Dectsgrt Memory and In Memoriam hisisaboutmemoryand forgetting ‘There ate excellent reflections and ritngson this paradox of orgeting 7 [inorder toremember, suchas Collective 4 Memory 1922) by M. Halbwachs, © his ‘mentor Hen Bergson’s Matter and Mem x ory More recently, atleast since 1972, Edel Tulving an Estonian neuroscientist, rascal our tention to esade mem any a relly recent in evolutionary eign and aunque in humans. The theme hada speci sgnicance to me aS ahisioian a along my active potes- Sina te, but meso nwa 0 senor tine These efectos may intrstl hase wh ae approaching te realm beyond Ue and aelnceasigly pone arget 2. rel of phyla debites without Suing ay Soke or Aatemer diese They may consciously o ncansceusty choose terse arse the memory 0 tculpate hemseves and nore some aot rom hee ps. Memory ad forgeting play undo Memory isa renal olen the constucton ofthe selective, Caleive svelasindi coe Isom herng et others kept ling never an us, already as newbor babies and too accumulation of | ying ovarian wat ys : foundations ari torbu sent, all the registers Of segining ih acquinie thenewcomer the past as belonging to a caring family and a fommuniy Hstodogaphysacontrucusrenoke ing or redtbston of te merry of theeltes who decors conan ena paprchercnetaget sepi raamie eTo presented by the previous eles There is therefore a war of memories as historcal processes row up ets, n keeping with Paeta’sdefniion of History as 2 cemetery of ets, or as implied in the concept of bourgeoisie inthe Communist Manifesto (1848) by Marx and Enges, vino described the bourgenisie as ais ‘own grave dager Memory is always selective, and never an accumulation ofall the registers of the pas. What coves the gaps's the au {obographical narrative as a continuum, filing in te back oles along the route Memery ia totalizing and teleological exercise which converts the casual and chance-evets inte meaningful events inthe context oficial or community Interests. Memory in History helps to bbl a narrate wit stat and an end setermined by the nator Memory as commemoration i aimed rot just to remember the past, but to ‘ronsiom itso as to complete what was leftuninshed ot mishandled by the re vous generation or generation. In this Sense historiography is not completely ferent fram the artic imagination Its aways representation ofthe real past. I I precisely the memory gaps ofthe past anators that sere the new naar 9 pathepastatteseniceofanew genet ationandits shapers isa e presentation thativesa future othe pat uniting its varius past phases by sewing them with ew symbole ae cultural waves, Memory is relevant in cur individual lives andi the society as alink between the past the preset and the future is ‘more important forthe constuction of the future than in culating the past for itsown sake The plurality that fragments contemporary societies makes such @ continuity ciffcut if not undesirable The marginalized minorities fest no pride inapastthat ea them to te present and oes no promise a better Ture For individuals who are approaching the end of ther es span, merary no longer holds the same atraction or ne: cesy a5 a tool for survival and growth asinthei youth and activ adulthood In the old age it becomes a mere support to hang onto, fering the tkelnood of being forgotten and one's inability of oing anything to prevent it Ris ths ia potence to ictate one's own “In Merno- lam that presents sett as a specter, nly miigated by nature through loss (of memory o limitation of consciousness preceding death Memory and lh Memoriam represent the beginning and the end of our ives. While collective and indivkual memory helps bulging individual ientiy along Cur life's span, the anticipation of “in ‘Memoriam can um into an agony erved from Greek rot mesing battle frsome- ‘one wi i a risner of identity and is unable to say good bye to merory that sustained it. The Indlan avatcphitoso- ‘hers reflected on this and transmitted thelr wisdom as “tattvamas!, meaning “houart tat Bhagred Gia to insets to practice Nishkama karma or ction without des, as te secret key for Ub- eaton from st "eg to share wit ny readers personal ‘experience of leting go of the past. ‘w2sapastof two most produce decades of my life spent in founding, nurturing ‘and gating the Yair Cente ot Historical Research fat Miramar and Ao Prvorin) recognized as PhD. research cente for Historyby the Goa University, Even before Thad conveyed to my superiors my in- tentions to abandon its erection and ‘move oul undertacka montt-iong ex cise of sl-iberaton. Exety ime I went out and returned to the Intute, | woul stop forafew minutes outside the gate and look athe bulking and is surrouncingsas someting strange ‘andnem to me Ithad the dese effect ‘When left twas not awrencing expe- rience. |samitas amos postive decision tolelthe Institution gow, without seeking to be lke a banyan tee under which nothing grows. [Teotonio R. de Souza is the founder- tirector, Xavier Centre of Historical ‘Research, Goa 1979-1994),