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Reminding Those Who Fail to Remember
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Mr. Himanshu Joshi*
Email: anshuhim20@gmail.com
Idistinctly remember Smruti, this pleasant woman in her early fifties, who lived in our neighbourhood in my village near Pilani in
Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan. Being born and brought up in a religious family, she had a sound knowledge of the Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas. Despite having no formal education, she was admired for her eloquent conversations, persuasive reasoning and problem-solving abilities. She was extremely fond of children and used to spend her leisure time with them. I also grew up listening to her beautiful stories and enjoyed her mythological stories the most. I used to run to her house after school to savour every bit of the delicious kheer she would make for us. She was very kind and affectionate towards all and we fondly called her “kaki”. My family, too, had a warm relationship with her.
As I grew older and completed my sixth grade, kaki’s stories gradually started becoming recursive and incoherent. Within next two-three years, I heard kaki, on multiple occasions, mention about her forgetfulness to my mother. She reported difficulty in remembering events, names, and conversations. during those visits. Her family members also raised other concerns, like a change in taste of food she cooked, inability to deliver messages, difficulty in keeping track of dates and days were the commonest among all. These minor difficulties did not garner much attention and were attributed to her old
age.After completing my high school, I continued my education in the nearby city of Sikar; my village lacked pre-university
* Mr. Himanshu Joshi, PhD Scholar from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, is pursuing his research on “Functional Connectivity in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease an fMRI and MEG Study”. His popular science story entitled “Reminding those who Fail to Remember” has been selected for AWSAR Award.