Forgetfulness

I know I am very forgetful. Losing keys, forgetting b'days, mouse, meeting time , active key, where car is parked - you name it, I can forget it. Forgetting the wallet, mobile, ID card at home...or somewhere else is very common. All this happens to almost everyone -right?
Like I often loose pens. To solve the problem, I got myself a pen to hang around my neck - now where did I leave the pen and carry the cap hanging around my neck looking for it.

Right now, my Mobile is on silent mode and I just dunno where it is - its not lost - might be at home, or in car, or.... I tried to switch off lights of the room to see its lights blinking.

I had put potatoes to boil in a cooker. I remembered that I forgot to add salt and (luckily) opened the pressure cooker to discover that I had forgotten to put even water.
I have burnt 3 vessels till now - they are not used any more. (I was boiling rice)

I often forget where I am going (within 1 min of starting the car). Now my wife keeps reminding me at every turn, our house is on the left... :)

I have a friend who is particularly peeved by the fact that I rarely call but definitely do so on this birthday (long call) but it never occurs to be that its his birthday despite his hints.

BUT there is still hope for me. I think I am still less forgetful when I heard about the below incidents. The incidents are real life based. I am narrating them:
1. This guy went to a Mall on Saturday with his son who is less than a year old. He carries him in a crib. His wife didn’t come for shopping. He was alone. He went to one large shop. He left his kid there in a corner and started shopping. After an hour or so he went out of the shop with all the bags in both the hands and forgetting his son there. He went to another shop for selecting books. After which he went back to his car, with no thought of his kid. Now classic, in the car he is thinking he is forgetting something. And then he was thinking whether he has brought his son with him or not. He drove for around 1 km and looked at the front seat. And then He saw some nappies of the kid. He was scared to death and went back running to the mall. He found his kid surrounded by people who were playing with him, but none noticed that his dad was missing for hours. Thanks to weekend Rush!
This incident is very similar to a movie "One Fine Day".

2. This incident is heights of irresponsibility. Mom receives a phone call from a restaurant Y asking her to please come and collect her kids who have been left behind by her husband. She asks someone to rush over right away and then calls husband – Lo! He is sitting at a friend’s place having tea. He says “Oh shit! I left them at restaurant X” Wife : “But they are at Y” Husband: “ Oh yes! We didn’t get place in X, so we went to Y.”. Wife slammed – he didn’t even know where they were! He took them to restaurant Y and had asked them to order food while he parked his car in better place. Searching frantically for parking for sometime he found himself near a friend’s place and decided to call upon him. All this while kids had ordered food to their heart’s content and waiters humoured them happily (expecting large bill) as father had come and left them. As the crowd thinned in the restaurant they started feeling worried and called Mom somehow. I think they will put a new rule that parents have to leave premises with kids.

3. (This is personal experience) Day 1: IT prof Girl has lunch in cafeteria. Has 500/- note in one hand and tissue paper in other. She suddenly realizes that she is carrying her used napkin in her hand only to realize that the money is in the trash can. We all friends rummaged through it and got it. Day 2: Same thing repeats, but faster realization. Day 3: She brings money in small purse instead of in hand. This time the purse is in the trash. She theorizes that whatever is in her right hand goes into bin. Day 3: She has purse in left hand. Everything looked fine. Viola! She wiped her mouth with her leather purse. How could she do that??? Day 4: Now she simply brings exact change for lunch (Mom’s job to keep it everyday for her) and nothing except tissue is in her hand near trash cans.

4. Excerpt: “That was funny....these things to do happen..and with sumbody as careless as me..very often! before mrg,forgetfulness was only funny, not dangerous...lemme explain...pehle i used to keep my scooter keys sumwhere, never to find it...got duplicate made like 3-4 times, most of the times in collge, i left them in scooter only for the entire day...i had other things to do u c..look in the mirror, comb hair. .lol..so all this was funny
but now i work in kitchen, so its not funny..like the other day, i was makin tea..but i turned on the other burner which had oil pan..so while was waiting for water to boil...the oil was gettin hotter..and in minutes..smoke all around ..then twice, i peeled potatoes and threw the peeler in trash can ...once i kept butter knife in refrigerator and butter, in the drawer..the other day, instead of turning gas off, after making rice, i cranked the heat up..and wow, brown rice 10 mins later ! just yday my husband asked for phone..and i gave him TV remote..aree, both are black ”

5. More: "......I was famous for forgetting umbrella....as long as it rains I will hold it....once the rain stops...I will leave the same in some coffee shop or Kirana shop and walk.....just like that......once I went to library..picked up one popular book ..left my house key in library and instantly went for a movie and left that book in the theatre and when I reached home......U cud imagine......once I have brushed my teeth with shaving cream..... "

6. Still more: "Hey by the way I have a weekness. When I see a person some name pops up in my mind and start calling with that name. My children always cry because I change the names of their friends ! What is this ?

I try to remember their names. Alas! "

7. Excellent one: "Another time, my pregnant friend started experiencing delivery pains. Her hubby was so tensed thinking about all the things he had to do next, that he started his two-wheeler and before his wife could accompany him behind, he started his mobike and drove straight to the hospital where he realized that he had forgotten to bring the patient along! "

8. Brushing your teeth with shaving cream!

9. One finale: "One day, I completed cooking and other daily chores. I had prepared the usual curry (called Aamtiâ in Marathi). While I was getting ready for work, my college-going sis-in-law lowered the vessel in which I had prepared Aamtia and mounted another similar-looking vessel to boil Shikakai in water which she wanted to use for washing her hair. At that moment her friend called her and she went in the living room to talk with her. Presently I arrived, took rice in my plate and, with my mind on other things, poured the Shikakai water on it, mistaking it to be the curry. Not only that, I kept wondering why it smelled so funny; not the usual delicious curry flavour. I even remarked to my sis-in-law about it and ate one mouthful; well, almost it wouldnt get past my taste buds; it was so ugh! And at the same time she realized what I had savored when she found one-third of the Shikakai gone! Now whenever I see Shikakai m forced to remember its taste. "

Some excerpts from: http://chiksunny.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/03/of-absent-mindedness-and-forgetfulness.htm Rest are from friends!

Do share any more incidents that you have encountered.