to forget or not to !

How many of you remember the year the first battle of Panipat was fought?

If you are finding problems recalling the date, dont worry, you are sailing on the same boat as me. And for the others who know the answer, my guess is that you were a big fan of the "panipuri"-walla beside your school and thats how you remember the "Pani"-pat well. Yeah, history students and teachers are exempted from this question :)


How many of you have trouble recalling a childhood friend?

Now, this is real trouble. One fine day you get a message/mail from a childhood friend who claims to be your partner in stealing chalkpieces(the colored ones and the white ones too) from the classroom cupboard. You remember the class room - Class III B, you remember how fast you ran after finding that someone was following you, but you dont remember the guy who was your partner in that petty incident. Pretty bad isn't it?

Not that you wanted to forget and not that you didn't care to remember him. It just happens. And once you get to see him in person or in a picture, all memories of him flash in your mind. You suddenly remember all the childhood stories and you may even tell some more which he, now, doesn't remember. :)

Happens!! This is what wikipedia says too about remembering - We recognise things better than we can recall. And that is why the percentage of scoring in Multiple choice Questions is more, it seems - because we can recognise a correct answer easily than trying to recall it from the 'memory database'. I never realized this :) Now all scores make sense to me !!


Now the million dollar question. How many of you forget to wish friends on their birthdays?

I know, most of us (should I dare to say 50% or is it even more ?) do this. And what would the reason for this be? Simple. Its not about forgetting your friend's birthday. Just that you forgot what today's date was ;) I know, not many would buy that answer. But sometimes its true.

This seems like a reverse of the case mentioned above. You can recall a birthday easily but you fail to recognise when it comes. :(

On the whole, forgetting seems to be a complex phenomenon involving the brain, which in itself is a complex structure of millions of neurons, and also involving theories like these - recognition/recall/inaccessability of data etc.


Now, if you want to forget forgetting, its like fighting the brain with itself. Handling such massive biochemical reactions would be too hard I guess. Like the first battle of Panipat where Babur's 12000 men had to face One lakh soldiers of Ibrahim Lodhi. Who would win? Yes I do remember who won that battle of Panipat.

On a side note, I still couldn't comprehend the reason why history students are asked to remember all the historical dates and years !!

Now one more question - when was the Bastille prison in Paris stormed. I remember this one somehow :)