Skip to main content

Forgetfulness… No longer the boon in the bane??

In one of those eventful days, where there was action every moment, I was taken back to an oft read [part of CHSE course work ages back] and almost forgotten essay called Forgetting - was it Forgetfulness instead – [probably by the famous essayist G. K. Chesterton….Sanghs/Usha..does this ring a bell, can u throw light pls].

Hvnt we all read hilarious stories of the uncle searching for his specs which were perched on his nose or the ‘triumphantly’ forgetful mathematician…..scornful about mundane umbrella and lunch boxes occupying the mental space…..till the wife falls off the scooter or runs away with a student [am sure never with a similar minded colleague] or till some other catastrophe hits to make the proud owner of the ‘forgetfulness’ shake himself off the tag of the high browed ‘boon’ and gets to acknowledge that its is actually a hidden, stealthy ‘bane’…simple conventional wisdom types…..no blessings in disguise, no self lulling splendor really..

I mean, while its good to not get carried away by trivial material losses; it can be quite damaging if one starts patting oneself by euphemistically misreading the regular misdemeanours as a symptom of some loftiness [rather than accepting the sheer mediocrity of it].

Why this topic… despite the wit and the wisdom, whas the connection..urs truly once again left a precious gadget behind..a very precious gadget [no not the mobile ph] a part of the walking, talking office paraphernalia, once again..when changing cities. The good part is, this is the first time, I agreed to acknowledge this is something that deserves a good hard nosed deep inner dive and not just limit this to smug wit value – and looked back…in 5 years, more than 5 times I have forgotten things…that most people would be embarrassed to do even once in their life times.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I have invariably got all the precious things back – almost every time I misplaced them [so I don’t want to say it as ‘lost’ them]….but that has let me perpetrate this state this long [hence I used the ‘unfortunately’; but I think I wd still want to take it as fortunately…for the masala value of the happy ending stories].

Spice value, nonetheless, I wont be recounting the mundane stories now, - I ll save them for recounting some other time, for a more saleable forum ;). What I really want to share, is my understanding of my wiring which leads to the memory blips…and often that is..5 bigs ones in 5 years and 5 smaller one every 5 days I guess :). I guess is that, forgetful people [incl urs truly], drop their guards when not doing a particular type [likely to differ from person to person] of thing and in some sub-conscious self satisfying way do not trouble themselves with correcting the anomaly [taking them a clutter justifiable jettisoned to the bin]. That’s both the boon and bane. The boon is most such things don’t deserve the clutter probably. The bane is that, the mindset gets too much wired unidimensioanlly and can get manifested in quite damaging proportions and live an entire lifetime justifying it and never working out of it.

Its like this, how to get going / remain alert, without any external need..but just as a habit. And its corollary of not keeping ones mind active only when there is an external need. This is only doable, only when any mental ticking is seen as fun and not as a load. So the key is to let the mind/body realize that the load on the nervous system is fun and inevitable. The more the merrier. It is a typical male brained, lack of multi-tasking problem. I suspect there wont be too many female forgetful people – at least not the incorrigible ones. The re-wiring needs to be worked out to consciously change the sub-conscious. So that the mind does not drop guards, to the wrong degree at the wrong times. The benefit will not just be less forgetfulness in a so many more dimensions which would otherwise go un-noticed. I have a strong hunch the impact will be all encompassing – and the loss of the opportunities for smug humour will be far out weighed.

I have a feeling Sirsa Asana [upside down on ur head] is a very good antidote to this malady. Actually I seem to be catching myself in the act of forgetfulness more often these days after I have started practicing this more often. What I mean is earlier, I never deigned to notice them – I am smiling at them but also acknowledging its not a great wiring to carry around. Well, someone told me last month that Sirsa Asana is a great formula to avert obesity too.

The last two paras had a bit of gyan..but thot, its worth sharing some new insight I thought [though its still evolving; the exact understanding maybe a bit different a few months down the line]. I guess everyone is afflicted by this malady [of 'deciding' sub-optimally what to keep in mind and what to jettison] to different degrees. And a sustainable way out, is palatable if not always welcome - with or without the gyan element. :).

Travelling
May 8, 2010

Comments

  1. Wait until I post about my incorrigible forgetfulness!That, probably, would give your opinion on females a new direction altogether..Sometimes multitasking does also lead to forgetfulness!

    ReplyDelete
  2. look fwd to ur twist to the tale anna

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Foreign Universities in India: Boon or Bane?

    Dr. Partha S Mohapatra (Originally written in March, 2010)   The cabinet yesterday gave its nod to the “Foreign Universities Bill”. I first read the report on Wall Street Journal about the Indian Governments’ intention to open up the higher education sector to foreign universities [Delhi Seeks to Admit Foreign Universities,  Wall Street Journal June 11, 2009 ].  Subsequently, I read similar reports in other newspapers.  Most of the se reports make a compelling story to allow foreign universities to operate in India. The main argument that is made is on following premises: i)      It will save India about $4 billion in foreign exchange [“Leading foreign institutes may soon be here” Economic Times , 11 Sep 2006”]. ii)    India loses because of brain drain when brilliant people go abroad and study and stay there. iii)   We need foreign investments because the government does not ...

Dura Pahada Sundara [Far-away Mountains are Beautiful]

I realize how seriously we take a place we visit specifically to see it – an event in itself, and how much taken for granted are those places that we can hop in an out with regularity and ease. Interestingly I had never wrote or thought of writing about Puri or Konark or Cuttack. Places for which reams have been and can be written. The history, the culture, the cuisine and the local chutzpah [espl. Puri / Cuttack]. Even more interestingly, I have never pondered enough on these places and their unique niceties to have them simmering in my cerebral consciousness. They are somewhere deep there sedimented at best; and at [likely] worst, I do not have the desired ammunition to do justice to write anything substantial. Probably, I will have to resort to the frivolous flourish of the might of the language as a cover. A point to note - I have never seen the Bali Yatra [Cuttackis don’t faint please]. The Puri beach and temple I have always felt is my backyard [so had the taken for granted attit...

For a religion or a product, an open door policy will work best

In the recent past, we have been witness to catchy rhetoric with regards to religious conversion. Strident calls to banning conversion, Ghar Wapsi, Love Jihad et al. I would like to stick my neck out and say almost everyone, right (‘bhakts’), left (‘liberals’), centre (government), has missed out on the most balanced perspective. A person has a right to choose a city and country different from his parents, he or she can also change his or her name given by the parents, what is wrong with the person choosing a religion different from he or she was born with. Religion is an experiential product. Products thrive when they are responsive to customer feedback. We go to five-star hotel to get pampered, if we are unhappy with the service we may not return. If the hotel has a problem with service quality, then over a period of time it will lose substantial business; then either it will buckle up based on customer feedback or will go out of business. That is exactly relevant for a re...