The scourge of absent-mindedness

Humans tend to be forgetful about things irrespective of age and gender. Though people in old age are usually found to be forgetful, people of all ages sometimes experience recurring forgetfulness. When forgetfulness persistently occurs in persons, such inveterate forgetfulness is described as absent-mindedness. While absent -mindedness in common people is regarded as a negative quality, it is not so in the case of geniuses. Absent-mindedness is mostly found in geniuses. Then, is absent-mindedness the characteristic feature of a genius? The answer is obviously "Yes".

Certain incidents that happened in the lives of geniuses confirm that absent-mindedness is a common trait in the personalities of these extraordinary intellectuals. Absent mindedness is usually attributed to scientists, writers and professors who are regarded as geniuses. They are famous not only for their marvellous achievements in their chosen-fields of intellectual and creative activities, but also for their absent-mindedness which they displayed evidently in their daily lives. Many incidents of absent-mindedness that happened in the lives of geniuses like the great scientist, Einstein, evoke smiles from us despite the fact that they are the distinctive, intellectual giants with astounding achievements in their chosen respective fields. There are a number of instances to show how absent-mindedness makes a genius a stuff of fun, striking a sense of wonder in ordinary folks.

For example, during my university days ,on one Sunday when I was taking my meal at a hotel, in a city of Andhra Pradesh, I saw a bespectacled ,middle-aged gentle man with silver locks of hair seated beside me was gulping his food(rice),mixed with water instead of yogurt lying in a cup untouched before him on his dining table. While taking morsels of rice into his mouth, he was nodding his head queerly with his eyes half-shut as if he were immersed in a deep reverie. He looked quite eccentric in his appearance and behaviour as well.

Baffled and curious , I kept watching him. When the hotel-server who found the gentleman in such a strange situation reminded him of the mistake he had committed in his absent-mindedness, the gentle man looked at the server with no trace of surprise on his countenance and smiled enigmatically and mumbled so quietly " It's O.K. .It makes no difference. Keep yogurt for yourself. "Later, from the server, I came to know that he was a university Science professor.

On another occasion, we, the students of M A class, were amused to see our poetry professor in the class searching so frantically for his pen which was in his chest pocket. When one of our class-mates pointed it out, emerging out of his" brown study", he let out a guffaw at his absent-mindedness and then, he fished out his pen from his pocket to take attendance of the students

Such instances of absent-mindedness are numerous in the lives of geniuses which, instead of lowering their image, reveal their life-long, passionate dedication to their respective spheres of intellectual pursuits, and their minds, ever engrossed in intellectual reverie , get cut off completely from the mundane matters. However, every one who is absent-minded cannot be looked upon as a genius, simply because absent -mindedness is not the only yardstick to measure the genius of a person.