Notebooks: Reviving itself through Digital Era

It was the year 2020. Life was going normally for all of us, immersed in our digital devices. Life was like, ‘Internet Laga Dala, Toh Life Jingalala”. We were eating, sleeping, drinking, and binge-watching the internet since the early 2000s till date. Off late, Netflix was dear Zindagi to us! Notebooks and storybooks were gathering dust, living their sad life unhindered. Indeed, if they could write their autobiography, they would describe their early retirement or VRS in detail.

Then the Corona pandemic started globally, invoking the spirit of notebooks in our lives. Life turned 360°, like those revolving chairs that we see in a furniture shop. Most of our daily routine transformed as we shifted to work from home. The New Normal. Our brains were puzzled by the continual question, “are you kidding me? You call this normal!”. The need arose for notebook papers. A meeting on Zoom and a need to scribble minutes furiously. Damn those bosses! “Zindagi jhand kar ke rakh diya.”, we said behind their backs.

At the end of tiring days or during those tedious online meetings, our lazy minds stopped in time to jot down random poetry. Or bored hearts doodled the ever caricature of our bosses. All life needed to survive at that time was a small notebook and a pen. People around the world buried under workload through the years, took up their pens, and thought, “now what?” That ‘now’ had arrived and continues to harp on our minds to not give up. It was like Ab nahi toh kab? Those who almost had given up writing, because their bosses said they were ‘upto no good’ at their workspace, gave pandemic a thumbs down. And took life by the edge of their sword errr… their pens. Who knew they had harboured a silent poet inside them? Notebooks gained their place of pride like never best; to post thoughts more than work notes.

From college-ruled notebooks to memo books, a ruled book to plain notebooks, or even customised moleskin ones, we retrieved treasures from our shelves during this time of the pandemic. Isn’t it exciting to realize that all simple things are not outdated?

Looking at the history of notebooks, life has come a full circle for them. The vast range of notebooks included a leather-bound notebook, bulleted, dot-grid notebooks, etc. were on the verge of being forgotten with the advent of computers. Woh kehte hai na, “Haar k Jitne Walon ko Baazigar Kehte hai.” Notebooks take a bow for being that Baazigar in our lives. You did not lose the battle, you won our hearts.

Reusable notebooks took over the free time of our lives during the global pandemic, even if they were for a few months. At the end of it all, we could not deny, that lockdown taught us the value of what we had given up for digital luxury. Life is ‘keemti’, very very precious. Thank you lockdown, for teaching us the importance of one life.

As Richard Branson, the founder and CEO of Virgin Group had once said, “Imagination is Entrepreneurship’s fuel, but Notebooks are the vehicle.” It was the vigorous note-taking which he had attributed to his success. He further mentioned this regarding notebooks that he couldn’t tell you where he’d be today if he did not have a pen and a notebook to jot down his ideas for people to share with.

Let us mull over that the best ideas floating around can be penned down and safely penned down, provided there are notebooks to preserve them.

Let’s write. Scribble. Let’s jot random quirky anything. Let’s list our forget-me-nots. Let‘s do whatever our mind asks us to pen down. This is our time to be more productive. Let each one of us make the most of being locked in. Likh ke rakhenge, tabhi toh yaadein chhor ke jayenge.

Bhooter Raja Notebook

Buy Now