Names

“What’s in a name?” said Shakespeare. Well frankly speaking in today’s world where a number of things are contact based, I would say everything. But then why am I blessed with this amazing characteristic to forget them?

I meet a so and so and we get on very well. We exchange names and a lot more info that may prove useful. Blimey! It does in most cases and I for one, quite happily forget the name by the end of our first meeting. Sometimes, well this is that rare case when I manage to listen to the name, I remember the person’s name even when I bid them adieu. You have no idea how nice I feel about myself on such occasions. But, the horror of this names and remembering them comes when you bump into this individual somewhere and they come to me beaming all the way. All the while I have this most nagging feeling of, ‘I have seen this face and this face is so so familiar’. And there on starts the eternal search for the links that might help me remember who this person is and where did I meet him/her. Let’s assume I do manage to remember that, well I can do that 95% of the time, I invariably am clueless about their name. Adding insult to injury is the fact when the other person remembers what’s my name and where did we meet.

There are very few people on this planet whose names I have remembered without much ado. The reason can vary from a great liking to abhorrence. So people who do manage to swing my emotions and manage to create some strong impression are the lucky ones. One should not be judged based on a single meeting, say some, but then if it helps me remember, then I guess it sounds better. At least I can avoid the highly embarrassing situation where the other person comes to me and starts talking as long lost friends and uses my name in every alternate line. There are times when I conveniently blamed it on my memory. The actual reason presumably would be that trivialities are ignored by some of my clan. No offense made to anyone, but then I love Shakespeare and go by a lot he said. :-)