Selective Amnesia

A funny problem has cropped up for the group going on the Himachal Tour next spring. Around Rs200,000 odd has been collected so far from the 23 of them and Shekhawat has disbursed all of it on booking railway tickets and hotel accommodation – except for Rs5,000-odd. Now he cannot reconcile Rs100 which he finds in excess on hand. Manual calculations are producing one result and the computer Excel Sheet and Calculator are throwing up a different set of figures. He has been spending sleepless nights over this and for the life of him, cannot remember who could have given him that extra Rs100. Arora swears by the Excel Sheet, Bose, by his Casio and Shekhawat by his manual number-crunching skills. If only memory had served him in this moment of crisis...
Signs of selective forgetfulness show up every morning, whether it is getting the sequence of exercises right, wearing the Club cap to the Garden, or even remembering the day and date of the week. We are all guilty of such memory lapses. A gentleman borrowed Bose’s lighter to light his cigarette and promised to return it after the exercises. He clean forgot. After almost half an hour, he came running back to the Garden, huffing and puffing, as he remembered to return the lighter only after reaching home.
And what would you say of Kishor Babani (left), who forgot he had fractured his arm a month back? True, it has healed quite a bit; but the arm is still under plaster, in a sling. So when a friend asked him this morning what the sling was doing around his neck, pat came the answer: “This is the latest fashion”! The best part was the man believed him and did not ask any further question.
For all we know, he would be walking around proudly with his arm in a sling from tomorrow.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Mr Shekhawat's plight reminds me of three friends who went to buy a clock costing Rs60. They contributed Rs20 each. Later, the shopkeeper discovered the clock was for Rs.50 and sent a servant to return the Rs10 charged in excess. The servant, unable to divide Rs10 equally among the three friends, kept Rs4 for himself and gave them Rs2 each. So now, each friend had spent Rs18. But 18 multiplied by 3 equals 54. Add the Rs4 retained by the servant and the total comes to Rs58. Where did the remaining Rs2 go?
Mr Shekhwat must be caught in a similar mathematical conundrum with the extra Rs100!