John LOUIS, 42 years
LOCATION: Trichy, Tamil Nadu
DAY JOB: Former chemistry teacher, now memory trainer
CLAIM TO FAME: Indian Memory Champion 2010, India’s first Grand Master of Memory.
LOCATION: Trichy, Tamil Nadu
DAY JOB: Former chemistry teacher, now memory trainer
CLAIM TO FAME: Indian Memory Champion 2010, India’s first Grand Master of Memory.
Becoming a Grand Master of Memory is no easy task. The World
Memory Sports Council, an international body that regulates memory
sports around the world, has a tough test for hopefuls: Recall 1,000
random digits in 60 minutes, the order of 10 decks of cards in one hour
and the order of a single deck in two minutes. Few succeed – as of June
2012, only 122 people around the world were awarded the title.
For Trichy-based John Louis however, total recall is a total breeze. He became India’s first Grand Master in 2003 but has always been wowing people with his skills of recollection. “I’ve naturally had a good memory all my life,” he says. “When nuns would tell us stories from the Bible, I’d make visuals in my head. I still haven’t forgotten them.”
Making mental pictures helped when Louis participated in a memory contest in Chennai, won it and went on to stand 19th in the World Championships in 2002. The brain can hold about seven items in the short term. But Championship contestants recall the orders of abstract images, numbers, binary codes, playing cards, words, dates, events and faces. “To do well, you have to make this stuff seem important so your brain can retain it longer,” says Louis. “You need concrete order for the abstract.” Memory champs do this by creating mental images that symbolise the random data. “They imagine a palace filled with beautiful things or a journey with landmarks along the way,” Louis says. To make sure it sticks, think unusual – outrageous even. “I include fun elements,” he reveals. “For nations and capitals, imagine a war with poles on one side and saws on the other to remember Pole-Land and WarSaw, and think of a sign that says, ‘There’s no way. So please go slow’ for Nor-way and O-slo.”
Memory contests and training programmes have taken Louis very far from Trichy – to Thailand, Singapore, China, Bahrain, Japan, Germany and beyond. Back home however, a good memory is both blessing and curse. “No one forgets anything in my family, though sometimes, before going out, I have to remind my wife where she left her purse. It often becomes hard to forgive when your every mistake is remembered.”
For Trichy-based John Louis however, total recall is a total breeze. He became India’s first Grand Master in 2003 but has always been wowing people with his skills of recollection. “I’ve naturally had a good memory all my life,” he says. “When nuns would tell us stories from the Bible, I’d make visuals in my head. I still haven’t forgotten them.”
Making mental pictures helped when Louis participated in a memory contest in Chennai, won it and went on to stand 19th in the World Championships in 2002. The brain can hold about seven items in the short term. But Championship contestants recall the orders of abstract images, numbers, binary codes, playing cards, words, dates, events and faces. “To do well, you have to make this stuff seem important so your brain can retain it longer,” says Louis. “You need concrete order for the abstract.” Memory champs do this by creating mental images that symbolise the random data. “They imagine a palace filled with beautiful things or a journey with landmarks along the way,” Louis says. To make sure it sticks, think unusual – outrageous even. “I include fun elements,” he reveals. “For nations and capitals, imagine a war with poles on one side and saws on the other to remember Pole-Land and WarSaw, and think of a sign that says, ‘There’s no way. So please go slow’ for Nor-way and O-slo.”
Memory contests and training programmes have taken Louis very far from Trichy – to Thailand, Singapore, China, Bahrain, Japan, Germany and beyond. Back home however, a good memory is both blessing and curse. “No one forgets anything in my family, though sometimes, before going out, I have to remind my wife where she left her purse. It often becomes hard to forgive when your every mistake is remembered.”
No comments:
Post a Comment