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[Short Story] - Sudden & Contagious Memory Loss

May 24 2008 | Views 461 | Comments (4)

Sudden & Contagious Memory Loss
©2008 ShaKri

GROWING UP I USED TO be told that yawning, as an emotion, is often contagious. One person does it somewhere and almost seconds later another does the same. And then another and so on. In my head I always thought of this phenomenon as a never ending cycle of yawns that keeps going on endlessly in some sort of bizarre loop. How does the brain pick this up? I do not know. But as a concept does it highlight the word ‘communication’? Of course it does! Think about it – a man yawns in Africa and seconds later a woman in China does the same. Fascinating, considering they cant see each other yet have shared a mutual emotion within seconds.

But the incident I want to narrate here has only one thing in common with yawning – the subtle, sometimes more apparent, contagious factor. It happened so suddenly that I did not even have time to react! And before I knew it, I was a victim of someone else’s fault.

Allow me to elaborate.

So my weekend began with a sirene sense of calm as I decided to dish out some yummy ‘Mattar Paneer’ for lunch. Now needless to say Indian dishes are always the best with the right ingredients. Hence, after getting rid of the trash, I walked to the nearest supermarket to get some fresh tomatoes. Once there, as always, I picked up everything else I needed along with my tomatoes and joined the rather small queue of about five people waiting to check out their items.

No sooner had I joined the waiting line did the person who was at the point of sale terminal have some issue with his card – he had forgotten his code. He tried it three times and boom – his card was automatically blocked after consecutive failures. Here, in Denmark, one rarely uses cash to buy things so all shopping is done via a debit card that is accepted everywhere. That said, the poor fellow did not have any back up cash on him to pay for his supplies. Not even another card, as it turned out. He stood there discussing it with the sales person before gingerly walking away with an empty bag.

I smiled at myself at this since I suddenly found myself wondering how I would react in such a situation. Little did I know I would find that out very soon.

Now before I tell you what exactly happened next here is something I have noticed. Codes, numbers, passwords, authorization IDs – all these are never really a part of your static memory. They seem to resurface dynamically the moment your eyes meet the device that need them. I, for instance, have about 10 different codes to remember but they all have a ‘context’. Once that context appears so does the code! Now, I do not know why I decided to toy with this natural law of human mechanics, but I did. I decided to figure out what my code was before I could see the punching machine. Big mistake! I was suddenly confused about the order in which my 6 digit code appeared! I knew it began with a 4 but then everything else was a blank! Was there an 8? Or was it a 1? Or was there another 4? Or a 7? Lord! I knew there was some relation of that with my birthday but I was convinced what I was assuming was wrong. I thought of another code, randomly, but that was the access code for my work’s alarmed door!

My heart suddenly started beating loudly. I had two more people in front of me and that is all the time I had to confirm ONE code and go with it! If not – well, bye bye Matar Paneer until Monday!

As I placed my items on the conveyor belt I took a deep breathe and settled for one number code. Yes – it had to be that. I have entered that a million times already! How could I forget it!

So when my turn came – I entered it. BEEP! Wrong! A vein of shock pierced into my head and got out of my feet. What! I re-entered. BEEP! Strike two! I found a bead of sweat forming on my forehead as the people behind me started fidgeting in slight impatience. I smiled back weakly and fumbled in my head one more time.

‘Are you sure you are entering the right code?’ asked the sales girl with an impish smile.

‘Of course,’ I said sounding as casual as I could ‘I always use the same code!’

‘Well…you have one more try’ she continued.

I entered the number again but this time flipped the second and third digits. BEEP! And that was it. My card was now blocked.

I sighed deeply once again and looked back at the girl.

‘Fine…I will just leave then.’

She seemed to empathise with my situation since she had seen me there many times before.

‘Don’t you have cash?’ she asked me innocently as I wondered why on Earth would I not use it if I had any.

‘Well, no…’ I responded before adding a quick ‘…but I do have a Master card! Would that work?’

Two minutes later I had used my emergency back up globally accepted Master Card and bought groceries. I walked out feeling relieved that I would make that Mattar Paneer after all but the moment I stepped out of the supermarket – it happened. I remembered the right code and yes – in the right sequence.

I walked away hoping just like yawning, this too was affecting someone somewhere after me.

..ShaKri..

Sulekha.com

Shashi Krishna

shashi-krishna.sulekha.com

[Short Story] - Sudden & Contagious Memory Loss

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