather smooth. Gods paved way for nature. And nature paved way for Kingfisher models. This weekend I got a sneak-peak of Kingfisher supermodel hunt on ‘NDTV Good Times’. With a voice over by Mantastic Milind, the making of Kingfisher

Calendar has ‘bony creatures’ unlike the mainstream images of women, trying their best to blunt the edges of sleaze to give a sharp sensual shot.

It’s funny. For one, you never get to see a Kingfisher calendar as a drawing room display – not unless you are a friend of the erstwhile king of the good times. It is expensive and exclusive. You only get to see the making of it.

Second, why do they call it a calendar? The appropriate moniker should be ‘Kingfisher Poster’. I am sure, dates, agendas and schedules are the last things on the minds of those who look at them. The demigods of business prefer digital calendars. Any other low brow wall calendar in their plush abode is like Simi Garewal wearing a red ghaghra choli dancing in a Rohit Shetty film.

It is not difficult to understand why paper calendars lost significance in a digital world. The idea of simple paper calendars does not find acceptance with a generation that loves to complicate things.

Let me ask you this. When you want to remember an appointment, or when you have an idea you don’t want to forget, do you write it down or do you digitally record it? I prefer to write appointments on paper so that I can see the plan regardless of whether I can use a phone at the time. When I have an ‘A-Ha’ moment, I always write it down on the nearest scrap available. The act of physically writing something down works better for my diminishing memory. Of course, the scrap gets misplaced and results in chaos, but that's the way it is.

Like Twitter, I am unable embrace digital calendars whole-heartedly. They complicate the simple job of scheduling. You click the day, it pops up on another screen, you set a reminder, then set privacy permissions for entry and yet it beeps when you least expect it to beep!

Once upon a time my paper calendar established its prized location – right above my study table. Today, it is not at ease with the modern sensibilities. So mine hangs behind the study door.

What remains unchanged is the thrill of turning over a new page. 

Also on Huffington Post.

Picture Courtesy: Google Images (www.thenextweb.digicalendar)