An average Indian apparently subscribes to the theory that forgetting things is the best way to lead a hassle-free life
It is not too difficult to believe that we Indians suffer from bouts of amnesia! No, no, please don’t get me wrong! With reports that India has the second most number of individuals suffering from dementia, it is but natural for readers to judge my contention in this context.
Besides, dementia is a category of brain disease which can cause long-term memory loss and even gradual decrease in the ability to think.
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. This typically involves problems with memory, thinking, behaviour and motor control. (Wikipedia)
Forgetting is a part of life. In fact, it is all the more interesting to know that people forget surprisingly fast.
Now this is that aspect of forgetfulness that I would like to concentrate on. We Indians have over the years developed the uncanny habit of forgetting things that are not necessary and in keeping with situations in the present. By things, I don’t mean material possessions.
For that matter, we couldn’t have been more fastidious about our material possessions!
There is a belief that we are forgetful by nature. But I am firmly of the opinion that feigning a sudden memory loss best suits our demeanour. More so after movies which have employed the memory-loss formula to create blockbusters.
For us Indians, Bollywood star Aamir Khan’s ‘Ghajini’ is as close as we could come to the ‘true’ adaptation of the theme.
Psychologists will have their own theories about motivated forgetting. But for me, it is the very essence of the subject that I am writing on. The virtual connotation, I mean.
An average Indian apparently subscribes to the theory that forgetting things is the best way to lead a hassle-free life. Moreover, living in a setting where public memory has a very short shelf-life, people are accustomed to go blank about certain happenings within a few weeks of its occurrence.
Let us take the recent one for instance!
Elections 2024, touted as the greatest democratic exercise in the world, threw up quite a few surprises, though it was not expected to.
The run-up to the elections, every single phase of the seven that these elections were conducted in, the exit-polls; well, everything made for a keen topic of conversation and the public wouldn’t seem to tire of the discussions about the would-be winners and the high-profile losers.
It was as if the citizens of this great country had already arrived at definite conclusions about the next government without even the ballot-boxes having been opened for counting. Such was the euphoria generated!
After the customary ‘autopsy’ of the elections by the media; accusations and counter-accusations by parties which lost -- and in some cases those who won as well -- it is business as usual for the populace.
As a national ‘event’ deserving the participation of each and every citizen who has attained the age of voting, it is however pathetic to note that with public involvement restricted to more of discussions and debates, the percentage of the voter turnout so proudly announced hardly does justice to the solemnity of the whole exercise. Well, that’s our response to elections!
On June 21, the country celebrated International Yoga Day!
The idea of the Yoga Day was first proposed by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on September 27, 2014, during his speech at the UN General Assembly, where a resolution to establish June 21 as International Yoga Day was introduced.
Over the years, since then, the PM himself leads the International Yoga Day celebrations, motivating the people to take a moment to appreciate the calm and strength that yoga brings into their lives and emphasizing yoga’s global impact on health and societal harmony. But how true have we been to ourselves!
No doubt there are several individuals amongst us, young and old, who, having understood the benefits of inculcating the practise of yoga in their daily lives, have made this ‘essentially spiritual discipline based on an extremely subtle science, which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body’ a part of their daily routine.
But other than that, there has never been a concerted effort by anyone to understand the significance of yoga.
Suffice to say that besides the thrill of being associated with the celebrations, the importance of the day has been as vague to them as the earnest appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the countrymen to come out on their balconies and rooftops to bang pots and pans in a show of support for the medical teams and the emergency-services’ workers involved in the Coronavirus fight.
It is widely believed that the public in India suffer collectively from chronic amnesia. Maybe this contention stems from a political perspective.
But spoken of in a more generalized term, the obliviousness to some matters which merit urgent public attention but which remain ‘out of public domain’ plainly due to a marked inattentiveness and indifference for them could one day prove costly for the masses.
Issues like the steep hike in penalties for traffic violations which should have had alerted the commuting public to a level of awareness where even the lightest of infringement would have them shell out hefty amounts as fines have however not deterred the public from maintaining a ‘status quo’ on their old traffic behaviour!
The public angst against highhandedness exhibited by tourists coming down to Goa has evolved into a general dispassion against the visitors thronging this tourist paradise who have had no compunctions about painting Goa in all shades grey.
Yet, with the arrival of each tourist season, the State is all set to welcome them with open arms!
Such frivolities make our pact with obliviousness all the more rankling!
