Can’t Remember Nuttin’

We both fear that with age and the stress of so many changes in our lives that we will be struck down with an incurable syndrome called CRS (Can’t Remember Shit). We fight off CRS by making lists of things we must do the moment we think of the task. A day or even hours later when we read the list we marvel at our earlier clarity of intent. That’s right; eggs, bread and toilet paper. How could we possibly have forgotten?

We asked the same question of our new 256 MB flash memory card for our Canon digital camera. It appears our new memory card was not a list maker and it had its own memory problem.

We realized during conversation over dinner with fellow expats that we were in the technology backwaters when it came to digital cameras. Among the conversations we shared was our quaint story of how we marveled a small band of children months earlier. We took their “snaps” with our digital camera, filled the memory card to capacity and then downloaded the snaps to Helen’s laptop, only to repeat the process three or four times. There were looks of incredulity at the table. Hmmm…. “My camera will take up to 400 pictures before filling the memory card.” A nod of comparative experience was conveyed about the table. We opted not to engage in any further dueling memory card capacity and moved on to other pleasant banter. We took a few “snaps” with our digital camera when dinner was over and resolved to explore our memory card capacity shortcomings in the privacy of our own home.

We selected our digital camera from a website shortly before leaving for India. Camera operation was easy. Point, click, download, repeat. Eggs, bread, toilet paper, repeat. We had a rhythm that was working for us.

We realized that the camera originally shipped with only a 32 MB memory flash card. We resolved to increase the size of our memory card. We have a trip to Italy approaching and we wanted to have the same expansive picture capacity of our dinner guests. But where does one buy a digital camera flash memory card? India is not awash with stores such a Circuit City, Wolf Camera, or Wal-Mart where an electronic selection can be found.

We trooped to the Forum shopping center (the high-priced mall in Bangalore) and found the only camera store. We put down 2,800 rupees ($63) and slid in a 256 MB memory card. We thought we were now on top of the world. We soon discovered the new card would display not pictures, but more frequently only a small notice indicating corrupt data. Pictures taken were pictures lost. In the “no return” policy of India, we trooped back to the store and exchanged the memory card. We did that three times to the marvel of no one. Finally, we said we needed to try another brand or have our camera examined for a possible defect. We looked for another camera shop and finally found Camera Citi. We paid 1,800 rupees ($40) and slid in a new 256 MB memory card. “Top of world, Ma!” We have pictures again. Click!