1. Have an Interesting Snippet to Share : Click Here
    Dismiss Notice

Mistaken Identities

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by navs23, Oct 4, 2011.

  1. navs23

    navs23 Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,410
    Likes Received:
    635
    Trophy Points:
    208
    Gender:
    Female
    My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Those who know me know that it is an outright lie :wink:, for, let's say, I do have short term memory, but it is nowhere closer to sharp, sharply blunt? that it is :bonk

    To a tennis fan, it was a great match, the match between the great Nadal and the great Federer. The rally was intense and everyone's eyes were glued to the screen. I was busy too, for I did not want to be the 'Tennis ignorant', especially not in front of all the die hard tennis fans. I constantly moved my eyes around, jerked my head, oooohed and aaahed at the right times and acted 'tennis smart'. So, all's well that ends well right? not really :notthatway: The (never ending?) game finally ended. I would have remained 'tennis smart' had I kept mum, but no, I had to show off, especially before hardcore no food/drink/sleep/even breathe tennis fans. The entire room went quiet when I said 'yay, the white band man won'. 'white band man?' a friend asked. I should have got the hint and shut up. 'Oh yeah,the one you were all clapping and cheering for, that was Federer right, the one who had won?. It was Federer who had won, I was right on that part, but unfortunately, he had not been the one whom I had been following all the while. No wonder it did not make sense to me whenever everyone clapped when the white band man lost(who was none other than Nadal and not Federer), but, I let it go thinking that's how the game works :exactly:

    'Oh no, Ambika married some one else, some one by name Kathir', I yelled across the living room. The evening soap was playing on the tv and my mom was busy making rotis in the kitchen. 'Ambika married Kathir? but why, she is already married to Rajesh and has two kids with him, what kind of a woman is she?' my mom was worried. The soap director, crew, story writer, screen play writer, camera man, producer, everyone passed through my mom's anger zone :rant. After tiring herself with the rants, she came to the living room and started laughing :idontgetit:. It was not Ambika's second marriage after all, she had not ran away from her family after all. The Ambika here, was a spinster, in love with the hero Kathir and they had rightfully got married with their parents blessing.The Ambika I had remembered was the devoted wife, a dutiful mother to two kids, the heroine of the late evening soap, which was yet to be played :rotfl

    'Hello there', I yelled across the shop on seeing my friend. I was happy to see her. She came toward me pushing the baby stroller with a beautiful little girl sitting inside. The baby was grumpy and I picked her up and asked 'where is the ball, shall I get a ball baby'. She gave me a blank stare and so did her mother. I then asked the mom if she forgot to bring the ball. My family joined us and after we shared a few niceties, the little one started to cry and my friend said 'we will meet soon' in my native tongue and started to move. 'Wait a minute, you know my native tongue?' I asked her in utter confusion :confused2:. My friend was completely surprised and said 'yeah, sure, we spoke for so long in that language when we met last time, why do you ask'. How did she know the language? I really could not understand. And then it all came back, :eek:mg:, the friend I had just met, was not the friend I thought she was. Am I confusing you? let's take it slow. I used to meet a friend x who looked very much similar to this friend y(height, weight, glasses, baby stroller etc) during my evening walks and she had a little son who was fond of balls. I know nothing more about x other than our evening walk hi and bye. Friend y was some one I had met at a party a week before and with whom I had happily conversed in my native language. No wonder the one year old little girl looked at me as if she was seeing something from the zoo, when I asked her if she was missing her ball. What would have gone through the mother's mind? I dare not think about it :biglaugh
     
    14 people like this.
    Loading...

  2. sheshin

    sheshin Gold IL'ite

    Messages:
    784
    Likes Received:
    106
    Trophy Points:
    108
    Gender:
    Female
    Had a hearty laugh. One funny incident from me. Couple of months back, I was coming out of grocery shop, a lady with a big smile greeted me with my name. I reciprocated and said casual words all the way struggling to remember who she was. Suddenly she inquired about my workouts, then I realised I had met her at the gym. Then I said "ohh yeah workouts, are you coming for next zumba class?. She looked surprised and said, 'what zumba, I've never tried zumba, is that good, I only attend yoga class, right, that too I'm not being regular these days' she said. Then It occured to me that she was not the one I thought she was. I spoke for another two minutes and left. I felt so shy to ask her name and still struggling to recall :(.
     
    1 person likes this.
  3. vidraghu

    vidraghu Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,634
    Likes Received:
    576
    Trophy Points:
    208
    Gender:
    Female
    So funny navs...Many confusions around... Hope u managed out well :)
     
    1 person likes this.
  4. Arunarc

    Arunarc Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,595
    Likes Received:
    2,786
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    Hello Navs
    Enjoyed your short term memory loss post:)
    Those were real funny incidents. Especially the tennis match one...hehe
     
    1 person likes this.
  5. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    Navs, I seem to have found my long desired twin sister in you. :) A big hug to you. Your episode with friend Y reminded me of my meeting with my ex-student whom I mistook for Vidchakra (I have described this episode in a previous snippet on the Bangalore meet). The countless times I have done this in the past is beyond the ability of my feeble short-term memory to keep track of. As for your knowledge of tennis or the lack of it (I will not qualify it with the word "sad" because that is just what I am about to tell you) don't feel too bad about it. The solution is to stick a pair of glasses low down on your nose, look derisively over them at the others who are watching the game and announce with a superior air that you have more important matters to attend to and can't while away your time watching two grown ups who can't make up their minds about which side they want the ball to be on. So that would be fairly simple to do, right, Navs? Will your short-term memory cooperate with you in reminding you of the tactic next time round????? I am not sure I will able to do the necessary - as mine is sure to fail by then. :biglaugh
     
    2 people like this.
  6. Mindian

    Mindian IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,330
    Likes Received:
    3,346
    Trophy Points:
    355
    Gender:
    Female
    hahaha Navs, that was a real cute write up. I have always had a soft spot for all the short term memory "losers " or the so called absent minded people. Lord Emsworth of Blandings castle being my most favourite ,closely followed by Professor calculus from Tintin.Need I add that you now come to a very close third???:)
     
    1 person likes this.
  7. raji2678

    raji2678 Gold IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,636
    Likes Received:
    453
    Trophy Points:
    158
    Gender:
    Female
    Humorous post.
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,627
    Likes Received:
    16,903
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear navs
    Short term memory has to be short. Being endowed with a limited life span, it cannot afford to be sharp for which we need to be eternally grateful to God! What will happen if we remember the food we ate on 17th January 2011 or even 30th September 2011? We’ll just go mad. The blunter our memory is, the happier we’ll be. My maternal uncle is now 94. I have known him for the past 69 years, that is from his 25th year. In all these years, he has never addressed me even once by my correct name. If I had kept track of all the names he had given me during our long association, I too will have a ‘Sahasranamam’ like Mahavishnu! I am not his only beneficiary. He has this confusion with everyone that he deals with. When he is thoroughly helpless, he tides over the problem by calling the other ‘Ivane’ or ‘Ivale’ depending on the gender of the person of which he has never had any confusion fortunately.

    Your confusion between Federer and Nadal is not unique to you. I am pretty sure of their names only after watching them in a hundred encounters. I remember my maternal asking me about Federer once why he was not being called Federest if he was the best player of the game! I forgot to tell you that he was an ace English teacher who could find fault even with Churchill’s English! I have always felt overawed about cricket commentators who could identify every player with the correct name even if they were from an obscure country like Timbuktu.

    You are absolutely right about TV serials. With a terrible shortage TV stars, each one of them plays a role in a minimum of half a dozen serials. No normal human being can remember the names of the characters and of who is married to him with even the least clarity. If anyone revels in it, put them as abnormal like my DW.

    These memory lapses add greatly to the fun of our life. What a joy it is to encounter someone like Lord Emsworth and what endless fun it is to be regaled with his memory lapses!
    Sri
     
    2 people like this.
  9. navs23

    navs23 Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,410
    Likes Received:
    635
    Trophy Points:
    208
    Gender:
    Female
    Thank you Sheshin :) ha ha, that's a funny incident, thanks for sharing. I used to forget names so easily and these days I have started asking people, 'how do you spell your name or what is your full name?', when I have completely forgotten their names. It mostly works, but there are one or two who have just said 'just the usual spelling' and moved on(still not revealing the name) :bonk
     
  10. navs23

    navs23 Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,410
    Likes Received:
    635
    Trophy Points:
    208
    Gender:
    Female
    Thank you so much Raji :)
     

Share This Page