I remember reading short rhyming poems when I was in early school. I was in VII standards when my English teacher asked us to write poems on any themes. I think that was the day when I fell in love with the game of words. I have called it a game of words because often a bunch of few words can be arranged in different ways to give different meanings. I remember getting my first poem published in a weekly newspaper of Assam when I was in VIII standard. Since then, I have been attached to writing poetries. Being a student of literature, I had the opportunity to study some great writings of all the time, and I showed quick interest in the writings on Teenagers as I was a teenager when I developed a love for literature. The first book that inspired me to publish my own book as a teenager was, The Diary of a Young Girl, often referred to as The Diary of Anne Frank. The story of Anne Frank is considered one of the most insightful accounts of the Word War II through the eyes of a young girl. Similarly, I started to pen down my everyday events as a teenager and later published a book named, The Diary of a Teenager. It has been 3 years since I have published this book without any proper guide or help on how to publish and do marketing of a book. But surprisingly, it has sold more than 1500 copies till now. As I have analyzed the readers of the book, I have figured that the majority of the readers are teenagers from different parts of the country. Each time, I get an email about this book from any reader; it makes me nostalgic every time. The main purpose of this article is not to expose the life of a teenager but to give the readers a perspective of how a teenager looks at the world and its aspects. I think the teenage period is a vital part of our life when we make the worst to the best decisions of our life, but everything we do during this period matters in our later life. As we have seen the majority of literary works across the world explain the social scenario of the time frame when it was written by the author or the writer. Similarly, I have observed that in the book, The Diary of a Young Girl, the reader not only follows the life of a young girl but the social system that was prevalent during the period and also the events that were going on around. Additionally, the book also gives us a perspective of the way the young girl looked at society. I think writing is not just a bunch of words aligned together, but the writing also allows us to look behind the words including the emotions and the thought process of the writer. Teenage is a period when we are often curious about exploring the forbidden dimension of the social system. It is a period when often our brains get manipulated to believe what is wrong and disbelieve what is right. I have observed that during this time we undergo a complex form of changes physically and physiologically too. I think the life of a teenager is often ignored and unspoken part, because of the fear of exposing ourselves to social reality. This is the time when we develop dreams and want to live a life of adventure. But as we grew up we often skipped many events of our teenage life when we needed to speak up. The word diary resembles a mirror to me, which is often kept silent in fear of the reputation we have later in society. We believe in a productive life, where we never want even our old image to hijack our future. But I think if we can learn to play with the words, we can also make our old image productive for someone who is struggling in their life. I believe the beauty of literature lies in its morality because even when we read a book, we don‘t take away each word in our mind but we love to keep with us the product of the piece of writing. Often looking back at my diary gives me comfort and helps me track the changes I have undergone in my life. But most importantly it also helps me to see the social changes with the period as being a social animal; humans often live within a society where every social event influences him or her. I think today’s society and its behavior rely on different forms of media. Words and images are framed and made available through media to fit various narratives to fulfill some agenda. But the diary still acts as a piece of mirror that still reflects, if not the truth of the society but the circumstances of an individual in the society. The diary of a teenager is not just a medium of following the changes in the life of a teenager, but following the footprints of the society too.
Neptune Barman is the author of, The Diary of a Teenager, out of Notion Press (2020), and The Life Behind the Bars (2021). He has been featured poet twice in The Year of the Poet-INNER CHILD PRESS, USA. Some of his works have been published in several journals and magazines abroad. He belongs to Nalbari, Assam, India. Currently he is pursuing MA in English at SATHYABAMA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
