Memory Power! PDF by Dhaval Bathia

 Praise for Dhaval Bathia “Dhaval Bathia is a celebrity trainer. Whenever he takes the stage, he leaves the audience spell bound!” — Arab Times “An honorary patron of the Indo-Kuwait Friendship Society, Mr. Dh...

 Praise for Dhaval Bathia “Dhaval Bathia is a celebrity trainer. Whenever he takes the stage, he leaves the audience spell bound!” — Arab Times “An honorary patron of the Indo-Kuwait Friendship Society, Mr. Dhaval Bathia is promoter of mind power sciences.” — Kuwait Times “Dhaval Bathia packs in quite a cerebral punch. A unique blend of talent, insight, hard work and sheer determination. A ROCKER.” — Education Times, The Times Of India “A WIZARD. Dhaval Bathia needs just a split second to recall details of 100 year old calendars, hundreds of phone numbers and to solve complex arithmetical problems.” — Bombay Times, The Times of India “A unique achiever. We wish him all the best for his future projects.” — Lohana Shakti “Dhaval Bathia is simply astounding. His workshops are commendable.” — Maharashtra Times “A young achiever. His seminars receive a tremendous response from the CORPORATE WORLD.”  — Education World “White-lightning success.” — Sakal “He can recollect all facts on any subject by reading them just once!” — Navbharat Times “After attending his seminars, students have found a sharp increase in their confidence level and their performance in exams has also improved.” — Abhiyaan “Dhaval Bathia’s seminar was definitely a high point. He tantalized the crowd with his mental prowess.” — JAM Magazines “Our country not only produces great talent but also nurtures it so that it reaches its fullest potential which enables it to reach the sky. Since times immemorial India has not only given great intellectuals, sportspersons, revolutionaries, socialists but also great artists, painters, scientists to the countrymen and society in general. Adding another name to this great stardom is Mr. Dhaval Bathia.” — Jazbaat Magazine “The scientific systems in the book create a paradigm shift from hard work to smart work. The whole emphasis is laid on the fact that education is a process to be enjoyed and cherished.” — Afternoon “Dhaval’s tricks are unbelievable...he can tell you when is your birthday without you telling him.” — Le Mauricien (Mauritius) “Indian Wizard.” — The Gulf Today (UAE) “Studies need not be grueling. meet Dhaval Bathia. the mind power expert who will help you remember your studies with ease.” — Times of Oman “Dhaval has some unbelievable math and memory tricks up his sleeve.” — The Khaleej Times “An inspiration to the youth.” — FM Gold “Dhaval Bathia is a revolution.” — S TV  DISCLAIMER While every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission, this has not been possible in all cases; any omissions brought to our notice will be duly acknowledged in future editions. Published by Jaico Publishing House A-2 Jash Chambers, 7-A Sir Phirozshah Mehta Road Fort, Mumbai – 400 001 [email protected] www.jaicobooks.com © Dhaval Bathia MEMORY POWER! ISBN 978-81-8495-650-4 First Jaico Impression: 2015 No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.  Contents 1. Preface – From an ordinary child to a whiz kid 2. About the Author 3. Introduction 4. Acknowledgements 5. 1. A Challenge, and a Promise 6. 2. Concentration – The Basic Requirement 7. 3. Myths of Memory 8. 4. Three Golden Rules of Memory 9. 5. The Mnemonic System 10. 6. The Link System 11. (a) How to Remember Speeches or Long Answers 12. 7. The Substitution System 13. (a) Remembering Places (Geography) 14. (b) Remembering Spelling 15. (c) Remembering English Vocabulary 16. (d) Remembering Foreign Languages 17. (e) Remembering Scientific Terms 18. (f) Remembering Books and Authors 19. (g) Remembering Case Laws 20. (h) Remembering Names and Faces 21. (i) Remembering the Periodic Table 22. 8. The Conversion System 23. (a) Remembering Dates in History 24. (b) Remembering Playing Cards 25. 9. Remembering the Calendar 26. 10. The List System 27. 11. The Peg System 28. 12. The Repetition System 29. 13. Remembering Skills 30. 14. Customize Your Own Technique 31. 15. Memory Games 32. 16. An Introduction to Vedic Mathematics 33. 17. The Ten Commandments 34. Afterword 35. Organize A Workshop Preface From an ordinary child to a whiz kid This incident took place in my early teenage years. I was watching a TV show with my family, where a senior university professor performed a seemingly unbelievable stunt in front of the audience. He memorized a deck of well-shuffled cards and recited the name of each of the 52 cards (four of spades, seven of hearts, etc.) in front of the audience with unfaltering accuracy. All of us watching this show were highly impressed. At that point, we presumed that this professor was perhaps an extraordinary individual, blessed with supernatural intelligence. How else in the world could he possibly memorize an entire pack of well-shuffled cards? However, the most interesting part was yet to come. The second participant in the show was an 18-year-old girl, who claimed that she had memorized all the calendars of the past century. In other words, if you asked her any date from the year 1901 to 2000, she could tell you the day of the week corresponding to that date. The anchor of the show asked her random dates (such as February 2, 1931 or December 4, 1974). The girl was able to state accurately whether that particular day was a Tuesday or a Friday or a Sunday. The show went on to feature some spectacular and bewildering demonstrations of the power of memory by many other participants. I was so impressed by the show that I could not help discussing it with my family at the dinner table that night. Seeing my enthusiasm, my father decided to cancel all his social appointments for the upcoming weekend and spend time with me on further research. I clearly remember it was a Saturday morning and we were both hooked to our laptops; running Google searches for every single video, e-book, presentation and audio file that was available on memory, mind power and similar topics. The whole day was spent in frantically downloading every piece of information that we could find on memory.  I watched in excitement as my father printed book after book for me. In the coming months, I immersed myself in learning and practicing all the techniques. Since I was a school student then, I could relate and remember all of what I learnt in school with the memory techniques that I was practicing. My dad gave up his leisure time on weekends to monitor and revise my progress. Days, weeks and months passed by. Exactly a year later, I was featured on the same television show on memory with more or less the same participants. After seven grilling rounds of intense mental testing, I was unanimously adjudged the winner. * Many miles away, my family was also watching the show. They were overjoyed to see me win the gold medal. My father sat in his signature armchair and watched me with tears of happiness running down his cheeks. He knew his son had arrived. About the Author Dhaval Bathia (BCom, ACS, LLB) is an international bestselling author, trainer and businessman. He wrote his first book at the age of 17. It became a popular hit within weeks of its launch. He then wrote four more books, all of which have become bestsellers and have sold over 200,000 copies in 14 languages worldwide. He has trained millions of people in seminars, workshops and conferences in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the USA, Mexico, the UK, Mauritius, Oman, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the UAE. He is on the advisory boards of the educational ministries of many countries, where his math and memory systems are being gradually implemented in the mainstream curriculum. Dhaval’s infomercials on Vedic Mathematics have been broadcast by Star TV, Zee TV, Sony TV and many other television channels. He was awarded the Young Achiever of the Year by Rotary International and Honorary Patron by the Indo-Kuwait Friendship Society. For any suggestions and queries, you may contact him on his website, email or through social media. Website: www.dhavalbathia.com Email: [email protected] Facebook: Dhaval Bathia’s Community Page Twitter: www.twitter.com/dhavalbathia Introduction Every other person who meets me complains of having a weak memory. Ranging from the inability to remember telephone numbers to the very embarrassing habit of forgetting people’s names, there are persistent complaints of chronic amnesia. In this book, you will find virtually all of your memory-related issues addressed in specific sections. For those who wish to remember random lists of objects, there is a List System. Those who wish to remember numbers (such as telephone numbers or dates) can use the Conversion System. Those who wish to remember playing cards, faces or foreign words, can make use of the Substitution System. Each of these systems is scientific, time-tested and has an amazing track record of providing accurate results to whoever practices it with sincerity and patience. I request you to go through each system (in the same order as given in the book) and diligently test yourself by using the separate tests given at the end of each chapter. You will be surprised to notice how these seemingly small techniques can bring such a radical improvement in our ability to remember! Happy Reading, Dhaval Bathia Acknowledgements I take this opportunity to thank Dad, Mom and Shreya for making the perfect family. To Pratik, Brinda, Jay and Raj, all of you are so far away, yet so close. I would also like to thank my in-laws and Shrinit for their enthusiasm. My special thanks to my uncle Mr Shailesh Bathiya for teaching me the Peg and Link Methods and so many other things in life, which have become the foundation of my work. His guidance at every step of my life has been of immense help. I would also like to thank my grandmother, my uncle, Mr Pankaj Bathiya, and my aunts, Mrs Sheetal Bathiya and Mrs Harsha Bathiya, for their unconditional love and support. Sincere acknowledgements to Anand, Silky, Janak, Khushal, Haseet and Gunja for being a great team. May we continue to have millions of happy moments in our lives together! Chapter 1 A Challenge, and a Promise Research says that given a randomly selected book, only 5 to 6 per cent people read it completely. The other 94 to 95 per cent leave the book midway due to monotony, frustration or being preoccupied with something else. We challenge you to finish this entire book, and in return, we promise that you will discover some unbelievable powers of your brain. In fact, some of the promises that we are going to make here might sound too good to be true. However, by the end of the book, you will be able to accomplish everything that we have promised. In the table given below, there are 40 randomly selected words. If I were to ask you to memorize all the 40 words and that too in the same order, you would probably tell me that it would take you hours to learn it. However, after completing the chapter on the link system (please refer to Chapter 6), you will be able to recite accurately all the 40 words, in the same order and that too within four minutes! Second Promise You will be able to predict a person’s birthday without him telling you! You will also be able to say how much money he has in his pocket, or how many brothers and sisters he has, without him telling you any of this. (Please refer to Chapter 15.) Third Promise You will be able to remember an entire 100-year calendar and that too in less than 10 minutes. (Please refer to Chapter 9.) Fourth Promise You will see some amazing optical illusions, where you will not be able to read simple sentences in the English language, identify colours or see photos that are right in front of your eyes. These excercises will be of great help to your concentration power. (Please refer to Chapter 2.) Fifth Promise You will be able to multiply any number with any number and get the answer in a single line. (Please refer to Chapter 16.) You will be able to do all of this and much more, such as remembering dates and calendars, faces, telephone numbers, playing cards, appointments, schedules, history dates, geography maps, foreign languages, complex vocabulary and so forth. So, let us begin this exciting journey into the world of memory. However, before we go ahead, let us take a small test to check your concentration power. Chapter 2 Concentration – The Basic Requirement I was once attending a wedding, where a very senior memory coach decided to pull my leg. “So, you think you are a professional memory champion?” he began the conversation with an obvious intent to test my skills. “Well, uh...not exactly a champion, just an enthusiast,” I replied modestly. “In that case, could you tell me what you had for dinner two days ago?” I was surprised by the question and could not recollect the answer instantly. It took me a few seconds to reply. “What took you so long?” the coach was surprised. “Is it because I didn’t bother to remember it?” “Exactly,” he said with a satisfied look. “You see, the human mind only remembers those things that you consciously observe with a clear intention to remember them. Unless you observe consciously and have a clear intention to remember, you cannot remember anything in this world. “I have met many people,” he continued, “who do not even remember whether the dial on their wristwatch has Roman or English numerals. They must have seen their wristwatch hundreds, perhaps thousands of times, yet they do not remember because the conscious intention to remember is missing. They must have seen the traffic signal innumerable times, yet they cannot tell you whether the green signal or the red signal is on the top.”  This brief encounter with the senior memory coach reinforced a very powerful lesson on memory. In order to remember anything, our minds must be fully alert and we must have a clear desire to observe and remember; otherwise, the thing will go totally unnoticed. In the next few pages, you will see a few images called optical illusions. I use these images frequently in my seminars and workshops to highlight how the audience members can fully develop their concentration. Each of these optical illusions is confusing and tricky. There are chances that you may go wrong sometimes, so I want you to enjoy these images and check the answers towards the end of this chapter. Q. (1) In five seconds, how many people can you see in this picture? Q. (2) In five seconds, how many people can you see in this picture? Q. (3) How many people and how many animals can you see in this picture? Q. (4) A little more practice – how many people can you see in this picture? Q. (5) What can you see in this picture? Do you see five black pieces of odd shapes? Or, do you see something else? Q. (6) Can you see a face in this picture? Or, do you see a word of the English language? Q. (7) How many Fs can you see in this sentence? FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS... Q. (8) Can you see a young woman or an old woman in this picture? Q. (9) Can you see a man or a woman in this picture? Q. (10) Read and observe the following phrase. Q. (11) Refer to the image on the inside flap of front cover. Say the colours in which the words are written aloud (do not say the words). Q. (12) Is this a flower vase or are two people looking at each other? Q. (13) Is the man looking in front or to the right?  Q. (14) Is the boy sitting and the girl hugging him, or vice versa? Answers and Explanations Now that you have gone through the test, let us check the answers and see how many of the questions you got correct. There are five people in the picture – an old man, an old woman, a man Answer holding dishes, a man playing the guitar and a man in the old man’s 1: ear. There are three people in the picture. An old man’s face is visible, an old man is standing to the left of the face and a woman is on his right  old man is standing to the left of the face and a woman is on his right Answer (some people insist that the woman is holding a small baby in which 2: case it becomes four people). Answer There are four people and animals – two big, bearded men and two 3: bearded men on two donkeys. Answer There are 10 people in the picture – five on the left and five on the right 4: part of the tree. Answer The word “lift” is written. You can see the letters L-I-F-T in white. 5: Answer The word “liar” is written. 6: The letter F occurs six times. Generally, at first glance, people see this Answer letter only three times. We generally tend to miss the letter F in the 7: word “of’. Answer The picture has both a young and an old woman. (The young lady’s ear 8: is the old lady’s eye). Both a man and a woman are there in the picture. On the left, you can Answer see a man blowing a trumpet; and on the right, you can see the 9: silhouette of a woman’s face. Answer The phrase is “A Bird in The The Bush” – “the” appears twice. 10: However, most people read the word “the” only once. In this picture, your left brain tries to read the word and your right Answer brain tries to identify the colour; therefore, there the initial confusion. 11: But after a few attempts, you will crack it! If you focus on the white colour, you will see the flower vase; but if Answer you focus on the black portion, you will see two people looking at each 12: other. As in every optical illusion, the man appears to be looking both in front Answer and to the right at the same time. There is no perfect answer, just enjoy 13: the picture! Answer The boy, reading the newspaper, is sitting and the girl is hugging him. 14: Observe the boy’s thick hands and the girl’s slim hands. Chapter 3 Myths of Memory Myth: I have a weak memory Reality: There is no strong or weak memory; only trained or untrained memory. Myth: I have a weak brain. Reality: Your brain is the most brilliant invention of nature. Myth: My memory is fading with age. Reality: Memory never fades with age (barring, of course, in extreme old age). What fades with age is the childlike curiosity to learn and explore new things. If you can restore this childlike curiosity, you can easily restore your ability to remember. Myth: Memory can be enhanced with certain kinds of food. Reality: Memory can be enhanced with certain foods, but only to a very limited extent. What can really boost your memory are scientific techniques and principles like the ones mentioned in this book. So, forget the excuses and get ready for action! Chapter 4 Three Golden Rules of Memory All of us have known friends and classmates in high school, who slogged day and night, and yet, got very low marks. We have also known friends who studied for only a few days before the exam, and yet, passed with flying colours. This always made us wonder: why this injustice against those who worked hard? Before I answer this question, let me give you an analogy. There are two friends, John and Ron, who want to reach the top floor of a 15- storey building. John believes that hard work is the key to success. Therefore, he uses the staircase. Ron believes in using technology and prefers the elevator. Who will reach first? Obviously, Ron will reach first. Despite the fact that John did put in effort, he was no match to Ron, who used technology. Even if John and Ron were to race a hundred times, Ron would still emerge the winner every single time. Quite similarly, those students in school who used to get great marks by studying for shorter time periods were (consciously or unconsciously) using some technology of the mind, some sort of science which enabled them to beat those who relied on hard work alone. In this chapter, we will explore some scientific principles of memory. You will learn the three golden rules of memory. Once you tune your mind in sync with the Three Golden Rules, there will be a quantum leap in your memory and you will be able to remember almost anything with utmost ease. The First Golden Rule: Pictures The first Golden Rule of memory says that in order to remember anything, you must visualize it in the form of pictures. Whatever is in the form of pictures or a video, our brain remembers instantly. There is a reason behind this. Pictures are the de facto language of our subconscious mind. When we think, we see pictures. When we dream, we see pictures. Suppose you dreamt last night that your family had gifted you a Lamborghini car. What will you see in your dream? Will you see the word L-A-M-B-O-R-G- H-I-N-I spelt out, or will you actually see the car? Of course, you will see a picture of the Lamborghini. Historians say that since prehistoric times, many millennia before spoken language was invented, human settlements used to communicate by using images. From the cave-paintings of the Stone Age to the drawings on the walls of the Pyramids, archaeologists have discovered that entire stories were communicated through illustrative images. Therefore, it is factually true that our mind is genetically conditioned to remember images. However, there are some crucial factors that you must remember while forming images: Convert the text that you want to remember into pictures in your mind. Even numbers can be converted (as you will see later in the book). Make the mental images huge, multi-coloured and three-dimensional. Liven up the images by adding some animation, emotion and movement to them. The Second Golden Rule: Sense The second Golden Rule of memory says that whatever you want to remember must make sense. I will give you a sentence to illustrate my point. Try to read and understand the sentence given below: Harry gave me a compound made of Sodium and Chlorine mixed in a liquid, which had one molecule of oxygen for every two of hydrogen at a time when the earth was rotating away from the sun. When you read this sentence, it sounds like mumbo jumbo. However, if I were to simplify this same sentence and re-write it as follows: Harry gave me salt water in the night. This sentence can now be easily memorized. Thus, sense is a very crucial factor for memory. Whatever is alien to your mind, such as a legal maxim, a Spanish quote or a technical description, must all be converted and simplified into something which your brain can easily relate to and visualize. The Third Golden Rule: Special Many years back, I went on a trip to Los Angeles with my friends. We were loitering on the streets of Hollywood, when all of a sudden, we spotted a very famous movie star walk out of a studio. Within seconds, a huge crowd had flocked around him, eagerly seeking an autograph. If you asked me to describe the crowd, I would not be able to do so, because I did not notice the face of even a single person in the crowd. I did not pay attention to them, because they were ordinary people. However, I clearly remember the face of the movie star. I remember the colour of his clothes, his sunglasses, his watch, everything. This memory will be etched in my mind for life, because he was a special person. The human mind always remembers whatever is special, different, unusual or extraordinary. It forgets whatever is trivial, ordinary and routine. If someone asked me what I was doing on June 2 in the year 2009, or on July 5 in the year 2007, I would not be able to answer because I do not remember. However, if someone asked me what I did on my last birthday, I would certainly recall that, because birthdays are special events. Therefore, in order to remember a picture, try to make it extraordinary, special and different from routine. As long as it is funny, absurd, humorous, silly or stupid, it will be easily remembered! We are now equipped with the three Golden Rules of Memory – pictures, sense and special. In the forthcoming chapters, we will explore many different techniques; but no matter what the technique, these three golden rules will remain the same. We will make pictures; They will make sense; and They will be special. Chapter 5 The Mnemonic System No book on memory can be complete without a discussion on mnemonics. It is by far the most common and the most popular method to remember a given set of words in a particular order. We are all familiar with mnemonics, ever since our primary school days. Here, we will discuss two kinds of mnemonics, namely word mnemonics and sentence mnemonics. We first begin with word mnemonics. In this method, you simply form a word to remember a group of objects. A very common example is the word VIBGYOR. Each letter of this word helps us remember the colours of the rainbow in the following order: V – Violet I – Indigo B – Blue G – Green Y – Yellow O – Orange R – Red Another example of word mnemonics is the word BODMAS used in mathematics. The letters explain the sequence in which mathematical operations are to be performed: B – Bracket  O – Operation D – Division M – Multiplication A – Addition S – Subtraction These were examples of word mnemonics. However, forming a word mnemonic is not always easy and possible. Let me give you an example. Let us suppose I want to remember the nine planets in our solar system. (Recent research by Western Scientists insists there are only eight planets in our solar system. In any case, we will study both of the options, eight planets and nine planets). We know that the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Now, if I were to take the first letters of each of the nine words, I will have something like this: MVEMJSUNP Now, the term MVEMJSUNP can neither be pronounced nor remembered. Thus, a word mnemonic will not work in such cases. So, we resort to what is called as a sentence mnemonic. We will make a sentence that will help us remember each of the underlined words. Many of you must have already studied this in primary school. Our sentence is: My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets. Remembering this simple sentence helps us remember all the nine planets in order. In case you want to remember only the first eight planets (ignoring Pluto), simply remember this sentence: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos At times, sentence mnemonics can also be used to remember numerical data. For example, if you want to remember the value of pi up to four decimal places, you simply remember the following sentence:  Yes, I know a number. The word “yes” has 3 characters and the words “I know a number” have 1, 4, 1 and 6 characters, respectively. Therefore, the approximate value of pi up to four decimal places is 3.1416. You can form a variety of mnemonics with words, sentences and random phrases to remember any given subject matter. Here are a few examples: Homes for the five great lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior The order of taxonomy: Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fresh Green Spinach. (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species) Rice for instructions on treating a sprain: R – Rest the injured area. I – Ice the sprain. C – Compress with a wrap/bandage. E – Elevate the injured area. Private Tim Hall for the essential amino acids: (Phenylalanine, Valine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Isoleucine, Methionine, Histidine, Arginine, Leucine, Lysine) The bones of the wrist: Some Lawyers Try Petitions That They Cannot Handle. (Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetral, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate) Although mnemonics is a good technique to remember small lists of words, people often rely on it to remember long answers, speeches, schedules, appointments and so on. This sometimes leads to more confusion than clarity, because they often remember the letter of the alphabet in the mnemonic, but are unable to remember the full word. Therefore, we will end our discussion on mnemonics here and look at some other, superior techniques of memory which you can use. Chapter 6 The Link System The human mind is designed in such a way that it can remember hundreds of random things at the same time. However, it needs some connectivity, some sort of link between these random objects to remember them effectively. Suppose you are visiting Dubai for the first time and you are staying at a hotel called Landmark Plaza, which is situated in the highly populated and dense area called Deira. After having checked in, you now want to go for a small walk by the creek. However, you are afraid that you might get lost on your way back to the hotel. What does your mind do in this situation? It resorts to its survival instincts and instantly starts locating various spots and landmarks on the road to guide you back to your hotel. It will mentally form a pathway, such as “Take a left from the Starbucks store, then a right from McDonalds; as soon as you reach the crossing, walk ahead two blocks and you will see the hotel to your right.” I will now give you 20 words. My promise to you is that you will be able to remember all the 20 words in less than two minutes! Moreover, you will be able to remember them in the exact order in which they appear. I have randomly selected the words and they bear absolutely no relation to each other. Here is the list: 1. Doctor 2. Aeroplane 3. Orange juice 4. Australia  5. Kite 6. Swimming pool 7. Octopus 8. Diamond 9. Blood 10. Cello tape 11. Camera 12. Newspaper 13. President 14. Helicopter 15. Mountain 16. Parachute 17. Desert 18. iPhone 19. Mercedes 20. Flowers Read the list once again, all the way from “Doctor” to “Flowers” and try to familiarize yourself with the words. Next, try your own method to remember all the 20 words. The reason for my insistence on trying your own method is that it will help you compare how you perform when you have a technique, vis-á-vis how you perform when you don’t have one. Now close your eyes for a minute and ponder on how long it took you to remember the list. You will be surprised to know that you simply cannot remember all the words, no matter how hard you try. This is exactly where the link system comes to our rescue. In the next few minutes, not only will you be able to remember all the 20 words given above, you will be able to remember them in exactly the same order in which they are given. Here’s how the technique works. You link the first word to the second, the second word to the third, the third word to the fourth and so on, until it forms a logical story which can be remembered. Here’s how I would do it. We will take blocks of five words at a time and link them in a logical manner. 1. Doctor 2. Aeroplane 3. Orange juice 4. Australia 5. Kite The logical link is as follows: One day, a doctor sits in an aeroplane. In the aeroplane, a beautiful air-hostess gives him a glass of orange juice. After drinking the orange juice, he lands in Australia. In Australia, he starts flying a kite. We continue our link with the next five words: 6. Swimming pool 7. Octopus 8. Diamond 9. Blood 10. Cello tape The kite falls in a swimming pool. Inside the swimming pool is an octopus. The octopus gifts him a very tight diamond ring. While wearing the tight diamond ring, blood starts flowing from his finger. To stop the blood flow, he uses cello tape. We now move to the next five words: 11. Camera 12. Newspaper 13. President 14. Helicopter 15. Mountain Someone clicks his photo using a camera And publishes it in a newspaper, Which is read by the President, Who instantly takes off in his helicopter. Unfortunately, the helicopter collides with a mountain. Now to the last five words on the list: 16. Parachute 17. Desert 18. iPhone 19. Mercedes 20. Flowers President escapes in his parachute And lands in an arid desert. With no help available in the desert, he uses his iPhone to call his wife. His wife arrives in a Mercedes And gifts him flowers! That was an interesting story that we just created. Did you notice how we formed a link using each word, until it became a chain that we could remember? This is how you can remember long answers from your textbook, your shopping list, your work-for-today charts in office and almost anything that is in the form of a list. Moreover, the story need not be logical or grammatically accurate. Even if it is silly, humorous or outright stupid, you will still be able to recollect the words.  We will revise the story once again before we go ahead and test ourselves. So, here is the complete story: One day, a doctor sits in an aeroplane. In the aeroplane, a beautiful air-hostess gives him a glass of orange juice. After drinking the orange juice, he lands in Australia. In Australia, he starts flying a kite. The kite falls in a swimming pool. Inside the swimming pool is an octopus. The octopus gifts him a very tight diamond ring. While wearing the tight diamond ring, blood starts flowing from his finger. To stop the blood flow, he uses cello tape. Someone clicks his photo using a camera And publishes it in a newspaper, Which is read by the President, Who instantly takes off in his helicopter. Unfortunately, the helicopter collides with a mountain. The President escapes in his parachute And lands in an arid desert. With no help available in the desert, he uses his iPhone to call his wife. His wife arrives in a Mercedes  And gifts him flowers! Now close your eyes and try to revise all the 20 words. If you have got all the words correct, and that too in the same order, then you must congratulate yourself, for it is no small achievement! So, you see how you were able to remember an entire list of 20 words in your mind. Next, I am going to bombard you with another 20 words. Your challenge is to remember all of them by yourself. If possible, try to create your own story. Here’s the list: 1. Elephant 2. Ship 3. Pizza 4. Pepsi 5. London 6. Dinosaur 7. Boxing 8. Fracture 9. Michael Jackson 10. Medicine 11. Sea 12. Mermaid 13. Shampoo  14. Sparrow 15. Radio 16. News 17. India 18. Cricket 19. Pakistan 20. Trophy I insist that you make your own story. If needed, read the entire list once again. You have two options now: If you are feeling confident, close the book and try to revise all the 20 words. If you are not feeling confident, you may take help from the story that I have given below to help you remember better. This is how I would have done it: One day an elephant Gets in a ship, Has some pizza, Drinks some Pepsi, Arrives in London, Meets a dinosaur. They start boxing. The elephant gets a fracture. Michael Jackson comes to help him He gives him some medicine. The medicine falls in the sea. In the sea is a mermaid. She has shampoo on her hair. From the shampoo, a sparrow appears.  It is listening to the radio. On the radio there is news. That the national team of India, In a cricket match, Defeated Pakistan And won the trophy! My suggestion is that you read the whole list a couple of times. Next, close your eyes and try to recollect all the words. In all probability, you will get the whole list correctly. We will now see an example of how the list system can be used specifically by students. I will take a sample answer from an Economics textbook and we will try to memorize all the points. According to the Economics textbook, in order to start a factory, we need the following 12 elements. Here’s the list: 1. Raw material 2. Energy 3. Transport 4. Land 5. Market 6. Workers 7. Road 8. Water  9. Telephone 10. Building 11. Money 12. Government support Now that you are pretty well versed with this system, we will cut the theory and jump straight into action. Here is how I would link the twelve points: One day I ate raw material. It gave me a lot of energy. I took my transport truck And started speeding my way through the beautiful landscape. On reaching the marketplace, I accidentally crashed into the workers. They collapsed on the road. I quickly got down and sprinkled some water on their faces. Then I rushed to the nearest telephone booth And quickly called up the hospital building. The doctor asked me to either pay money in advance for treating the workers, Or go to the government for support.  Read the story as if a live movie is being played in your mind, one picture appearing after another. See yourself in action eating the raw material, getting energy and driving the transport truck, all the way until the doctor asks you to pay the money in advance or go to the government for support. Next, revise the list a couple of times, close the book and try to see how many points you recall. If you got all 12 points correct, then you need to honestly feel proud of yourself. It’s a great achievement for a beginner! The advantage of this system is that when you are answering your question paper in the exam, the whole story will flash in your mind and all the points will appear one by one in a logical manner. This style of learning is far superior and will produce much better results, rather than just mugging up the points randomly, as most students do. Happy learning! How to Remember Speeches or Long Answers The technique for remembering a speech is the same as remembering a long extract or a long answer from any book. You will now see how the link method is a very powerful technique for remembering speeches. I will also give you some tips on giving a fantastic speech. Prerequisites Giving a speech to an audience is not everybody’s cup of tea. Apart from the fact that many people have stage fear or audience fright, many others have an inherent phobia of looking embarrassed or making a fool of themselves in case they forget their speech. Imagine a situation where you are addressing an audience, and you are suddenly tongue-tied for want of words! Being a professional trainer, I have to regularly address huge gatherings of people, where I train them on a variety of topics. I have also been fortunate to share the stage with many other speakers and dignitaries at different symposiums and conferences. In general, I have observed that there are two kinds of speakers – those who look at a paper and deliver a readymade speech word for word (exactly as written) and those who speak for hours at length, interacting with the audience (without looking at any readymade speech), recalling every sentence from their memory with ease. We shall look at the pros and cons of both approaches. (A) Readymade Speeches It must be noted here that if you deliver your speech word for word, exactly as written on paper, then there are zero chances of you forgetting the speech. So, the paper acts as an assurance of sorts. However, since your entire attention must be on the paper all the time, you are restricted in the way you interact with your audience. ADVANTAGES You will not forget the speech while delivering it. You will not omit any part of the speech or make impromptu statements that may be irresponsible. You do not have to waste time in drafting a speech. Someone else can  draft it for you and you can simply deliver it on stage. DISADVANTAGES You cannot move around the stage; thus, your body posture becomes rigid. Your entire focus is on the paper, so you cannot observe the reactions, expressions and emotions of the audience. You appear to be in your own world, disconnected from the audience. There is no possibility of making the speech interactive. Only one-way communication is possible. If the paper is lost or misplaced, you are doomed! Generally, politicians, heads of states, businessmen and celebrities, who do not have the time to draft a speech themselves, resort to readymade speeches. They ask their secretary or personal assistant to prepare a speech and they simply deliver it to the audience. They do not care if the audience is entertained or inspired by their words, as their sole purpose is only to deliver a specific message with precise words. If you are new to the world of public speaking, you must resort to readymade speeches. However, once you get used to it, you must move to the next level and prefer giving interactive speeches. (b) Interactive Speeches Interactive speakers are more dynamic in their approach. Because they are not confined to a paper, they can move around the stage, take questions from the audience and even afford to create some instant humour out of the situation. Simply put, they are more lively and interactive. ADVANTAGES You have the flexibility to move around the stage and interact with the audience. You can use gestures and expressions and invite questions from the audience. DISADVANTAGES There is a possibility of forgetting your speech. Because your speech is not reviewed by an expert, you may utter something irresponsible or factually incorrect. As can be seen from these boxes, both the readymade speech approach and the interactive speech approach have their own pros and cons. Some speakers use a combination of both approaches, by using PowerPoint presentations in their speech. Thus, instead of looking at the paper and reciting the speech, they refer to the presentation screen and read out the points to the audience. This gives them the freedom to look at the points of the speech and interact with the audience at the same time. Smart strategy, I would say. Memory Secret We will now discuss the secret of remembering a given speech. Over the years, I have realized that if I memorize speeches word for word, then my delivery becomes very mechanical. I am simply reduced to a robot who speaks without using his mind. On the other hand, if I don’t memorize the exact speech, but just the main points, it gives me the flexibility to increase or reduce the content, and even modify it a little bit here and there, based on the body language of the audience. If the audience is enjoying a particular conversation, I stress on it further. If the audience seems to be drowsy and bored, I can customize some joke or give an exciting example to recapture their attention and interest. So, the secret of memorizing a speech is not to learn it by rote, but to remember only the main points so that you can be flexible in your delivery. Example In the box below, I have taken a sample speech. The title of the speech is “How To Control Pollution”. There are nine points in this speech, so instead of mugging up the speech word for word, we will simply remember the nine main points. SAMPLE SPEECH Q.: How can we control pollution? Ans.: Pollution is a serious cause of concern for our society. Due to pollution, a lot of health-oriented disorders are observed in human beings. We can control pollution in the following ways: (a) Use Tall Chimneys: Using tall chimneys in factories is a simple way to ensure that pollutants are discharged at a higher altitude, thereby ensuring that it is further away from human consumption. (b) Maintain Automobiles: Check your car regularly as regards the amount of poisonous pollutants it emits. (c) Strict Cops: The cops (police) must take strict legal action against defaulters of pollution-control norms. This will deter them from future malpractice. (d) Plant Trees: Trees help in maintaining the ecological balance and are a  must to keep air pollution under check. (e) Clean Garbage: Dustbins must be regularly emptied and waste must be disposed of to keep our environment hygienic. (f) Check Wastewater: Factories must check their effluent and filter it before discharging it into water bodies. (g) Teach Youngsters: Our young generation must be made aware of issues such as high carbon emissions that our planet is facing. (h) Chemical Treatment: The hazards of toxic waste must be reduced by treating the toxic waste chemically before it is safely disposed of. (i) Award Factories: Factories and industries that follow stringent pollution control norms must be awarded for their initiatives, so that they set an example for others to follow. Let us presume this is the speech that I have to deliver and I have only five minutes to prepare, before facing the audience. Then, the first thing I would do is read the whole speech once to get familiar with its content. Next, I would outline the main points and mentally form a story, linking them one after the other. Here are the main points on how to control pollution: Use Tall Chimneys Maintain Automobiles Strict Cops Plant Trees Clean Garbage Check Wastewater Teach Youngsters  Chemical Treatment Award Factories Strategy As seen in the link system, we will simply link the first point to the second, the second point to the third and the third point to the fourth, until we reach the last point. Visualize there is a tall chimney. On top of the tall chimney is a Honda car (automobile). Inside the car, a cop is sitting in the driver’s seat. The cop has a bonsai tree in his hand. The car falls off the chimney and lands on a garbage can, thereby injuring the cop. It suddenly starts raining, and there is wastewater all around. A group of youngsters is walking on the road. They use a magic chemical to heal the injured cop. The cop gives them an award for their good work.  Thus, we have linked the nine main points of the speech as follows: I have tried to make the story as silly and as stupid as I can. Remember, the more outrageous it is, the easier it is to remember it. On Stage When I am on stage, I do not hold a paper to refer to. As I start my speech, the first word, “chimney” flashes in my mind. So, I start speaking about chimneys and say everything related to this topic that comes to mind. These may not be the exact words that I had learnt. But who cares? As long as the message is conveyed, the task is accomplished. In addition, while I am speaking about chimneys, I start seeing a Honda car on top of the chimney. Therefore, I know that the second point is “automobile” and I start speaking on automobiles. While I am speaking about automobiles, my mind suddenly sees a “cop” in the automobile and I am automatically reminded of the third point. The cop reminds me of a “tree” in his hand. Then the car in which he is sitting falls on the “garbage” and then it starts “raining”. Then a group of “youngsters” come to help the cop. They have a “chemical” for healing and the grateful cop gives them an “award”. So, while I am delivering the speech, my mind is triggering one point after another at the same time. I am delivering the speech in my own words, and yet, ensuring that I do not forget the points. Conclusion Whenever you have to remember a speech, write it perfectly on a piece of paper, clearly highlighting the main points. Once the speech is ready, read it a couple of times until you are familiar with the content. Next, link the main points in a storyline as explained earlier. You are now set! As you deliver the speech to the audience, the points will automatically be triggered in your mind one after another, until you have spoken on the last point. Super Tip Suppose you are giving a speech on modes of transportation. You very well know that there are four modes of transportation:  Railways Roadways Waterways Airways However, assume that while delivering the speech, perchance you remembered the first three points and forgot the last one. What would you do in that case? Obviously, you cannot afford to just stand on the stage with a blank expression. So, you must simply throw the question to the audience. You should say something like this: All right, we have seen the three modes of transportation – railways, roadways and waterways…. can any of you tell me the fourth one? (Look around at the audience with a sense of expectation.) Come on, any intelligent person out there who can tell me the fourth one? (Most certainly, someone will shout “airways”. You have got your answer now, but do not show your relief. Instead, continue the speech as though you always knew it.) That’s the perfect answer. Can we have a round of applause for the lady who gave the correct answer? What’s your name, Ma ’am? (She will excitedly tell you her name.) All right, Ms XYZ…I owe you an autograph at the end of the session! (The audience will naturally clap once again.) You have just killed two birds with one stone. You were able to recall the point you had forgotten; and the audience did not realize it. Moreover, it acted as a good opportunity to interact with the audience and trigger their interest. In the world of memory, as in real life, some presence of mind always helps! Chapter 7 The Substitution System We will now study a very powerful system called the substitution system. This technique is used to remember any word, term or name that is difficult to comprehend at first sight. Simply put, we substitute a difficult word with a simple word (which can be easily understood) and then go ahead with the memory technique. Our study will be divided into nine sub-sections: Remembering Places (Geography) Remembering Spelling Remembering Vocabulary Remembering Foreign Languages Remembering Scientific Terms Remembering Books and Authors Remembering Case Laws Remembering Names and Faces Remembering the Periodic Table (Chemical Names) Thus, you can see we have covered a wide field of study.  Ranging from places to spelling and faces to chemicals, we will see how the substitution system helps us to remember a variety of things that we encounter in daily life. However, the underlying logic in all the examples is the same. We will substitute the incomprehensible words with something that we can comprehend and then commence the learning process. Remembering Places (Geography) Owing to increased globalization, we now live in a world where traveling is an inevitable part of our life. As a professional speaker, my travel calendar involves going to places whose names and their pronunciations are absolutely unknown to me. It is in such times that the substitution system comes to my aid. In this discussion, we will take some states and capitals of the USA and I will show you how you can use the substitution system to remember them. In the first column are the states of the USA and in the second column are their respective capitals. State Capital Arizona Phoenix Connecticut Hartford Idaho Boise Maine Augusta Ohio Columbus Texas Austin Washington Olympia Wisconsin Madison There are exactly 50 states in the USA. I have randomly selected eight of them. The capital of Arizona is Phoenix; the capital of Connecticut is Hartford, etc. We will now substitute the main words with our own words, so that they mean something, and thus, become easier to remember. Have a look at the list given below: State Arizona Capital Phoenix Memory Key A phoenix bird flies in an airy zone. The above-mentioned sentence that “A phoenix bird flies in an airy zone ” will instantly help you remember that Phoenix is the capital of Arizona. Next, we know that the capital of Connecticut is Hartford. So we use the words connect and heart as shown below: State Connecticut Capital Hartford Memory Key The secret to connect with someone is to touch their heart. We know the capital of Idaho is Boise. However, we will substitute the word Boise with the word boys (similar sound) and remember it as shown below: State Idaho Capital Boise Memory Key The state of Idaho has handsome boys. Next, we have the state as Maine and the capital as Augusta. This one is quite easy: State Main(e) Capital August(a) Memory Key August is the main month of the year. The capital of Ohio is Columbus. Now, we all know that whenever we meet our friends, we address them with expressions such as “Oh”, “Hi” and “How are you?” We will use something quite similar here: State Ohio Columbus Capital Columbus Memory Key You get down from a bus and wish your friends, “O Hi”! The capital of Texas is Austin. We will use two different memory keys to remember it. State Texas Capital Austin People in Texas drive Austin Martin cars. OR Memory Key People in Austin pay a lot of taxes. You can see that we have used two different memory keys here. In the second one, we substituted the word Texas with the word taxes, because they are very similar. Often, we can use multiple memory keys, so that if one is forgotten, the other can come to our aid. Next, we know the capital of Washington is Olympia. State Washington Capital Olympia Memory Key During the Olympics, people were washing tons of clothes.  We just substituted the word Olympia with Olympics so that the whole sentence made perfect sense and was funny too! We will now see how to substitute Madison, which is the capital of Wisconsin: State Wisconsin Capital Mad(i)son Memory Key My friend in Wisconsin has a mad son. Here, we split the word Madison into the words mad and son. Additionally, the humour element in this sentence makes it easier to remember it. Thus, we see how we can remember states and capitals using the substitution system. Next, we will see how we can use the substitution system to remember spelling in English language. Examples from India In continuation with the examples of American states and capitals, I have given below a few examples of how we can learn the names of Indian states and capitals. I have used a combination of English and Hindi (the national language of India). Readers who do not understand Hindi may please skip this part. State Capital Gujarat Gandhinagar Uttar Pradesh Lucknow Punjab Chandigarh Karnataka Bengaluru Chhatisgarh Raipur As can be seen from the list, the capital of Gujarat is Gandhinagar. I break the word Gujarat into two Hindi words: gujar and raat. Next, I break the word Gandhinagar as Gandhi and nagar. Now, I simply make a sentence: Gandhi(ji) raat (ko) gujar (gaye) (Gandhiji passed away at night.) By remembering this simple sentence (Gandhiji actually passed away at night!) I can easily recollect that Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat. Similarly, you can easily remember the capital of Uttar Pradesh is Lucknow by the following sentence: The people of Uttar Pradesh are very luck(y) now (a days). The capital of Punjab is Chandigarh. Simply visualize the following: Punjab ke log chandi ke ghar mein rehte hain. (The people of Punjab stay in houses made of silver.) Next, we know Bengaluru is the capital of Karnataka. Here, we simply  break the word Karnataka as kar and natak. Also, the word Bengaluru sounds as bangle-uru. Our sentence now becomes as follows: Bangles waali ladkiyan bahut natak kar(ti) hain. (Girls who wear bangles are very melodramatic.) Finally, we have Raipur is the capital of Chhatisgarh. From Raipur, I get the word Rai, which reminds me of Bollywood Actress Aishwarya Rai. I simply frame a sentence as follows: Aishwarya Rai ke paas chhatis ghar hain. (Aishwarya Rai has thirty-six houses.) In this manner, you can remember all the states and capitals of India. Please share this with other school or college students in your family who will find it helpful. Remembering Spelling There can be nothing more embarrassing than spelling a word incorrectly in a letter or an email. Especially if you are writing a letter to a prominent person, wrong spelling can create a very bad impression. There is a memory technique to remember the spelling of confusing words. Let me give you a few examples. (a) Stalactite or Stalagmite? Stalactites and stalagmites are mineral formations in caves. Stalactites are shaped like icicles and hang from the ceilings of caves, whereas stalagmites look like they are emerging from the ground and stand like a traffic cone. Because both names are similar, people get confused between the two. However, there is an easy technique to remember the difference. The word stalactite has the letter C in it; so, we know it hangs from the ceiling. The word stalagmite has the letter G in it; therefore, we know it appears on the ground. (b) Principal or Principle? Principal and principle are two confusing words. The former refers to the head (or the main person) of a school and the latter refers to a rule or a theory. Again, there is an easy way to remember. The word principal has the letter A in the spelling, and therefore, refers to the mAin person of a school; whereas the word principle has the letter E in it, and therefore, it refers to a rulE. (c) Desert or dessert? If it is less sweet and dry, then it is desert. However, if it has more sweetness (more s), then it is dessert. (d) Grammar or Grammer? The correct word is grammar. Visualize that you always love to get an A grade in the English Grammar exam. Therefore, the spelling also has the letter A. (e) Comittee or Committee? The correct word is committee. Because a committee has more than one person (at least two), the letter M also appears twice. (f) Recieve or receive? The correct word is receive. You receive parcels from the central post office; therefore, the letters CE are always together. So, you see that these small juggleries with words can help us remember spelling with ease, especially for pairs of confusing words. Next, we will see how to remember complex words of the English language. Remembering English Vocabulary A research paper published in the UK highlighted that the vocabulary of an average human being is not much better than that of an eighth grader. I know many people who try to improve their vocabulary by learning a new word every day. However, the problem is that after a few months, they remember the words but forget what they mean. Students preparing for the GRE exam have to remember an entire word list, which has over 4,000 words. Many students use flash cards to memorize the words and their meaning. Their intention is praiseworthy, but because they do not have a scientific system in place, they do not remember the meaning of these words for long. In this discussion, we will see how we can use the substitution system to remember words of the English language. Take a look at our list, where we have randomly selected eight words with their meaning: Word Meaning Sacrilegious Violation or misuse of what is sacred Unbridled Uncontrolled Vanguard Front row of soldiers, revolutionaries or change-makers Ostracize Banish from society Rail To complain loudly Rail To complain loudly Dogmatic Inflexible, rigid Blighted Destroy or damage Exculpate Remove from or absolve of blame Facetious Treating serious issues in a humorous or funny manner Let us now apply the substitution method to remember the meaning of these words. Sacrilegious: Violation or misuse of what is sacred If you look carefully at the word sacrilegious, it has two small words, sack and religious. Just visualize a man wearing a sack and entering a religious place. He is violating the sacredness of the religious place. Therefore, the word sacrilegious (sack-religious) means violation or misuse of what is sacred. Unbridled: Uncontrolled The word unbridled has the word bride hidden in it. Thus, if a man has a bride, he is under control. However, a man who is unbridled (without a bride), is uncontrolled. Vanguard: Front row of soldiers, revolutionaries or change-makers A row of soldiers and revolutionaries is guarding a van from the front. Ostracize: Banish from society Substitute the word ostracize with the words ostriches. Now, we simply visualize that all ostriches are banished from society. Rail: To complain loudly The railways are not working and you are complaining loudly. Dogmatic: Inflexible, rigid From dogmatic, extract the word dog. Next, simply visualize a dog that is very rigid, inflexible and does not move, however hard you try to shake its feet or tail! Blighted: Destroy or damage The word blighted has the word light in it. Simply visualize that you are taking a tube-light or a light-bulb and  destroying it completely. Exculpate: Remove from or absolve of blame Visualize the word exculpate as ex-culprit. The word ex-culprit means a person who was a culprit, but is not a culprit anymore. Therefore, this person is absolved of all blame. Facetious: Treating serious issues in a humorous or funny manner The word facetious has the word face in it. Just imagine that your boss is discussing a serious issue in office and all the employees are making funny faces at him! Simple, isn’t it? Apart from the substitution system, another good strategy is to crack words based on the suffix/ prefix method. Let me give you an example. The term ambi is a Latin word, which means both. There are quite a few words in the English language which use the word ambias a prefix to mean both. The word ambivalent is used for a person with mixed/dual feelings or two contradictory ideas. The word ambiguous is used for words which have two or more meanings or interpretations. Similarly, even without knowing the exact meaning, we can reasonably infer that the word ambivert refers to a person whose personality may feature qualities of both an introvert and an extrovert and the term ambipolar would probably refer to something to do with two poles. Thus, once you know the meaning of commonly used Roman and Latin prefixes and suffixes, you can reasonably infer the meaning of words on your own. Here is a list of prefixes with their meaning and examples: The following is a list of suffixes with their meaning and examples:  Here is a list of the roots from which several commonly used words are derived:  We now have a reference chart of prefixes, suffixes and roots. There are many words in the English language which use all three – prefixes, suffixes and roots. We will break them and derive the complete meaning. Take a look at the following examples: Roots often come from interesting historical sources. The word juggernaut in English refers to a large, heavy vehicle. The word is derived from the Indian God Jagannath, in whose worship a chariot ride is organized every year as part of the Rath Yatra festival in Puri, Odisha. In the last two sections, we have seen how to remember spelling and English vocabulary. We will now expand the substitution system and see how it can help us remember words of foreign languages. However, before we go ahead, let us take a small test to see how much you remember from this section. Exercise (a) Vanguard: (b) Sacrilegious: (c) Unbridled: (d) Ostracize: (e) Facetious: (f) Blighted: (g) Rail: (h) Dogmatic: (i) Exculpate: Remembering Foreign Languages Psychology says that a child born in Japan will not struggle to learn the Japanese language, but an outsider like you and me will have a tough time learning it. Why is that so? Psychologists assert that a child born in Japan learns Japanese subconsciously. He starts learning from the day he is born (in fact, even before birth, as the child often learns subconsciously in its mother’s womb). It is easy for him to pick up letters and words as he interacts with everybody around him. However, a European businessman going on a week-long trip to Japan will have to make a conscious effort to learn even a few words of the Japanese language.  I often use the substitution system to learn words of a foreign language, when I travel abroad. Suppose I am going to Spain for a conference. I do not need to learn the Spanish language in its entirety, but I try to utilize my flight travel time to learn 50-100 words that are used in daily life, so that it helps me communicate better with the local people. It does not take a lot of time – in just a couple of hours at the airport lobby, with my iPad connected to the internet, I can search and memorize all the words that I need. Take a look at this list of ten randomly selected Spanish words with their English meaning. Spanish Word English Meaning Marido Husband Carpeta Files Hermano/airmono Brother Iglesia Church Manana Tomorrow Ropa Clothes Dinero money Don Gift/talent Dolor Pain Mirar To watch Piel Skin We will now see how to use the substitution system to remember the words: The word marido means husband. Think of the word marido as “marry a door”. Visualize that a husband is marrying a door! The word carpeta means files. Visualize many files lying on the carpet in your office. The word hermano means brother. However, it is pronounced as airmano. We must always focus on the pronunciation, and hence, try to link “airmano” with “brother”. The picture I can think of is that my brother is an air man. I visualize him as a pilot who is commanding an aircraft. Iglesia means church. By itself, the word looks difficult to substitute. However, on second thoughts, iglesia sounds like a-glacier. Visualize a church in Spain situated inside a glacier. The word manana means tomorrow. Instead of manana, take the word banana. Next, simply tell yourself three times that you are going to eat a banana tomorrow. The word ropa means clothes. Visualize you are wearing clothes made of ropes. Dinero is money. How about visualizing that you are having money for dinner? Don means a sort of gift or talent bestowed on someone. This one is so simple that you can do the substitution on your own. Simply visualize an underworld don (black glasses, black suit, scary face, gun in hand) whose talent is shooting multiple people at the same time.  Dolor is pain. Visualize that people who do not have dollars have to face a lot of pain and hardships in life. Mirar is to watch. Visualize that you are watching yourself in a mirror. Piel is skin. Visualize you are peeling the skin off your body. Here, it is not necessary to always substitute foreign-language words with English-language words. You may use any language that you like. In fact, the more languages you know, the better it is. Let me give you an example. The Spanish word pagar is means to pay. In Hindi, the word pagar means salary : Pagar (Spanish) : to pay Pagar (Hindi) : salary Now, I simply visualize the word pagar means to pay a salary; therefore, the word is easily understood. Substitution, undoubtedly, is a very effective technique. However, the problem is that most people only visualize the words, using only the eye among all of the sense organs. If you want your substitution to be more effective, you must try to use as many senses as possible. This includes adding the sensations of sound, speech, taste and touch to the image, so all of the senses (seeing, hearing, speaking, tasting and touching) are involved in the process of remembering. For example, the Japanese word for cat is necko. You may simple visualize a Japanese cat with a very big neck. However, this is one-dimensional visualization, because as only seeing is involved. We can make this visualization multi-dimensional by involving more senses. Visualize (seeing) a Japanese cat which has a very big neck. And when you caress (touching) her long neck, she says “meow” (hearing). The more the senses involved in the remembering process, the easier it is to remember. We will now take a small test to check how many words you have remembered from this chapter. Please revise the list once before we go ahead. Exercise Write the English meanings of the following Spanish words: (a) Manana: (b) Hermano: (c) Dinero: (d) Carpeta: (e) Iglesia: (f) Piel: (g) Mirar: (h) Don: (i) Ropa: (j) Dolor: Remembering Scientific Terms A young child does not learn how to ride a bicycle without first learning how to ride a tricycle. A tricycle inherently gives him support and balance. Once he learns to ride a tricycle, he can slowly move on and start riding a bicycle. He may fall down a few times, but that is the only way he can learn. The point I am trying to make is that we cannot learn any skill without first taking support. We cannot learn swimming the very first time we dive into a pool. We need a ring or a float. We cannot learn to walk without first taking the help of a walker. In every activity in life, we need support and guidance in the initial stages. However, once we outgrow the support mechanism, we can naturally carry on the activity by ourselves. This is also the case with the substitution system. Initially, we may use some word twisting to help us remember. After a while, however, we will naturally remember the meaning of words and will not need word twisting any more. In this section, we will see how to remember scientific terms along with their meaning. Have a look at our list: Scientific Term Meaning Sacrum A trianglular bone in the human body Acoustics The science of sound Galvanometer An instrument that measures electric current Dermatology The science of skin Ichthyology The study of fish Paleobotany The study of ancient plants Scientific words are often incomprehensible because they do not sound like the English-language words that we use in daily life. So, we will substitute them with other, simpler words that we know. In addition, you may also substitute them with words from your native language (Arabic, Hindi, French, Malayalam, etc.). Strategy As before, we will rely on the substitution system to help us. You may choose to use the images that I have given or make your own. Do whatever you are comfortable with. Sacrum: A triangular bone in the human body Visualize a triangular sack in your body filled with rum bottles. Acoustics: The science of sound Think of the word acoustic as a-cow-stick. So, you hit a cow with a stick whenever it makes a sound. Galvanometer: An instrument that measures electric current The word galvanometer is made up of three small words – gal (girl), van, and meter. Visualize a young gal driving a van. She suddenly gets a high voltage electric current from the meter of the van. Dermatology: The science of skin This one is not so easy at first sight. However, remember that there is no word in the world that cannot be cracked using the substitution system. It only requires a few seconds of keen observation and a hint that will trigger the meaning of the word in your mind. People with some knowledge of science will know that the word “derma” refers to skin, and therefore, dermatology is the science of skin. However, a layman who has no scientific background whatsoever can form a picture as follows. Visualize the term dermat as doormat. Now, you simply form a picture that the doormat of your house is made of skin. Thus, dermatology is the science of skin. Ichthyology: The study of fish You can make a very relevant picture here. Substitute the words as ich (itch) and thy (thigh). A fish is having an itchy sensation on its thigh and is, therefore, scratching its thigh. Whenever you are asked the meaning of ichthyology, your brain will remember the fish scratching  its thigh. Thus, you will know that the word refers to the study of fish. Paleobotany: The study of ancient plants The word paleobotany has the word pale in it. Visualize plants that have become very ancient and are looking pale and dull. Take a quick glance at the words and their substitutions. Once you are ready, take the test below. Test A word is given to you on the left; write its meaning or usage on the right. Ichthyology Sacrum Paleobotany Dermatology Galvanometer Acoustics Remembering Books and Authors Now that you have been practicing the substitution system, let me give you a small exercise. Try this section on your own. We have seen how the substitution system can be used to logically link and remember any two separate lists, such as: States and their capitals Words of a foreign language and their meaning Scientific terms and their meaning  Using the same strategy, I want to remember the names of the following books and authors. This is your personal exercise, where you will have to make the pictures on your own, without any help from me. Read the list two or three times, until you are familiar with it. Then, go to the next page and fill in the missing details. Book Author Hollywood Dreams Oscar Young My Beautiful House Angel Gray Journey to Africa Carmen Hunter A Night in the Forest Hugh Fox Pyramids of Egypt Richard King The Japanese Scientist Dean Armstrong Floral Designs Rosa Gardener For example, Hollywood Dreams is written by Oscar Young. So, you can visualize young people dreaming of going to Hollywood and winning an Oscar. My Beautiful House is written by Angel Gray. For this, you can simply visualize an angel with grey-coloured wings blessing your house.  Try to memorize the remaining examples. Then, take the test that follows. Test Write the names of the authors beside the names of their respective books. Book Author Journey to Africa The Japanese Scientist Hollywood Dreams Floral Designs A Night in the Forest My Beautiful House Pyramids of Egypt Remembering Case Laws One of the toughest challenges in the life of a lawyer, or a prospective law student is to remember case laws. What is a case law? Let me explain this briefly. A case law concisely describes the parties involved in the litigation and the details of the dispute. To remember a case law, one has to remember the names of the two parties and the topic of dispute. I have listed some famous case laws here (these are real-life court cases) and how a lawyer or law student can use the substitution system to remember them. Selected Case Laws Names of Parties Topic of Dispute Super Engineering Corp. v/s SV Pant Printing Machine Case Carstairs v/s Taylor Rat Nuisance Case Carstairs v/s Taylor Rat Nuisance Case Davis v/s Mann Donkey Case Brown v/s Kendal Dog Fighting Case Burger v/s Grey Draining Case Cooks v/s Birt Sheriff Housebreak Case Vaux v/s Newmann Six Carpenter Case Moon v/s Durden Betting and Gambling Case As can be seen from our list, the first case was fought between Super Engineering Corporation and a gentleman called Mr SV Pant and it relates to a printing machine. The second case was fought between Mr Carstairs versus Mr Taylor and is due to a certain rat causing some nuisance, and so on for the rest of the cases. To remember these eight case laws that we have shortlisted, we will use the substitution system in the same way as earlier. The first case law was fought between Super Engineering Corporation and SV Pant. It relates to a printing machine. We have italicized three words – super, pant and printing machine. Take a look at this sentence: Superman is wearing pants with the photo of a printing machine. This single sentence will help you remember all the three details perfectly. The second case law involves Mr Carstairs versus Mr Taylor and is related to the rat nuisance. Here is our sentence: ‘A rat is causing a lot of nuisance in a tailor’s car.’ We now have to remember that Davis versus Mann is a case pertaining to a donkey. So, we try to remember that a Davis Cup tennis match is being played between a man and a donkey. The next case law, Brown versus Kendal is a dog fighting case. So, try to imagine a dog holding a brown candle in his hand. Burger versus Grey is a drainage case. Now that you have got a hang of the, you know how simple it is to remember. Simply visualize a grey-coloured burger inside a drainage pipe. Cooks versus Birt is a sheriff’s housebreak case. We remember it by simply visualizing that a sheriff is cooking a bird in his house. Vaux versus Newmann is a case related to six carpenters. Here, instead  of the word Vaux, we will take the word wax. In addition, we will substitute new man for Newmann. Then, simply remember that six carpenters are making a wax statue of a new man. Finally, we have Moon versus Durden, which is a case of betting and gambling. It is easy to remember this one. Visualize a moon. Somewhere on the moon, there is a den (this will remind us of Durden). Inside the den, people are betting and gambling. This visualization will help us easily remember that Moon versus Durden is a case of betting and gambling. I suggest you read all the examples once again, before we proceed to a simple test. Your task is to mentally fill in the missing details in the following case laws: (a) Printing Machine Case: S_______ Engineering Corp v/s SV _______ (b) Rat Nuisance Case: C____________ v/s T________ (c) Donkey Case: D________ v/s M______ (d) Dog Fighting Case: B__________ v/s K________ (e) Drainage Case: B___________ v/s G________ (f) Sheriff’s Housebreak Case: C________ v/s B______ (g) Six Carpenter Case: V______ v/s N_________ (h) Betting and Gambling Case: M_____ v/s D_______ I am sure you must have performed well in this mental test of remembering case laws. Next, we will see how the substitution system can help us remember people’s names and faces. Remembering Names and Faces In his international bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence People, author Dale Carnegie says that every individual has a special fondness for his name. The sound of his name is the sweetest sound in the universe for each person. Remembering people’s names is important, not only from a memory perspective, but also from the perspective of business networking and public relations. Imagine the embarrassment when you accidentally come across an important business client; you recognize his face, but cannot recollect his name. If, during the conversation, he discovers that you have indeed forgotten his name, it is highly likely that he would feel offended by this oversight. In this chapter, we will study a technique by which you can easily remember people’s names. However, before we begin discussing the technique, a few prerequisites need to be highlighted. First Requirement: Attention The biggest reason why people forget names is they have not heard it properly in the first place. When a person introduces himself, instead of paying attention to him, we are busy in our own world of thoughts. Like a cloud passing by, his name appears and disappears from our consciousness. So, the first and foremost rule for remembering a person’s name is to hear it with full attention. Second Requirement: Intention The second and very crucial factor of memory is intention. Suppose a member of your family is suffering from a rare disease, which can be cured by only two specialist doctors in your city. Will you ever forget their names? No, that is impossible. You know you have to remember their names and addresses in case of an emergency. Therefore, the criticality of the situation compels you to remember their names. Third Requirement: Passion People who are introverted have a general tendency to forget names. Extroverts, on the other hand, are very good at remembering names and faces because of their inherent liking for people. To put in brief, attention, intention and passion are the three prerequisites for remembering people’s names. Smart Tips Before we discuss the actual memory strategy, I will give you some smart PR tips. Suppose you meet a person at a party and cannot recollect his name. If he finds out you have forgotten his name, he may not like it. You do not want to ask him for his name again, because it will only expose your ignorance. What would you do in such a case? In such a scenario, you can try one of the following strategies: Greet the person as though you know him. Do not give any sign of having forgotten his name. During the conversation, ask him for his visiting card, which is bound to have his name. Quickly read the visiting card, place it safely in your wallet and continue the conversation! If the person does not have a visiting card, ask him for his cell phone number. While saving his number on your phone, tell him that you know his first name, but would like his full name to store in your contacts list. When he gives you his full name, you know you have got the information that you needed. Often, an application like WhatsApp Messenger on your cell phone will automatically fetch a person’s name and photo when you enter his number in your contacts list. Use such applications as a face-saver. If a person does not have a visiting card, you could also ask him for his email ID. Ninety-five per cent of people have an email ID with their own name. That should do the trick.  Invite a third, known person to your conversation. Ask your friend, whose name you have forgotten, and the third person to introduce themselves to each other. Listen to their mutual introductions and you will know your friend’s forgotten name. Memory Technique Whenever an important person introduces himself to you, listen to his name very carefully. Next, shut your eyes and see an image of the person’s face with his name written above it in big, black, bold letters. Write his name the way it is spelt (not on a piece of paper, but by moving your fingers in the air). When you are doing this, visualize his photo and also say his name at the same time. This is called the multi-sensory approach. You are using touch (writing his name), sight (visualizing his face), speech (uttering the name) and hearing (your own voice), all at the same time. This multi-sensory approach conveys the message through multiple channels in your brain; therefore, the chances of retention are very high. Let us now consider an example of a birthday party to illustrate the memory strategy for remembering names. Example: Birthday Party Today is a very special day. You are invited to a birthday party organized by your friend Nancy. You reach the venue at the scheduled time and as you walk into the party hall, you see many new people whom you have never met before. After wishing Nancy and exchanging pleasantries, you ask her to introduce you to her guests. So, Nancy takes you around the party hall and you meet many people one by one. The first person you meet is Bruce. Bruce is a karate expert with a lean but fit and agile body. The second person you meet is Michelle, who is elegant and dressed like a queen.  You meet Charlie, who is holding the keys of a Harley Davidson motorbike. You meet Jerry, who has a very innocent look with bright, sparkling eyes. You meet Ahida, a woman in a hijab (veil). You meet Sachin, who has stitches on his chin. You meet Fatima, who is slightly overweight. You meet Fred Baker, who has wrinkled skin. You meet Sandra, who is wearing a T-shirt that has the picture of a beach. Finally, you meet Ted, who is very hairy. Phew! You have just met ten new people. Your task is to remember each one of them by their first name and their peculiar characteristic. Let us see how to do this. Solution The secret is to associate the intended person with another person of the same name or with any of his peculiar characteristics. Let us reconsider the examples one by one: The first person is Bruce, who is a karate expert. Try to link Bruce with the Hollywood star, Bruce Lee, who was also a karate expert with a lean, agile body. The next person is Michelle, who is dressed like a queen. Think of Michelle Obama (wife of US President Barack Obama) who also dresses elegantly, like a queen. Imagine the next person, Charlie, riding a Harley Davidson motorbike with the famous comedian, Charlie Chaplin. Visualize both of them sitting on the bike together. Jerry is an innocent-looking man with bright, sparkling eyes. Try to connect him with another Jerry (from the cartoon series, Tom and Jerry) who also has bright, sparkling eyes and an innocent face. Ahida has the word hid in her name; therefore, you know her face is hidden in a hijab and is not visible. Next, from Sachin, just extract the word chin, and you will instantly remember that he has stitches on his chin. Next, you met Fatima, who is slightly overweight. If you observe her name, you will find the word fat in it. Therefore, you know the overweight girl is Fatima. Fred Baker has wrinkled skin. Imagine he fr(i)ed his skin in the bakery when he was making hot cakes in the oven. Sandra is wearing a T-shirt that has the picture of a beach. Here, you can extract the word sand from Sandra and visualize Sandra sitting on the sands of a beach. Finally, we have Ted with a lot of hair on his body. We can simply extend the word Ted to give us the word Teddy. Imagine a cute Teddy Bear with curly hair on his body.  Now that we have made all the associations, I urge you to quickly read through the explanation once again. In addition, please note that your ability to remember these associations relies a lot on how well you have observed a new person and how intently you have heard his name in the first place. Many of us take this prerequisite for granted and later find the name difficult to recollect. Keep your eyes and ears open and try to grasp the name and face of the person with a genuine intention to remember. You will now take a small test to see how many names you remember. I promise that if you revised the whole list given above with due sincerity, you will get a full score in the test below. Test (a) Name the gentleman who is a karate expert:______________ (b) Name the innocent – looking man with bright, sparkling eyes:____________ (c) Name the lady who is relaxing on the beach:________________ (d) Name the person who has stitches on his chin:__________________ (e) Name the lady wearing an elegant, royal dress:______________ (f) Name the man on the Harley Davidson bike:_________________ (g) Name the girl who is slightly overweight:___________________ (h) Name the gentleman who has wrinkled skin:________________ (i) Name the man with a hairy body: ____________ (j) Name the girl who is in a hijab: Did you get all the names correctly? Wow! You definitely need to compliment yourself if you have been able to get all the answers correct. You see, the secret is to simply link the word with some person you already know or a unique physical characteristic of the person (a scar, a mole, a French beard, a tattoo or a pierced ear). This uniquely visible mark on his face or body will trigger his name in your mind, whenever you meet him. If you meet a person called Sunny, visualize him sitting on a beach and tanning himself under the sun. If you meet a person called Steve, visualize him listening to an iPod, which is also designed by Steve (Jobs). Or a person called Donald, who is eating a burger at McDonalds. The basic thing to remember is that any name in the world can be cracked. If English language is not sufficient, you can use your native language to crack a name. In my native language (I am from India) the word Vidya means knowledge. So, if I meet a girl called Vidya, I instantly associate her with an image where she is reading a thick encyclopaedia. In my native language, the word Suraj refers to the sun and the word Talwar refers to a sword. So, if I want to remember a certain Mr Suraj Talwar, I simply visualize him sitting in the sun with a sword in his hand. Thus, if English language does not work, you can try your native language or a combination of English as well as your native language. However, always remember that any name or any word, howsoever complicated it might appear at first glance, can be cracked. What is required is a little bit of creativity and a little bit of patience! Remembering the Periodic Table Every high-school student is familiar with the periodic table. It is nothing but a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements, arranged on the basis of their atomic numbers, electronic configuration and recurring chemical properties. Here is a diagram of the standard periodic table:  As can be seen from the table, there are two elements in the first row: Hydrogen (H) and Helium (He). In the second row, we have Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Boron (B) and so on. The periodic table has over 100 elements arranged in multiple rows. However, most students do not have to memorize the entire table. It is sufficient for them to be well versed with elements in the first two or three rows. In this section, we will study a wonderful technique by which we can memorize all the elements in the first three rows of the periodic table with the help of a simple and funny story. Before we begin, however, let us get acquainted with the elements in the first three rows. Here they are: 1. Hydrogen 2. Helium 3. Lithium 4. Beryllium 5. Boron 6. Carbon  7. Nitrogen 8. Oxygen 9. Fluorine 10. Neon 11. Sodium 12. Magnesium 13. Aluminium 14. Silicon 15. Phosphorous 16. Sulphur/sulfur 17. Chlorine 18. Argon As can be seen, we have 18 elements to remember. We will now form a story with a code word on every line. This code word will help us remember the element associated with it. Let us have a look at this small story: ‘Once upon a time, there was a doctor named Mr Hydrogen. One day, he went up a hill and stayed in Hotel Lithium, where he ate a lot of strawberries. Feeling bored, he took out his car and boosted the nitro speed. Unfortunately, he banged an ox walking on the road. The ox fell on the floor and hurt its knee. The doctor consoled him with a bottle of soda and gifted him a magnetic leg made of aluminium rods. The ox looked very silly. He remembered the days when he was prosperous, but he was now destined to suffer. Even cloning was not possible. To avenge his suffering, he shot the doctor with his R-gun. ’  I strongly recommend that you read the story once again. Now, let us analyze the story in sequence, with the name of the elements in parentheses. Here we go: 1. One upon a time, a doctor named Mr Hydrogen (Hydrogen) 2. Went up a hill (Helium) 3. He stayed in Hotel Lithium (Lithium) 4. Where he ate straw-berry (Beryllium) 5. But after some time he got bored (Boron) 6. So he took out his car (Carbon) 7. And boosted the nitro speed (Nitrogen) 8. But banged an ox walking on the road (Oxygen) 9. The ox fell on the floor (Fluorine) 10. And hurt its knee (Neon) 11. The doctor gave it a bottle of soda (Sodium) 12. And gifted it a magnetic knee (Magnesium) 13. With aluminium rods (Aluminium) 14. The ox looked very silly (Silicon) 15. He remembered the days when he was prosperous (Phosphorous) 16. But now he was destined to suffer (Sulphur) 17. Even cloning was not possible (Chlorine) 18. To avenge his suffering, he shot the doctor with his R-gun (Argon)  A quick glance at the technique and you will see the simplicity with which we memorized all the elements. We shall now take a small test to check how much you have remembered. Test (a) One day a doctor named Mr H____________(H___________N) (b) Went up a H________ (H______M) (c) He stayed in Hotel L___________ (L__________M) (d) Where he ate S_____________ (B____________M) (e) But after some time he got B_______ (B_______N) (f) So he took out his C____ (C__________N) (g) And boosted the N_____ speed (N___________N) (h) But banged an O____ walking on the road (O________N) (i) The ox fell on the F_____ (F_________E) (j) And hurt its K_____ (N_______N) (k) The doctor gave it a bottle of S______ (S________M) (l) And gifted it a M_________ knee (M___________M) (m) With A___________ rods (A__________M) (n) The ox looked very S_____ (S________N) (o) He remembered the days when he was P_________(P___________S) (p) But now he was destined to S_________ (S________R) (q) Even C_______ was not possible (C__________E)  (r) To avenge his suffering, he shot the doctor with his R-____ (A______N) Three cheers to you if you remembered all the elements correctly! On the Internet, you will find many different techniques of remembering the periodic table. However, to be brutally honest, I was not satisfied with any of them; therefore, I decided to make my own technique. I sincerely hope you have liked it. Although I have discussed how to remember only the first three rows, you can go ahead and extend this story for the other rows too. Make sure your story is relevant as well as funny at the same time. With this, we have completed our study of the substitution system. We will now move on to techniques for remembering numbers. Chapter 8 The Conversion System One of the toughest challenges for a student is to remember numerical data. The human mind is designed in such a way that we can easily remember pictures, sentences, paragraphs and entire songs from our favourite albums, but find it difficult to remember numbers. If you meet a certain Mr John on the road whose telephone number is 9841752163, you will instantly remember his name as Mr John, but will take some time to remember his phone number. Further, if you do meet Mr John after one year, there is a high chance that you will still remember his name, but very little chance that you will remember his phone number. So, the obvious question is – How do we tackle this basic human inability to remember numbers? To address this concern, we have devised the Conversion System of memory. In this system, we convert each of the ten numerals from 0 to 9 into a picture or a photo. Nu