Of my memory or lack of it!

June 15, 2018 at 12:52 pm | Posted in Introspection, Memories | Leave a comment

One of my relative is writing a series on facebook, about the life he has lived. This series contains incidents from his early childhood till today. He is over 60 years of age now and I am surprised at the details he remembers.

I must have said it before that I am mighty disappointed at the kind of memory I have. That was one of the primary reasons why I took up blogging, so I do not forget important happenings in life. I am glad I did because when I read my other blog now I realise that I have already forgotten so much about my kids.

I do not remember my childhood in too much detail. When I connected to my school groups on whatsapp, I realized that I cannot put faces to names and names to faces in most cases , with the exception of some really good friends. I do not remember most teachers , seniors and juniors. I do not remember who had crush on whom (except my own ones :P) and who was dating whom. I do not even remember people from my post graduation !!

I do not remember about stuff like which was the first movie I saw in theatre and with whom , when did I first got my hands waxed and what/who was the motivation for it etc. Not that I need to remember any of this. But then these would have formed my bitter sweet memories and when someone talk about theirs , I wish I could have remembered too!

There are certain things that I do remember in detail. Like my first (perhaps only) stage performance, like when I got 7 prizes in a day, like when I saw my parents fighting for first time , like when I got my first periods , like when I fell from rickshaw , like when a boy told the teacher that he would marry me some day (in grade 1), like when I jumped from bus to match to my cool friends and fell.

I do remember all the boys I ever had crush on , even if that lasted for a day 🙂 But I do not remember any stupid things that I might have done at that age to grab their attention.

I remember all the close friends from each school or college , who mattered to me at that time. But I don’t remember all the incidents /moments that I shared with them.

My son remembers a lot more detail about his childhood than I do, of his! My husband remembers more details of our courtship than I do. I read books and then forget that I have read them. I forget the stories too , though while reading them I would think that this story would stay with me forever. But very few of them have lasted with me!.

All the above often makes me wonder if I would develop dementia at old age 😛 If whatever I don’t remember , is too much to be called a disease. Or are there more people like me 😛 I think, I should read up on how memory is formed and why people do or do not remember certain things.

It also make me realize that if I ever write a autobiography, it would be a bland one , with no juicy details, as I am not a person who can remember details. Not that I intend to write one !