To Know Or Not To Know
You are in the middle of a conversation. You suddenly realize that you were not aware of some fact mentioned by the other person in the conversation. You feel terrible that you didn’t know such a silly thing. Has it ever happened to you? It certainly has happened to me a few times. It makes me wonder how or why I didn’t know what I should have known. They are such trivial and stupid things that I curse myself for being so dumb.
Here are a few examples:
- I did not know that Shashi Deshpande was Sriranga’s daughter. Infact, I had no idea that they were related.
- I was not aware that Eduard Shevardnadze was from Georgia. I just associated him with USSR and didn’t delve any deeper.
- I had no idea who Ayaz Memon was (and still can’t remember his name). I was happy reading R.Mohan and listening to Harsha Bhogle.
- I vehemently argued that actress Saritha’s mother tongue was Tamil. I should have known she spoke Telugu at home.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are so many useless things which fill our brain. Some of mine are:
- Mumtaz was the original selection to play the lead role in the superhit ‘Seetha Aur Geetha’. She demanded way too much money (and regretted later) and Hema Malini became a superstar.
- I know the venues of all the Asian Games from New Delhi 1951 to Incheon 2014 (well, you can add Olympics as well).
- I remember the exact days on which I went to several tours and trips since my childhood. This memory thingy is quite useless sometimes and has too much information.
- For the most part of 80’s and 90’s, the aMbAri Elephant in Mysore procession was Drona, the paTTada Ane was Mohana, and the two elephants which walked in the beginning of the procession were Bhaskara and Mary.
Well, there you go. It is quite common that we do not know certain things which we should and we know a lot of things which don’t really matter. I am sure each and every one of you are in the same boat!!!
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May 23, 2007 at 6:37 pm
This is nothing new, DS. It is always true. Or else how do you defend all those memory enhancing drugs, techniques, principles, etc out there in the market? This is the way it is and it shall be, I guess.
Also there are certain information we think we know for sure, and it turns out to be wrong! Embarrassing? Yes, it is.
May 23, 2007 at 7:37 pm
We all have these little quirks when it comes to our memory. For example, I hardly forget telephone numbers. I can easily recall the numbers even after 10-15 years. But I forget names within 2-3 years!! LOL It’s so embarrassing !!
May 23, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Very true. Happens with me too.
In the very first story of Sherlock Holmes, Holmes declares that he does not know or care whether the earth goes round the sun or the sun goes around the earth. This from a man who can identify one hundred and forty types of cigarette ash!
Aren’t we all that way (in varying degrees, of course)?
May 24, 2007 at 12:05 am
@ Suptadeepti:
No no no, I am not talking about memory. I am just talking about the fact that I did not know certain things. Things like Shashi Deshpande and Shevardnadze, I think I should have known that stuff. On that note, I am actually very proud of my memory. That doesn’t fail all that easily 🙂
@ Vittal:
Again sir, no problem with my memory. Now that I see the comments, I guess the issue is with my writing skills 😉 LOL…you forget the names, huh? I bet that is quite embarassing.
@ pArijAta:
True, we are all that way to varying degrees. It’s just funny that when we look back, we realize that we are expected to know certain things. A bar is set for each person and we are expected to be above that bar all the time.
May 24, 2007 at 4:38 am
i think it depends on 2 things: one, with whom we are conversing with and two, on wn how we percieve it. moreover, it shouldn’t matter. and u say that u are ptoud of your memory, so it wouldn’t matter at all.
perhaps, remembering names of elephants, and the says on which u toured, helps u connect with those good old days. in fact, if somebody were to write a book on elephants which served during the mysore dussera, would contact you!! mashallah!! 😉
like me recollecting the fact that petrol stations shut down every monday(if i’m correct) in darjeeling… or the instance where we lunched at aroadside dhaba somewhere in the north… the cook was so proud that some famous cricketeer did eat some food there….
May 24, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I too have had lot of these embarassing situations. The worst was…
At the end of my bachelors, everyone was passing around slam books and asking us to write. I also started writing for a friend . There was a question “Your first crush? ” The only crush I knew was soda crush bottles sold at nammUra jaatre. I felt very bad to write that so, to show off I wrote “thums up” or something ( I never drink soda, till today 🙂 ). Reading that my friend started laughing and soon it was spread all around. I could not understand why they were laughing and felt really really bad. Ofcourse, they had a hard time trying to explain me what it meant ! 🙂
The latest … what is that LOL (used so often in your blog) means?
On the positive side, I managed to write/ quote nice poems that reflects their personality. 🙂
May 25, 2007 at 2:21 am
Do you say we need to know all this to live life.. then I am nowhere near there.
Well, many times it depends on what conversation you would want to drive towards…and one can favourably talk all that is very common and simple too… not only russian and us politics…!!
sometimes not knowing about something can be announced with such a proud.. naanu english movies, and music.. gaavuda doora ! with an escasty!
Remembering some sundry things will surely help us to relate our good memories…! specially you can remember to call or email friends when you are/were in india… alva ??????????????????? 🙂
May 25, 2007 at 12:49 pm
@ Mouna:
I agree to a certain degree that it is the perception which matters. Again, each one of us have a certain bar set, when it comes to different topics and we are always expected to be above that bar. You went to a dhabha where “some” famous cricketer ate food…adn you don’t know his name ?!?!? Oh no…!!! 😉
@ Poornima:
LOL…that is funny (I will come to the LOL part soon). But guess what, havign a crush on Thums up is not all that bad afterall. Iw ould think it was such a kewl answer. Not sure, if I thought the same when Iw as a student though.
And, LOL -> Laughing Out Loud. That’s the chat / blog / discussion baord, basically internet lingo. There are tons more. I am sure you will get used to them.
So, you did manage to crush the crush fiasco with poems huh ?!?! Nice !!!
@ Veena:
No, we certainly do not need to know all this to live. But, there are certain things we should definitiley know. And those certain things vary from topic to topic and person to person. It is like fingerprints, no two humans are alike. Your environment, education, interests and many such things play a role in moulding you and setting up that scale.
Let me take my example since I cannot speak for others. I am certainly not expected to know who the Eurovision participants are, or the rules to play lacrosse, or the state of Nigerian economy. But, I am quite sure people do expect me to know who Rigoberta Menchu is, to have read Freud’s “Interpretation of Dreams”, or to know the fact that Mahakavi Sankara Kurup was the first one to win Bharatiya Jnanpith. And then there is a third stream. Stuff like the fight between Hutu’s and Tutsi’s in Rwanda and Burundi, the fact that Megawati Sukarnoputri was given that name by none other than Biju Patnaik, and that the last constituency from which Nehru fought elections was Phulpur. These things are fine if I don’t know, but is a bonus if I do.
So, this varies from one person to another. And, I absolutely agree that we don”t know so much in this world. I guess it is quite foolish to argue on that note. I am sure we all agree on that.
Yes, calling and emailing friends when NRI’s go back to India is a wonderful thing. I make it a point to do that all the time (Well, almost all, except my last visit, which, as you know was quite painful). On that note, bloggers should meet in India when I come home next time. I will leave the details of setting up the meeting to you 😉
May 25, 2007 at 7:04 pm
One hundred percent true. I remember too much of junk, which can never be useful
May 26, 2007 at 4:02 am
i couldn’t recollect his name, i think it was azzarudin.
different topics, yes. but why would i want to know more about something that does not impress me(take cricket for that matter)? though we are expected to be knowledgeable in all matters…
fortunately, all of possess a few common interests. and things are made easy, whereupon a matter can actually be discussed about.
May 27, 2007 at 8:18 am
DS, Certainly you are making me feel even more inferior by quoting all that I don’t know.. I now need to ask me, what I know.. !
Yeah, about the bloggers meeting.. surely yes.. will make it next time…
May 29, 2007 at 5:09 pm
@ Bachodi:
I agree, totally. Too much useless information.
@ Mouna:
I am not sure you are expected to know everything about thigns which you don’t like. I am quite sure society is humane enough 🙂
@ Veena:
Oh no no no, please don’t feel inferior (I hope it was just a random comment). As I said earlier, each of us have different scales on different topics. So, there are something swhich I know and you don’t and there are some other thigns which you know and I don’t. In the end it equals out.
June 3, 2007 at 5:23 am
I know that when you go to Vidyarthi Bhavan in Bangalore, you sit at a table that has people who have already ordered (assume you share tables).. that way you get your Dose with them and dont have to wait (THOUGH you went in late)… Hows that for USELESS info?
June 5, 2007 at 8:25 am
@ Vijay:
ROFLMAO….do you remember the number of dosas you have eaten at Vidyarthi Bhavan till date? 😉
June 6, 2007 at 7:26 am
DS: Now THAT is one info I would love to know.. though I could easily tell you the number of Doses’ that were eaten by us during our National College Days… two on every working day.. rain or shine 🙂
November 28, 2007 at 4:41 am
hi