Unforgettable forgetfulness

I hardly know anyone who has not experienced moments of absent-mindedness and forgetfulness in life. Absent-mindedness refers to being intensely focused on something, making us inattentive to other things, while forgetfulness is the inability to recall something immediately. As the saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind,” we often forget things or people when they’re no longer in front of us.

I can relate to this well. I used to lose the key to my school desk and had to rely on my classmate’s help to find it; he seemed to know how to help me trace it. During exams, I would wake up in the early hours to do last-minute revisions. But once I fell asleep after writing my morning paper and almost missed my afternoon paper. Luckily, a loud noise woke me up just minutes before it was time for my afternoon paper, and I ran to school. Though late, I was thankfully allowed inside the exam hall. 

During my chartered accountant course in Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1970s, I commuted by crowded local trains. One day, I realised my travel pass had expired the previous day, and I had to buy a new ticket. To save myself from a hefty fine for travelling first class on an invalid ticket, I got down at the next station to buy an ordinary class ticket when a plain-clothed ticket checker, ostensibly proficient at face reading, stopped me at the exit!

Another time, I was to travel back home on a long preparatory leave for my CA final exams. It took me two hours at my paying guest accommodation to pack my bulky books in a big carton box. Just when I was set to leave for the station, I realised I had forgotten to take my concessional travel pass from inside a book in which I had ‘safely’ kept it months ago! Thankfully, the process of unpacking and repacking took only half as long as it had before.

Similarly, I was at Bombay Central Station one evening to bid adieu to my friend’s father returning to his hometown. As the train gathered speed, I noticed I had failed to pick up my book-size zipped folder, which I had placed on his seat. I sprinted towards the coach, racing with the train. It was pure luck that the train, for some unknown reason, stopped just long enough for me to retrieve my folder. 

In today’s information age, our minds are constantly bombarded with data, making it harder to stay alert and retain information. That’s why mobile apps that remind us of important things are a blessing!