Feature

Amitava Basu

Every individual is gifted with the power of memorisation. You perhaps best realise the importance of this human attribute at the time of examination. When answering a question you try to recall what you have studied; and many a times, the relevant page of the text book or the class note appears in your mind.

Natural memory is often called 'raw memory'. Though every individual has raw memory, the degree of its strength varies from person to person. You can test this out through a simple exercise described below.

Write down at random landmarks of a usual route that you follow when going from home to college. For example, these landmarks could be bus stop, park, railway crossing, market, police station, factory, shopping mall, hospital, restaurant, college. Try to recite these landmarks in the order that you have written without looking into your written piece of paper. The result could be amazing. Some of you could be reciting the names accurately, while others may not be able to do so. Even among those who are not able to recite all the names correctly, the extent of mistakes could vary.

Also, try out the same exercise by reciting the names of the landmarks in reverse order, assuming that you are following the route back home. Again you may have surprising results. This time, some of those who have correctly recited the names in the first exercise may falter.

This exercise would enable you to know how strong or weak your raw memory skill is. If you find that your raw memory is not quite strong, do not get disheartened. You do not need to undergo any therapy or treatment. The medicine to sharpen your memory lies within you.

Another significant human attribute is the power of reasoning. This is sometimes referred to as analytical skill. Use the analytical skill to provide the vitamin that would strengthen your raw memory. Let us take an example to illustrate this hypothesis.

Law is a subject for which memorisation is often needed and is of paramount importance. To remember the provisions of any law, you need to reason out the sequential link between the various provisions or sections of the legislature that you are studying.

Let us take the Contract Law. For instance, to have a contract that is enforceable by law, there ought to be in the first place an offer by one adult person to another adult person to do or not to do something in return for a consideration. The offer has to be accepted by the person to whom it is made and acceptance has to be communicated to the offeror. On completion of the communication of acceptance of the offer, an agreement is reached. If the objective of the agreement is not violating the provisions of any other law or is not immoral, the agreement becomes a contract that is legally enforceable.

The provisions of the Contract Law as analysed and described above follows a logical sequence; and this could be presented in a diagrammatic form with reference to the relevant sections of the legislature in appropriate places.

Reasoning out an issue or a fact gets easily registered in human mind. Added to that, a diagram, like a picture, is simple to visualise in mind. The net result is that, in the process, your raw memory gets strengthened and your recalling power improves manifold.

Try out yourself and you will feel the difference. The fear of suffering from lack of memory will no longer haunt you.

The Morning After

By Arafat

Sam wakes up at home with a huge hangover. Forcing him to open his eyes, the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins and a glass of water on the side table. He sits down and notices his clothes in front of him, all clean and pressed.

He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, all spotless and clean. So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins and notices a note on the table, "Sweetheart, your breakfast is on the stove. I had to

leave early to go shopping. Love you."

So, he goes to the kitchen and, sure enough, there is a hot breakfast and the morning newspaper. His son is sitting at the table, eating.

"What happened last night, son?" Sam asks.

His son replies, "Well, you came home after 3:00 AM, very drunk and delirious. Broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and gave yourself a black eye when you stumbled into the door."

Confused, Sam asks, "So, why is everything in order and so clean, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me?"

"Oh that! Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you said, 'Lady, leave me alone. I'm married'," his son replies.