I write...

Two posts wouldn't do justice to such an intricate topic like "forgetting". There is much more to write about it, I feel. Like in the past two posts, the advantages of forgetting are not even touched upon, like - how forgetting certain things is good to us. :), The times when your teacher slapped you in front of the class, the first time you fell off your bicycle trying to pull a feat etc, etc. Forgetting is good, at least some times.

A third post on the same topic would be monotonous and boring. So let me 'write' something else.

Coming to writing, I think its a lot tough than blogging. As for blogging, you don't even have to think much to make a new post. In the worst case, when you can't think of anything else to write, just pick a random picture( most often your own ) and post it with some tagline/title and lo, you become a blogger. Not the same case with writing. You have to pick a pen, start thinking, which itself is a tough job, and then start building words and make meaningful structures out of them. Overall, its tough to be a writer. But I chose to do so, for this post.

So, here I am, 'writing' a sample post as the first written piece.


And yeah, lot of thinking has gone into writing this one. ;)

meeku telugu vachaa ?

Forgetting... I feel it is much more complex than I actually thought or expected or, in fact, wrote about in the previous post.

Just yesterday, I had witnessed a scene which brought back memories of a very very small discussion I had with one of my friends seven years ago. I didn't even realize I had actually remembered that discussion until I saw this scene.

A foreigner was sitting on the stairs of a big shopping mall. While she was waiting for somebody, she opened her HINDI book and started reading it in that short time she had.

Immediately the topic of foreign language vs. native language struck me and my mind went back seven years. That was the time when the Andhra Pradesh government was planning to change all the boards on local buses to Telugu. The names of the 'To' and 'From' on all buses would be written in Telugu and I guess even the registration numbers. Now this friend of mine was strongly criticizing this idea of the government. He didn't want the boards to be written in Telugu as he could not read or write in Telugu though he could speak :(. To his benefit and to many others' like him, the government did not go ahead and implement that idea. Otherwise the publisher of "Read Telugu in 5 days" would be competing with Ambanis in wealth.

While the idea of learning the language just to be able to read a bus board is slightly nonsensical, but how many of you think one has to be a literate in his native language. Unable to read your mother-tongue - Wouldn't it be pitiful?
Globalization - that's the term we use most often to explain this. People prefer learning English, French, German etc, leaving the very own native language, to be part of the broader world. How good is it !

Then, there would be no difference between the foreigner who has just landed and the person who has been a native staying here for all his life. Both equally strangers to the language and seeking the help of others trying to figure out the name of a recently released movie.:)

Which one are you or which one would you rather be?

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 :)