This might be a conflicting statement to start with but I’m just going to get right to it. Memories are nothing but anarchy impending upon our minds. They are nothing but every ounce of each snippet of an event inflicted on us. What’s beautiful about memories is that we own them and no one can really steal them. They might happen to have a similar sort of an experience but the originality stays intact. Our memory is ours to keep at the end of the day. Remembrance is incorrigible in a way, of course unless and until we decide to portray it in a manner that’s way different than what we had in our minds. Like life I feel that this is a roller coaster ride. To help envision the same, it’s almost as if we’re all putting together the pieces of a giant puzzle to see the clearer picture.

                         At times it is kind of tiring and on other days it’s a funny feeling trying and recollecting vaguely appearing memories in our minds. The feeling is as close to that of a huge soap bubble waiting to end its flight and rest on the floor and the time span is accurate so much so that it makes us think faster to catch up with the bubble’s speed. Something that can be recreated but that cannot be replaced is what worth memories hold. There are some moments that are indelible and stay with us for a lifetime. It’s a usual day like any other day. I’m sitting by the window and sipping on my coffee while thinking of things that I’ve carried with me this far. The rapport that I have with my mind is like an uneven road. Certain things are crystal clear in my mind and some things just refuse to come back to me in fresh pictures. Now that I think of it, I feel like there’s an eraser in our minds that takes control over which days and moments we need to remember or discard.          

                           Talking about moments we have had in our lives or coveted times somewhat remind me of window shopping where we know and are self aware of guiding our whims and fancies our own way, taking a glance of the desired moment, either choosing to keep it close to our hearts and minds or walking right past it. Quite an odd example maybe but our mind is not exactly this or that, it’s the tons of interpretations that we can permit ourselves to base it on. Imagine a world without recollection or reminiscence of our memories. It will feel like we’re all babies and we will need to start afresh. I cannot even start to picture the plight of it, leave alone actually living a new day every day. Remembering good and happy things makes our day pleasant whereas remembering miserable days makes it difficult for us. However they both are part and parcel and are equally required for a normal lifestyle. When we learn something and our mind remembers, we start acknowledging the same and it gets etched in our minds. Likewise when we wish to forget a certain aspect of our life, our mind tends to slowly drop it off for our sake, although it takes time. Happy and sad moments are like two sides of a coin and without either of them our mind cannot sustain. Let us not overlook the fact that a memorable day need not necessarily be a good day. They can have a negative connotation as well. They aren’t always supposed to make our hearts feel warm and curl up. At times they give us a headache or make us want to throw up. Either ways they make sure that we grow. 

                         There have been a few things which have always called out to me in ways that are beyond our understanding. To name a few I’m still very much attached to the feeling I felt when I used to be on my school bus back to home and wondering what must have been made for lunch. The feeling of looking forward to lunch on special days was another unsaid feeling altogether. The first time I had gone on a train journey and the first time I had been on a flight, these are memories that are going to stay with me for as long as I’m breathing. The sensation of the above mentioned things or the crowd at the station or the airport still feel very fresh to me. On both the journeys, the fact that I’m going to be travelling with so many people all at once left me shook. It took some time to process the same and even today the feeling is as good as new. As a child when I used to go to someplace in a rented car, the child in me assuming that the moon kept following us wherever we head towards was just magical. It was a feeling that can only be comprehended but cannot be explained. I remember when at school we were asked to switch from pencils to pens. Oh how thrilled and excited we were! Does the feeling have a name? 

                               Well more than that what matters is that whatever it was that I was feeling at that time was memorable for sure. When I mentioned that our memories also help us grow, I meant it. To think of the days back in school and junior college, there were a handful of my classmates who would bully me. There were friends who I’d witness being bullied and I really do believe that parts of this has shaped us into the human beings that we are today. Standing tall and unafraid, leaving all those insecurities behind, haven’t we made it this far? Heavy rains on a day that was supposed to be an outing day made me feel sad. A fall out with a friend made me feel like my world’s falling apart but little did I know that it was nothing but only some things to learn and know about in order to grow up and stand tall.

                     I do not intend on giving examples just for the sake of it for that wouldn’t be true. I’m yet to look out for moments and days where I feel like time has indeed stopped for me and I’m in the middle of a showstopper coming and changing the game. These are a few instances which I have carried with myself and will probably do so for as long as I can remember. What our minds tend to recollect are excerpts that we take from our monotonous lives to remember some days by. The will to put ourselves out there and create more memorable days lies within us, let us take our chances and give our minds something to lock in.

By Richita Pradhan.