As with all other things, I discovered that Ramu had a selective memory, only after our marriage. He could remember the exact location of the files in his office. He could also remember which posts were held by his colleagues and in which station. But, he could never remember their names. So, when I was introduced to someone, it would always be 'Meet my wife'. No mention of who the other party was. Or , I would be asked to meet the party  a wee bit earlier so that he could say “Oh, so you have already met my wife” and I would whisper the name to him later.

Once in a party with a circular seating arrangement, he had a husband on his right and the wife on his left. After talking to the husband all about the quarters, he turned left and asked the lady “Where do you stay?” Puzzled, she replied, “With him off course, I am his wife!”, all because he had not caught their names.

Ever since I displayed a mini doll of the cricketer Virender Sehwag, – a freebie from a toothpaste company, Ramu would never take the trouble to remember his name. He would always refer to him as “The chap in our showcase”.

Blessed as I thought I was, with a prodigious memory, I used to be thoroughly amused by Ramu’s discomfiture till what happened to me the other day. We were at the Command Hospital at Bangalore. While I collected the medicine, Ramu was familiarly talking to an old acquaintance of ours. Thoroughly convinced that it was Wg Cdr M Rao, I joined them and started telling him how my brother-in-law’s daughter-in-law was related to his daughter-in-law. He seemed thoroughly puzzled.

I wouldn’t even take my husband’s hint. I wanted Wg Cdr Rao to thoroughly understand the connections. Finally, the all-too-polite gentleman very tactfully told me, “Mrs Ramu, I simply cannot catch up with the chain of your thought. Your memory is too good!” Utterly frustrated, I took leave and sat in the car to wait for Ramu. The change in ambience suddenly cleared my head! The person I was talking to was Col. G…  I felt like hiding my head under the nearest carpet. Pity the car carpet was too small to do so!