Friday, July 20, 2018

How to remember names of people you meet on your travels - such as Haresh and Manish

Problem
I meet a lot of people. Sometimes I note their names. Then I forget, or remember just two letters, or muddle up two names. This week I was puzzling over Haresh and Manish.

Answers
I could remember that both names had a SH. But what were the vowels, the initial letters? My usual method, if it's a club I visit, is to take a photo of them, ask for their email and send it to them. If I am lucky, their name is part of their email. If not I can add it. Easiest is to add their name or nickname after the club name.

I can also look at last week's agenda. If only one of them attended, and his name is on the agenda, that's the one.

They then go into my contacts or into my faces on photo.

However, I still belonged to a club with two members called Haresh and Manish. If I could find one, I could identify the other. I looked up both names in photos. No use.

So I looked up both names on the internet. Success!

Manish is Hindu for God of the mind. M for Manish, M for Mind. Manish is the Man with the Mind.

Haresh stands for the God Krishna. You can push the horizontal of the H to the left to get Karesh, Kresh, Krish, Krishna. However, I don't really need to remember Krishna. The important thing is to get back from Krishna to Krish, to Hrish, to Haresh.

Having spent ten minutes or more on both these names, I can forget all the links. Each time I hear the name Manish, or Karesh, during the meeting, it reinforces my effort to remember and attach the correct name to the face.

This is all very time-consuming. Easier and quicker to just talk to somebody about their name. Or get them to wear badges at the club, take a photo of them, or a selfie with them, making sure their badge is included.

Now I know the name I must start using it. I can say to Manish, "Hello, Manish, good to see you."

I can ask somebody else, "Is Manish coming tonight?"

I can ask Manish, "Do you ever get post (mail) which changes your name?"

I can ask, "Does everybody in your family have a name starting with M?" Or I can ask, "Does anybody else in your family have a name starting with M?"

Once you have made a connection with a name, you can use it next time you meet somebody with the same name.

I met people called Manish and Haresh in London, England. I am also likely to meet them at an Indian restaurants worldwide, in Little India or a Toastmasters Club in Singapore, in India, on an Air India flight.

I might ask somebody from a call centre their name and write it down, in case I want to call back later in the day. I say, "Your name is Manish? I have a friend called Manish. Do you have an extention, Manish? Are you the only person in the office called Manish?"

I can do the same when calling a department store, or an airline, or a travel agent.

You can use the same technique for other names and other languages. Also when saying your own name. I might ask, "Do you know any other Angelas?" "What is the equivalent of Angela in your language?

Travel Websites
visitbritain.com
visitlondon.com

Author
Angela Lansbury


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