The Oxford English Dictionary defines doodling as “Absentmindedly drawing”, which is completely and indisputably true. What a saviour this tool has been to me in situations where all I want to do is literally doze off in class but I am forced to maintain an attentive façade in order to avoid being punished. As a result of this activity, my textbooks are filled with caricatures of alarm clocks, smiley faces, random squiggles and intricate patterns (which progressively attain huge proportions until they fit on the page no more).
Also, doodling makes me look like I am taking down note sin class. Glancing up from a notebook now and then with an all-understanding look on my face gives an impression of sincerity, while I would have just been absorbed in trying to make a mango look like a peacock.
Now, how many of us have NOT doodled while talking on the phone? Not many. I know the ridiculous patterns doodles can take, beginning with a simple X or a circle and probably ending up as a design as intricate as the map of the London Underground. I would have made the grievous blunder of asking the person on the other end of the line as to how their day had been and there they would start giving me a blow by blow account of how they succeeded in striking a conversation with the new aunty next door... “Hmm…”-ing and “Ya..”-ing at appropriate intervals, I would settle down with a nice paper and pencil and begin my work. At the end of the conversation, my paper would be spectacularly transformed into a sketch of the muscular system!
So, if you haven’t yet discovered the magic of doodling and all its applications in practical life, it’s high time you started off. And for all those die hard doodlers out there, keep up the good work, people! Squiggle on!
PADMINI MURALIDHAR, XII, D.A.V Girls Senior Secondary School
