Is Forgetfulness a Disease?

`Forgive and forget’ goes the old saying. But people affected by your forgetfulness are not willing to forgive you. Forgetfulness is a disease which every human being experiences in his/her lifetime. The disease is generally expected to attack people in their old age. But these days, even small kids complain of forgetfulness–not just relating to what they have studied for exams but even simple instructions that their parents give them. The most common loss of memory relates to birthdays and wedding anniversaries. How many times have you waited for a call from your son, daughter or spouse, wishing you a happy birthday or anniversary, only to find that the call never comes, nor does the gift!. These days Whats App has solved this problem. One person in a group sends a birthday greeting and every one else follows the leader like sheeps. There are people who believe in taking the bull by the horns and telling the person concerned about the importance of the date and demanding a gift! My late wife used an interesting route to solve the problem. She would buy the gift that she thought she deserved for her birthday/wedding anniversary, and tactfully present the bill to me on D-Day–knowing pretty well that I would not reject it. Clever, don’t you agree? Here are some kinds of forgetfulness that cause you embarrassment on a day-to-day basis: You ring up a number but forget what number it was that you dialled. And hesitantly ask the person who picks up the phone ‘Sorry, what number is this?’ Often the response is a furious: ‘You dialled the number, you should know’. And the call is promptly disconnected. The most frequent embarrassment I face is when I ring up somebody and say ‘Sorry Ganesh, I forgot what I called you for. Will call again when I remember!’ And there are instances of forgetfulness which are ridiculous:- Like searching for your spectacles all over the house when it is safely pushed up on your forehead! Or religiously preparing a checklist of things that you want to buy but forgetting to take it with you when you go shopping. The most common form of forgetfulness is when you keep something safely in a place and forget where you kept it when you need it urgently. Oh! The list is endless! Sometimes your forgetfulness can create havoc or lead to a major or minor crisis in your life! I want to share with you an incident from my life 35 years ago–when I was panic stricken because of a temporary memory loss! I had gone to Gorakhpur in Eastern UP to make a surprise check on an audio visual campaign for a tyre company which was to start the following day in a nearby village. Since I had checked into the hotel early and my evening was free, I decided to go for the evening show of a movie ‘Ardh Sathya’ featuring actor Ompuri,. I took a cycle rickshaw, carrying with me just enough cash to pay for the outing. The movie started and as I was beginning to get engrossed in it, I suddenly realized that I could not remember either the name or the address of the hotel where I was staying. All my efforts to dredge up the details from my brain were in vain. I started imagining the worst case scenario-lost on the streets of Gorakhpur, running from street to street to locate the hotel late into the night, sleeping on the pavement. With the poor telecom facilities prevailing then (no mobiles for instant connectivity), the idea of checking with my colleague back in Chennai at that hour, did not seem practical. I did not know a soul in the town and even the address of the local dealer was safe in my brief case back in the hotel. It was one of the worst 60 minutes I spent in my life before the intermission came. As I moved out of the auditorium to get a cup of tea in the makeshift restaurant inside the cinema hall, I suddenly saw the familiar face of the supervisor of the AV van whose team had also come to watch the movie. Without wasting any time on formalities I asked the guy whether he remembered the name of the hotel where I had checked in. He gave me a funny look and told me that the team was supposed to report to me next morning at Hotel Bambino on such and such street, where I was supposed to be staying. I thanked him profusely and sheepishly told him about my temporary amnesia, and we all had a hearty laugh. Needless to say, I watched the rest of the movie with total peace of mind.