Brain fade is a modern epidemic

Brain fade is definitely in the running for the leading ailment of our times, with just that right mix of unmindfulness and carelessness, with a generous dash of forgetfulness thrown in. It also has the admirable ability to infect anyone, with those in the public eye being the most susceptible.

So, while India’s cricket captain Virat Kohli may be sceptical about his Australian counterpart’s recent claims of suffering brain fade, the fact is Steve Smith is not the first nor the last sportsperson to be thus affected. Politicians are another high-risk segment. Former British PM David Cameron, for instance, publicly revealed himself to be a victim of this ailment in 2015 when trying to explain how he got his favourite football team wrong, and even alluded to another politician’s use of the term to explain away her own poor explanation of party policies. It is clear, therefore, why election season in particular always sees a rise in the incidence of brain fade in India.

Actually, the phrase should be regarded as the logical progression of a series of afflictions related to brain evanescence, from brain fog way back in 1853 to brain lock in 1934 to brain freeze in 1988. Why this malady is practically an epidemic is also a no-brainer: there’s no known preventive or cure as yet — and none is wanted either.