Have you seen my Brain Cells?

One day at work, a bunch of our colleagues were going to a restaurant for lunch. I was waiting at the elevator lobby for a long time with them. Right when it came, I remembered that I had forgotten something. So I got excused and went to my desk, picked my wallet from the drawer. One my way back to the elevator lobby, another good colleague friend asked me, what is happening. I said I am losing my brain cells. 'Let me know if you find them', I said half jokingly. Having a good sense of humor, she replied 'I will keep them if I find any'.

A few weeks later, there was an event at work called 'Casual for a Cause'. Basically the idea is to solicit donations for a cause and the donor can wear casual for that day. I was informed about it a week or so before the event and I agreed to donate. The day happened to be a Tuesday. This was the day when this bird does its weekly migration down south to Philadelphia.

I forgot about the event and got dressed in formals. When I came down to put on my shoes, the ‘casual cause’ struck my memory. Now I had to change pants. I went up and changed my pants to jeans. In my normal senses, I would remember to transfer the contents from my formals to my jeans. Not this time. I went down, had my breakfast, took the car keys and went straight to the car. As soon as I headed to the car and put my laptop bag in the car, I thought about the tea that I had left on the kitchen table. I went back, picked up the flask and began my ride. After a few yards, I saw the gas sign and looked for my wallet. I had to go back again. This time I thought I had everything that I needed. So I took off for the highway.

After about 30 miles down the road I remembered that I don’t have my cell phone on me. It is my habit to call India on my drive to Philadelphia. I could not imagine myself without a cell phone for three days. So again I drove back home. I went up to my bed room to find the cell phone. But as the Murphy's law states, I could not find the cell phone there. Actually the cell phone was in my formal pants that I had switched for jeans earlier in the morning. Now where is that pant. It is neatly folded and kept in my travel bag. This I recollected. So where is the bag I thought?

Well, the bag was in the trunk of my car. I had the cell phone in my car all this while. I ended up going 2 hours late to work and smilingly gave my $5 contribution towards my 'Casual for a Cause'. So much for the cause. As someone rightly said 'No good dead goes unpunished'.

Long before this happened I would think, what is wrong with my parents? They keep saying that are losing memory. I would, with air of arrogance, say ‘How can that happen?’. I explained to them that it is all in the mind. If you put your mind to it, you would not have this problem. So instead of letting your mind wander, think about the current work you are doing. If that does not work, may be you should write down a checklist of things to do etc. All of that was BS.

The memory loss virus has hit me quite early. As life becomes more and more complex, I am carrying more and more items. They have become a way of life though they are not necessities. The following is the list of items I need to carry - Wallet, cell phone, keys, IPod, office id and of course chap stick. I have created a mnemonic for my end of drive - LWICK that stands for Lights, Wallet, IPod, Cell phone, Keys. First I thought of LKWIC and WLICK but no combination of them sounded any better than LWICK. If only I can remember the mnemonic every time I need it.

A few weeks later, I was having a severe headache at work and was visibly different than my normal self. The same lady who wanted to keep my brain cells enquired if I was doing fine. She joked that I was working hard and that I should be taking it easy. I replied that cause of my headache is my brain cells that are actively multiplying to make up for the lost cells. I hope that there are truly multiplying. If not, I would have to see my mother-in-law's sad demeanor many more times on watching me go in and out several times that day of my adventure. She was probably feeling sad for her daughter for having to put up with an absent minded man like me.