Walking down memory lane 1

Why do we retain memories of some things while conveniently forget some others? A little Googling told me that our brain too has a RAM and a ROM like a computer, one which stores long-term permanent memories and the other short-term recent memories. But if we have enough storage space for old memories, why are we forgetting them? Is it that the limited storage flushes out old memories once a while, the 'First In First Out' method? But then this doesn't explain why we do not have ALL memories from a particular time period saved or deleted.

It seems the real reason is not faulty storage, but the inefficiency of the retrieving mechanism. Voluntary searches for specific pieces of memory, if unaided by visual/audible cues, is highly susceptible to interference and forgetfulness. And nature has its own way of prioritizing filing of memories as well. Something like the less used, rarely accessed, memories fade away with time, like websites losing out on Google page ranking. Though this might sound like the stupidest thing to do, it fits perfectly into the Darwinian scheme of survival. I have a lot of memories which I want to bring back to life every now and then, but sadly a lot them have already been pushed way down the relevancy list by mind's page ranking algorithms. So I thought of writing down those random memory snippets from the past.. don't want to lose them through the cracks in time!

I remember the first house where I lived as a child. Milky white mushrooms used to pop up at one corner of the courtyard after the rains. There used to be hundreds of them under and around a large coffee plant there. Those days, I was afraid of some monster hiding under my cot. I never dared to look under the bed once it is dark. I remembered this after seeing 'Monster Inc.' a while ago. Dad used to play the harmonica in the evenings and tell stories before putting me to sleep. My favorite story was about a stork family where the grandfather's name is 'Kiri', father's name is "kiri-kiri" and son's name is "kokkiri-kiri-kiri".

Then we moved into another house which had a small stream flowing by the side. There were a few ducks fishing and swimming in the waters all the time. Mom used to drop me at a play school on her way to office, and pick me up on the way back. I used to carry biscuits and a flask of hot milk with me. I hated milk even then and always tried to find an excuse not to have it. The play school was in the first floor and it had a nice wooden floor. I don't remember learning anything there.. but do remember buying candies which looked like miniature apples from the shop nearby. I used to get dreams about a many headed snake who lives in the well just outside the house. I remember my neighbors once having the 'Garudan Thookkam' at their house, a religious ritual where people dress up like 'Garuda', the king of birds and dance through the night. The dance starts pretty late in the night and lasts till the wee hours of the next day morning. I stayed up late to watch this, but slept off soon after the dances started.

Then we moved into the third house, the first one my Dad constructed. I was very fond of drums even when I was a child. There was something about the sound that was so captivating, and my parents had to hang around the drum circles all the time when we go out to temples or churches during festivals. I would come home then and try to imitate the drummers on the table, with the glass and spoon, with the plates and bottles and what not. So as we moved into the new house, Dad arranged for a tutor who would come home twice a week and give me some basic lessons in drumming. Soon couple of kids from the neighborhood also joined the classes and we used to have good fun. We used to have fishes in a water tank outside the house and rabbits in a cage behind the house.

It was during this time I learned to operate the radio and the cassette player and it opened up a new world. My dad had a good collection of music and I started listening to the Beatles, Boney M, Jim Reeves, Nat King Cole, Cliff Richard and the Carpenters without realizing who these guys were. The music was good, I could hum the tune even though I never understood a word, and I could follow or makeup some kind of rhythm to go with the music. Though I had a very good relation with my little sister, I occasionally used to be mean with her as well. I remember pushing her down a flight of stairs at home and tricking her into drinking super-hot water from the thermos flask. I don't have to mention that I got good spanking from my parents on both the occasions! Apart from these occasional fights, we were great friends.

To be continued..