memory failure

Almost twenty years of teaching and each year I have about 300 students under me. Do I remember them? Students from my first four years of teaching in Pantai Remis and Port Dickson .... definitely out of my memory. In this last month, I encountered a few incidents that challenged my memory:

I sat in front of a salesgirl with KC at Maxis Center and the girl exclaimed, 'Pn Ting.....' She went on and on trying to help me recall who she is as she tried to bring to my mind one name after another. I couldn't remember and while she served KC, I kept looking at her and finally I was able to see some familiarity. It took me a while to dig into my memory bank and link her to some faces in the past. Phew....what a test.

A few days ago in Tesco I saw a face that looked familiar. She gave me an extra glance which I ignore as I just couldn't place her. Then she approached me and said,' Miss, are you a teacher from SMKP?' Well, again I struggled to bring my memory bank up. I could remember her face but I just don't know who she is exactly and what were our teacher/student relationship like. Of course she was able to tell me I used to scold her etc etc. She has two kids already!!

Yet another incident while I was going up the escalator; I heard a small voice saying 'Pn Ting..' I turned around and saw a bunch of young giggling girls and could not recognize any of them. Must have heard wrongly. KC stopped me and asked me to acknowledge them because he heard very clearly my name being called. So I turned around and asked the one whom the rest were looking at, 'Do I know you?' She replied; 'Teacher, I am Thong....' . Oh my goodness!!!! What a shock. Thong is in my present Form 1class! I looked at her again then my mind just clicked. I couldn't recognize her out of her uniform and she looked so good in hot pants, boots and long hair.

What has happened to my memory? I always tell KC that I am a public figure because when I go out I bump into students knowing or unknowingly. So I must dress properly and behave properly. But I don't seem to be remembering them anymore.....It is quite embarassing when cornered and I just can't recall them.