MEMORIES By Taha Nagdawala

“Memories are the only paradise from which we can never be expelled”


Jean Paul Richter











So, what are memories? Memories are an important cognitive process, which helps us to record the past so that we can refer to it later, as and when required. Without memory there would be no past, but only the present.
We wouldn’t be able to execute all the psychological process that depend on the past experiences. We would be the beginners for every activity that we perform every day. If we do not retain information overtime, and retrieve it for present use, we wouldn’t be able to recall names, recognise faces, and understand concept of time.

We would have many different experiences since childhood and different types of memories: funny memories, adventurous memories, travel memories, scary memories etc.

When I was about two to four years old, I visited many places like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Mauritius, Goa, Egypt and many other places. I don’t remember those experiences clearly as I was too small, but whenever my mother shows me those photographs and recalls the mischievous things I did over there, she blushes. The trip which I have enjoyed when I was five or older, I remember them clearly.

There is a saying that:

“Good times + Crazy Friend = Amazing Memory”

I’ve had some pretty good memories with my friends. We went to Kidzania, IMG world, movies and many other places.

One place we go to every year in summer vacation is India, my home country. I have some good and some bad memories related to India. One of the most petrifying and horrifying memories was when I was going to my aunt’s house and in between we had a bridge which was flooded. The bridge was invisible to naked eyes. All we could see were trees as we were in the middle of a jungle. We could see the water in great speed, the waves sounded like a lion roaring. As there were no street light we got cold feet. After two hours of waiting, the water level came down to the level of the bridge. Finally the police started to the send cars to the opposite end. My brother, who was younger than me, started to bawl. First a small car was sent then a truck, we were next. My heart had come in my mouth, when we were in the middle of the bridge .A heavy splash hit our car but the driver didn’t reduce the speed and kept on moving. We then reached our destination safely leaving behind an unforgettable memory.


Last year, in the academic year 2016-17 I went to IMG world with my friends for a school trip. We had a lot of fun there. We went at eight in the morning and came back at six in the evening. We sat in many rides- some were thrilling and some were three-dimensional. We were separated into different groups with respective teachers.


Another recent scary and adventurous experience that happened with me was when I was returning to Dubai. It was raining heavily, our flight was at 6:55pm so we left at 3pm.The way from my house was hardly fifty minutes. As soon as we left we were informed that, that day the local trains were delayed due to water filled on tracks because of which there was too much traffic jam on the road. As we reached the highway, the cars were moving bumper to bumper and it was also raining. On GPS it was showing that it would take three hours to reach the airport. There was also water on roads. We were praying that the flight would get delayed, somehow. At one place our car got stuck and stopped. Soon water started to enter our car. My younger brother got very scared. He started to cry in my mother’s lap and dozed off. Rain was so disastrous that nothing was barely being seen. After two to three attempts, our driver managed to start the engine and pull the car out of the pothole. We got to know, after an hour, that the flight had been delayed by two hours as very less passengers had arrived. The airport scene was quiet funny as all passengers were late due to rain, everyone was running here and there with their wet clothes and worried faces. We boarded the flight but still tensed that how the flight will take off in such dense climate. By Allah’s grace we reached Dubai safely.

“Memories beat inside me like a second heart”

Memories are not just to remember our past, it’s to enjoy our past. We should not hate our bad memories rather should learn from them. Memories are also sometimes mixture of two or more memories which are remembered together as a same memory. All memories mean something to us whether they are good or bad, they are part of us. It can bring us to laughter or tears. They can be our guide, give us strength or make us stumble. They belong to us and are part of our identity.