When you can't forget anything

I have trouble remembering the exact word I want to say said my friend Indroneil Chatterjee to me Could this be a sign of Alzheimers diseaseOthers around recalled similar lapses mdash walking into a room and being unable to remember why calling a friend to say something important only to go blank when the call connected remembering something you wanted to say and then feeling it slip awayWe live in a time of disappearing memories the selfdeleting images of SnapChat forgotten appointments and birthdays statininduced memory loss a creeping global epidemic of Alzheimers Even news seems temporary subject to change and falsification as facts morph and evolve depending on whos saying themI have watched beloved elders staring blankly into nothing their eyes vacant because their brains were vacant Memory had left the room So its a good question why do some people have such stunningly detailed recallFew it seems recall events exactly as they happened For most of us our memories are fanciful reconstructions of whatever we think happened sanitised through filters of cultural preferences and confirmation bias Reality has nothing to do with itThis is why I am amazed every time I hear of those few blessed mdash or cursed mdash with razorsharp granular recollection of longgone moments This is not eidetic or photographic memory it is not emotional memory cued by a fragrance or a photograph It has a name hyperthymesia a condition characterised by superior autobiographical memory where a person recalls personal experiences and events in his or her life in vivid minute detailAnd I cant help but notice that very powerful successful people seem to have this abilityBig B who is famously said to remember every director who rejected him before he reached stardom is probably hyperthymesic When I was 20 working for JS magazine in Calcutta my editor Desmond Doig received an offer from a littleknown actor called Amitabh Bachchan whose first movie Anand had just been releasedOn his invitation I was assigned to dog him around Bollywoods studios for three days listening and observing A pleasing threepart series on Bollywood emerged from the exercise Bachchan was in them but was not the main subjectFifteen years later studiohopping with a gang from the erstwhile Movie magazine in search of juicy Bollywood gossip I found myself on a set where Bachchan now a legend had finished a shot with Zeenat Aman and was slowly walking back to his dressing room down a gangway lined by a 500strong crowd with me hidden in it I remember that it was rather dimly litHe walked past me mdash and stopped turned around and peered in my direction Then slowly walked right up to me frowning trying to remember who I was Then he did You know he said I didnt care so much for those three articles you wroteMy friend and restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee the man behind Mainland China Oh Calcutta and a string of other awardwinning restaurants has a similarly prodigious memory His gift is automatic effortless and for a businessman extremely useful since it includes numbers interest rates terms and conditions discussed and commitments made It gives Anjan a formidable bullshit detectorOne day his colleagues Indroneil and Gopu were in the thick of a heated debate while Anjan snored nearby The goosepimples came when Anjan woke up and rebutted specific points from their conversation mdash which he had apparently heard while deeply asleepScientists know that we listen while sleeping which explains why certain words or an imminent threat awaken us Tests show that people respond when awake to words that were played to them while they were asleep But Anjan may be the frontrunner of those who dont just listen while they sleep but remember every word later when awakeUrmila Zutshi a Kashmiri at a time when Kashmir is suddenly on everyones mind told me the story of another Kashmiri woman with an elephantine memory Indira Gandhi Indias secondlongest serving prime minister and arguably the most feared Urmila met the young Mrs G first in the late 1960s when as the wife of a Navy officer she would be the honorary Kashmiri at Navy gatherings that Mrs Gandhi attended Urmila remembers a restless charismatic womanThe pen Urmila gave her for signing an autograph was dry Your pen doesnt work said Mrs G impatiently throwing it awayAbout ten years later in 1978 Urmila met Mrs Gandhi once more this time in the train to Delhi which she took after a day in jail There was no sign that Mrs G even remembered Urmila till she asked for an autograph again mdash and the pen didnt work againYou still dont have a pen that works said Mrs GandhiHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also 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