Indian Ameri

Cursed are those who hate the jovial table companion with a good memory. Also cursed, are those few (like me), who go through memory lapses. Only with frankness over flattery this unwanted, unrequested trait is guised into blessings.

Unlike most normal adults, I have trouble in remembering names, numbers, and especially "Whether I met them before in my life?" And I really 'meant' the last statement unlike those who use it as a way to for healthy flirting. Yesterday was one of those awkward socializing days. Cherishing the taste of mashed potatoes half way through the portion of daily carbs, a perfect curve of hips in green scrubs jumped errrrr... sexily a few inches from my sight. Lifting the head along with the spoon in my mouth, I saw this lightning powered beautiful smile coming from a familiar face. Initial neural firing brought back memories of being introduced to this doll of a brunette by an old acquaintance from the medical field. Further cranial activity induced scenes of a night at the comedy caravan followed by funny karaoke moments with the pig-tailed, Texan-hat-dunked doll doing a few steps with me and the other friends we partied with. But there was one little trouble in wonderland. Not even a single spark in the neural network occurred that would infer her name!!!

Believing that with conversation, the hapless memory would hit me with her right name was the risk to be taken. Instead, it played the devils play by smirking at my attempts to extract a name out of the million other data that were stored in the corners of a spaghettied mind. One full meal time of flirting later, I was left stranded in figuring out her name. And unfortunately, every bit of the karaoke memory (except the name) being a driving factor for a good flattery involved chat, the frankness in asking out her name was out of the equation. So I had to go with my usual ways of figuring out the name - use 'spell the name' strategy!!

Ghajini - Nice meeting you again. I'll call Ted, get the caravan tickets, and then shall call you.
Doll - Sounds good.
G - What's your contact?
D - beep bip bop, boop baap beep, bip bip buup bop!!
G - (missed call) That's my number. (Time to act smart and find her name) How do you spell your last name?
D - (giggling... me: huh?) It's ******, spelled as * * * * * * *
G - (Last name found. Brain - what's her first name? No response for the next 1 second. hopeless) And how do you spell your...
(in came the chorus from both me and D) .... First name!!!
D - This is second time you are using the "How do you spell your name?" trick with me. You used the same, last time we met at my dad's office. (Instead of just a blank face, now I have a puzzled look of "I met you outside the karaoke bar, and that too in your dad's office?? Who's your dad btw?") You even told dad, I'm like my mom.
G - Like your mom? (Still continuing with the puzzled face - I knew her mom too??)
D - Mmm hmmm... 'Beauty with brains'. Anyways I'm D O L L 'again'. Remember to use my name when you call me with the tickets.
G - (Sheepishly) Sorry 'bout that. One of those days....

After she left, I had trouble figuring out the dad, the office, the mom, and why I said 'beauty with brains' part, especially to her dad. Instead of hammering my memory for an answer, I ended up texting for her dad's name. Turned out that the details of the family, gushed out the sleeping memories of an important meeting I spent with her dad and why I called her beauty with brains..

Most times, I have to depend on such acts to figure out on certain memory lapses. Fortunately, live images turn into photographic negatives and had proved useful for directions, finding misplaced stuff, solving academic problems, choosing/managing wisely, etc. Unfortunately, it's also seeping it's way into the professional life, which could turn costly in the near future. Guess, time has come to figure out a way to figure out how to remember certain important things!!