There is a look of alarm and concern on the Lord and Master’s (L & M) face each time it happens. Misplaced, is my private opinion. I mean let’s face it; people do forget a few things now and then. Who doesn’t by the way?? I can tell you a thing or two about the L & M himself. Like the times he hurries the family to get ready with the refrain ‘its getting late’ and then when they are all ready in their Sunday best and waiting he decides it is time for him to go play a game of Hunt the Keys. It has been happening with so much regularity.
Do you find me looking alarmed in these instances?? Mildly annoyed perhaps, even bored. I might roll my eyes unobtrusively at times as I prepare to assist him or may even go to the extent of muttering ‘Oh no not again!’ (to myself) stifling that urge to yell, “Why couldn’t you have left it where it belonged in the first place!!” Of alarm you will not find a trace on my face. And yet, what does L & M do when he finds me being forgetful on those odd (err… also ‘even’) occasions?? He looks at me with consternation writ large on his face as if some grave symptom of a terminal illness has manifested itself and I am in dire need of immediate medical attention. I tell you!!
Just because I forget a few things now and then, err…maybe now then and some more times, it is not as if it is the end of the world. It is true that I come once too often skipping merrily along like the lamb in spring time, or however close to a merrily skipping lamb in spring time someone as far removed from it in looks can resemble (it’s the spirit that matters in case you didn’t already know that), to where the L & M is and meeting his enquiring look stare back blankly at him for the life of me unable to recall what it was that had me start off on that hop and skip like a lamb jaunt from the kitchen to the sitting room. (Phew, was that sentence long??) This has happened once too often and sigh seems to bother the L & M.
“Alzheimer’s!” he says in a perturbed voice and shaking his head adds. “An early onset…”
“What rubbish!” I reply, dismissing his misgivings.
It is true that this business of forgetting things is intruding into my life and causing me problems. Like the times when I wait politely for whoever it is who is speaking to have their say before I intrude. Good manners and all you know, after all I am a well-bred lady. No butting in rudely when someone is on the floor. So I wait patiently and seizing the opportunity when it presents itself, open my mouth to scatter those pearls and …. Well, that’s it.
I stand there with my jaws unhinged, the gaping mouth an open invitation to any passing fly, trying my best to recall what form of pearls (pink, white, blue rice, conch, melo, abalone, button, coin, blister, faceted, natural, cultured… ahh well, I guess you get the gist) I had wanted to scatter. No go. I finally remember to pull up my seemingly unhinged jaw, closing my mouth shut and in the bargain terribly disappointing the fly who having finally made up its mind, was preparing to take the plunge into its cavernous insides in search of new adventures.
It is all the more embarrassing when you forget things right in the middle of a conversation, especially when with strangers or acquaintances. While at home, I simply have to ask the Martians for whom I keep house, imperiously and a little impatiently, “What was I saying??” and I being their ..ahem.. Queen and all that, they would oblige by refreshing my memory. Obviously I cannot do this with strangers for Forgetfulness that Great Leveler is not selective and comes to me with scant disregard for where I am or for that matter with whom I am conversing. Any time any place is its motto, putting me in a quandary. I try to cover it up by being a listener at gatherings but that’s no good either. My mind wanders off (there are zillion things to think about!) and I am suddenly brought to earth by hearing someone say,
“…is that not so Mrs. Mohan??”
“Err…Mrs. Mohan??”
Mrs. Mohan (that’s me for the newbies in case you didn’t know) is now red in face.
“Sorry, I was just thinking of something else. What was it again??”
I remember the time I was talking to this army doctor while at Udhampur. I was meeting her for the first time. Smooth-sailing would be the way you’d have described our conversation till I suddenly went blank and not an inkling of what I had been talking about! Just like that, right in the middle of what I was saying too. Most embarrassing I tell you. There was nothing I could do except ask the lady,
“Sorry what was I saying just now??”
She immediately put me at my ease, admitting it happened to her too and helpfully guided me back to the broken train of thought. I wouldn’t be surprised to know that from then on her interest in me turned from that of a mere acquaintance to that of a prospective patient of hers.
Though I admit these things are really awkward, I still feel there is no cause for the overt concern displayed by the L & M and his cries of ‘Alzhiemers!!’ whenever it happens. I have a reason for saying so.
Let me tell you about my senior son. While still a child when I sent him off to get something or other for me from the next room, he would trot away obediently. A few seconds or minutes later he would reappear minus whatever it was he was asked to get.
“Where is A, B C or D I asked to get you??” I ask him.
He would suddenly start and remembering, run off to fetch it. This happened so often that I mentioned it to a cousin of mine.
“He seems to live in a dream world.” I lamented.
She chuckled amusedly and said,
“You were exactly the same, always lost in thought, in a world of your own, a dreamer!!”
Oh aaahh ummm… had I been so now?? Ah well, I thought, better leave it at that and never mention it again. One cannot say what more contributions would be made by eager beavers who knew you in your childhood. That’s when my Uncle who had been listening interrupted us.
“Don’t be deceived by those who appear dreamers and are forgetful. Their minds work faster. Their thoughts jump from one to the next via connecting thoughts so speedily that the initial thoughts are lost. The world unfortunately concludes that they are forgetful!! No way!”
Awww… geeee
What I would like to do right about here is write, ‘I rest my case’ and exit gracefully. But no, let me add a bit more.
After my Uncle’s little speech, I sat up straighter, the desire to disappear into the woodwork suddenly gone. I looked at my ‘forgetful’ son, proud that he was forgetful and that he took after me. What did I know then that I would pull out my hair in despair in the years to come finding Amul butter all soft and gooey left in his mobike for over a week, letters given to be posted forgotten behind cupboards and underneath tables in his room, that whenever I asked him to get anything on the way home, his reply ‘Yes Ma’ was all that I could expect in lieu of that one kilo of onion or bread or milk I needed him to get….. Ahhh, that’s all because his brain is too active and his thoughts are faster than the ordinary!! And oh yeah he is like me!! So never mind.
As for the L & M, I never let him forget after that what ‘forgetfulness’ is all about. But strangely enough, he still forgets that part of it and has to be reminded now and then. One day I asked him,
“Do you know Chacha Chaudhary??”
He is a character from a comic book series (from the 70s??) I have seen my children reading. Chacha Chaudhary is a little turbaned man with his inseparable walking stick, who fights evil doers with his shrewdness and presence of mind assisted ably by his friend Sabu who is from Jupiter and is the brawn of the duo. It says in the comic book that Chacha Chaudhary’s brain is sharper than a needle and faster than a super computer. Whenever the L & M tends to go ‘Alzheimer’s!’ on me, pooh-poohing his apprehensions I tell him,
“That’s only because, my brain works faster than even Chacha Chaudhary’s.”
So there!!
😀 You made me happy today! I was confused why am I sooooo absent minded! I was upset and very much worried. I used to open the fridge and think for a while why did I open it and what was that i wanted to fetch? I used to open my wardrobe and blink for a while.. thinkin why I had to open. I go to my bedroom and stand there confused or recalling why i had to go there. WEll…. now I know… yo i seriously know 😀 My brain works faster 😀 yippieeeeeeeee yayyyyyyy!!!
Hey I can so relate to this!!! I am forgetful and absent minded too. The family has learnt to decipher me thankfully, so if I tell a child to leave the butter in the sink or freshly ironed school uniform in the fridge instead of wardrobes, they know what I mean :)))
Lol! You open the fridge and forget what you wanted out of it. You open your cupboard abd don’t what you cam looking for. You leave your half-way through to say something and when you stand in front of that person, you’re clueless about what you really wanted to say! Happens, irrespective of Chacha Chaudhary or Alzheimer’s!
On a serious note, are you stressed out? Because forgetfullness is also a sign of stress.
You are back to Wodehouse on this! And yes, that sentence was long but so well executed :). Some of your best humor Shail.
Shail, you are so right! I am in the same boat as you, regarding memory lapses. As you say, this is because our brains work at top speed.
And also because we have more important things to think about!:)
Shail !!
You seem to be an expert on forgetting….and on top of it you brand yourself as fast thinking human…LOL
HO SAKTHA you have some amnesia…..he..he..
Bubbly, of course it is all coz our brains are too fast for our own good!! 😉 😛 You go girl, its time to go yippeeeee!! 😉
IHM, butter in the sink and ironed uniform in the fridge?? Priceless!! Your family must be enjoying it all!! 🙂
D, yeah it happens occasionally to most of us I guess, but rarely with such regularity making the family roll their eyes each time it happens. 😛 Hehehe.. No stress my dear, its plain crowding of thoughts that jostle each other and push some out inadvertently. 😦 Only happens when I am about to say something coz I have already thought much ahead. Have got a ‘super-excellent’ memory otherwise!!
Roopa, (that name again!!) Thank you!! 😀 Ahh, I like long sentences that never seem to end!! 😉
Manju, exactly! If one thinks about it, its perfectly logical. By the time I open my mouth to say something I have already thought about 10 other things connected to it, that the original thought is lost.
Sundar aka Muthu, aur kya! I will request you to read the post about My First School and you know how many years back it was??!! In fact this same L & M says “Hats off to your memory!” you know!! 😛 Amnesia?? No way!
LMAO, well you uncle’s little speech gives me a little relief as well. should have a copy of this sent to mom pronto!
Oh lordy!! Et Tu? Here I was thinking that its my UNIQUE trait, especially to go off on a dream trail in the middle of a conversation. Not so much where I kept what, cause I tend to find my stuff in the chaos that my desk usually is.. Somehow its easier for me to find stuff in chaos than if it were neatly arranged in a drawer. Like you I tend to trail off cause my words cant seem to keep in sync with my thoughts, its like those Tom and Jerry cartoons where Jerry(my thoughts) is always out of reach of Tom(my verbal skill).
Hrishi, yeah, why not??! Send a copy pronto!! 😉 Lol.
Rashmi, are you my long lost twin sister or what?? Hmm… I don’t know for sure if twin sisters are as alike as we seem to be in some plane. And you have put it so beautifully!! “…its like those Tom and Jerry cartoons where Jerry(my thoughts) is always out of reach of Tom(my verbal skill)” Hats off!! That is exactly the way I feel. 🙂
I don’t remember being absent minded 🙂 🙂 🙂
Haha Vikram, how convenient not remembering about your absentmindedness!! 😛
Hail fellow well met, my old Friend
Its nice, once more, your blog to attend
You can *forget* your fears
If absent-minded, no more tears
They promise us Su-do-ku-ists, Alzheimers will end!
Gulshan! Have I missed your limericks or what?!! Oh yeah, I know Sudoku-ists have the upper hand when it comes to Alzheimers! Three cheers to sudoku and Sudoku-ists!! 😀
Lol!
Refreshing!
I guess Mohanlal and his performance in “Thanmatra” [I gather that you would probably have heard of it, if not seen it already 🙂 ] has a lot to do with the general worry over forgetfulness that has been around a long long time! So, no, I would agree that it is certainly nothing to worry about 😀 !! Hopefully!!
I have come to really admire your easy natural way of expression, and the awesome sense of humour! A true Wodehousian, with that skill in sentence construction too!
Been great, the time I spent here this evening! Thanks!
Exactly Usha! Mohanlal and his role in ‘Thanmatra’ have made Alzheimer’s a household word! There was an of article sometime back about the increased number of patients approaching doctors worried that their forgetfulness was the sign of early onset of Alzheimer’s. I read an example quoted in it: If you forget where you kept your toothbrush, that is nothing to worry about. But if you forget that you even own a toothbrush then start worrying!! 😛 That makes things a little clearer I guess.
Going blush blush at reference Wodehouse and your lavish praise. Thank you!!
Oh wow!!! I also have the same problem. I get lost in conversation, open the fridge and forget what I wanted (and end up eating a chocolate I did not need sigh!), pick up the phone and forget whom I was going to dial. Thank you for the wonderful comeback line which I am soooooo going to use – my brain works faster than Chacha Choudhary’s
Yeah, wonderful line to use, isn’t it Ritu?? 😉
Shail,
For about 20+ years of my life, I was very forgetful. But since all genius are said to be forgetful, I used to subconsiously feel that could be the case with me too. Then when I started working and started juggling a lot of things, I realised that forgetfulness can affect efficiency and I put a lot of effort (like listing things down, doings things IMMEDIATELY, etc.) to be able to successfully multi-task. Even now I forget a few things, but rarely.
The narration was superlative. I agree with Roopa that the way you have played with words is as good as PGW! Loved the italicised part of the blog in particular.
Keep them coming.
Cheers,
Salil, the problem is lists don’t work when you are talking and suddenly your mind does a PT Usha while your tongue is plain you huffing and panting trying to sprint after her.
I am beaming from ear to ear with all that praise coming my way. 😀 I would like you to check out The Race.