Slam Book (More Like Sham Book)

Slam books were a thing when I was around Class V/VI. They were important because it shows how much you knew about your friends, and also because generally it was a cool thing for a kid to have around that time. Eleven year old Sandhya also obviously kept up with the trend and owned one!

For those who aren't aware what a slam book is, here's the Wikipedia definition:

"A slam book is a notebook (commonly the spiral-bound type) which is passed among children and teenagers. The keeper of the book starts by posing a question (which may be on any subject) and the book is then passed round for each contributor to fill in their own answer to the question." 

What lies we all wrote! We all wrote anything and everything that made us look that much cooler. I still have my slam book where so many of my friends have written the weirdest, funniest things, and we have a good laugh over it now and then! Slam books can be a treasure to rediscover the most bizarre dreams we had as children. Not one entry said they wanted to be an engineer, or doctor, or lawyer slogging off in a nine-to-nine workplace. I had friends who had dreams of becoming artists, painters, singers, dancers, magicians, scientists, actors, writers, businessmen, fashion designers, models, astronauts, wizards, and what not! Just a look at it makes us smile! 

Till a couple of years back, I have often picked up the slam book to trace the phone number of a friend not on social media. All the numbers that I used to have in the slam book were landline numbers since we never had a mobile till class eleven or twelve, and most of the landlines still work!

I have often heard that slam books were also used as a medium to write mean, anonymous comments about other kids, and thinking back it is true that such a thing could have been possible. However, I am glad and thankful that no such bullying ever happened through a slam book to me or any of my friends when we were kids. 

To me, slam books are a happy memory that take us back into the slap-happy dreams of ourselves ten years ago!