The Last Page of my notebook

Post by Pipping Coffee.

I was busy marketing my machinery to a notebook manufacturer the other day at busy town market. This time of the year coincides with the opening of the schools. After the deal was done, I moved into his work area. The smell of newly printed exercise books filled my nose. I imagined how I used to go with my mother to purchase them during my school days.

Back home, i raided my old cupboard that I used as archive to hoard my old books, journals and materials. I landed upon an old notebook, still having the remains of a brown cover, still having a rectangular sticker with Rahul Dravid’s image, bearing my name, my class- XI-Science, Subject- the one I used to hate- Mathematics.

What caught my attention was the last page. I opened it and touched it to feel the time some 14 years back. The page was the most colourful among its counterparts. Scribbled with various colourful inks- Red, Black, Green, Blue. The white page was no longer fit to be called white. I had given my autograph (Signature) at various places, in various sizes, in various fonts, and patterns.

I had used the pages to check whether my pen was working.  The vicious circles, round and round right in the centre of the page.

The page was the testimony of the doodle I made when the lectures were boring. A mouse, a weird shaped elephant, a masked man’s face, a long nosed Pinocchio, all appeared one by one.

The page was also witness to the criss cross game, several of which I had lost to many a partners who like me could never focus on the subject. 

Criss Cross..  

Someone has aptly said that if the last page of your notebook is blank, you lack the creativity. I never gave anybody a chance to tell that I was less creative. The caricature of our mathematics teacher was one of the most stunning features of the page. Her spectacles were something that made the caricature come alive. She would have definitely killed me in case she would have seen that stuff. I always dreaded when my notebook was sent for correction. Somehow I was lucky that I was never caught. Indeed the last page of any notebook is a personal property and any teacher should never enter the personal life of the students.

I used to like her when I was in the class for 2 years. She was my dream girl (At that moment). No exercise book was complete without her name. The love percentage calculator was the feature that could make the ideal last page. I wrote my name followed by hers and used to assure myself of a definite love affair with her. Even today I smile when I imagine those days back. My benchmate was an idiot, who wrote her name in big letters, and I had to strike that a thousand times using my pen so that others don’t read it. The mark of the pen was still there. The page was torn, but importantly, the mark was still there. Probably the sorry that was written for an old, offended friend was more powerful than any other words.

The last page is where one calculates the percentage of marks & decide the ranking of the last exam. Any exciting announcement like a holiday, a picnic, any contest always find a mention in the last few pages of the notebook.

The memories with friends over the last pages are cherished forever. The stand out to tell the discussions during the lectures. The review of the movie, the score of the morning match, the next prank, the cheat code for exam, and the girl/boy you like and much more has been the flavour of a typical school life.

Memories, Memories. The last pages of a notebook are most important ones. The theories on the other pages are long forgotten. Last pages are the graffiti wall of our imagination and remain common for everyone irrespective of the fact that one is academically an achiever or otherwise.

Share this with friends whom you think have shared the last pages of their notebooks with you.