My Diary

The days of the diary are bleak.

I have been looking for a descent diary for the last few weeks and finally got one last week compliment of a good friend. I still have to acquire one for my wife who wants to be reminded of her various appointments at the hospital, friends and invitations.

Normally I would go to the shopping malls and supermarkets where they would be laid out on a special counter but that’s not to be for this year. I went to several bookshops and stationers who said the supply did not arrived. Finally I decided to look up at the Mydin Hypermarket in USJ while I shopped for something else. True enough the special counter was there together with the hard to get wall calendars with the majority of them being tailored for the Muslim. That suit us fine as we are interested in knowing the Muslim dates, prayer times and the quotes from the Quraan among other things. They were going at a discount.

This makes me wonder the reason for it being so scarce this year. The office workers are supplied by their employees to keep track of their activities but ordinary folk too need to keep track of theirs too. Perhaps the suppliers and printers find it not profitable venturing into this. It could be for economic reasons that the private enterprises are limiting their expenditure on this item to save costs. Obviously it is related to the world economic condition which has not improved from the recession.

The internet could be another reason. Some websites are supplying their own calendars and diaries as a way of keeping being visited regularly. Face book (FB) even included birthdays and event reminders which seem useful and popular among its users, making the diary irrelevant.

With the laptops, notebooks and the mobile gadgets in hand everyone seem to be hooked to them and there is no time to jot down and look up a diary anymore. Everything can be done via the internet and the facilities it provided.

Obviously the golden days of the diary as a writing tool are bleak with the onslaught of the internet but I am not saying goodbye just yet to the diary.