My side… Your side

We’re surrounded by questions… and some of us see invading Huns in them or stalkers or crouched predators. Just look at RaGa and you’ll know what questions can do to your psyche. Consider the sort of questions Ambani would never want to hear. Then there are questions that silence will ask a man who reaches home late. Or the ones that you don’t want to read in the eyes of your parents after your result is declared. But the truth with questions is that there is always a ‘my side’ and a ‘your side’.

There is another truth that many of us wouldn’t be happy to know. Each of us has a politician, a journalist, a suffering sales executive, a CEO, a student, a parent, a friend, an enemy,  an actor, an adventurer, an activist… well, the list is actually endless. We are a heady mix of an infinite number of identities in the guise of an individual. Yes, go ahead and ask, ‘Are there animals too hidden in our personality?’ Well, yes, we can be foxy, wolfish, hawkish, and we can go roaring, purring, slurping, or we can slither, gnarl, bark, and yelp! Phew! We are a whole lot more complex than we can ever imagine ourselves to be. So it is because of this that most of us hate questions. If the fox loves a question, the snake might get uncomfortable… if the puppy likes one, the cat may feel offended… if the politician accepts a question, the activist might squirm and so on.

So let me imagine 10 of my favourite personalities resident in me and the one question each of them dread. And for the sake of this post, I’ll put each of these questions in a couplet.

The blogger within me dreads…

No Indi-likes your posts manage
Will you make it to the victory stage?

The writer within me dreads…

This novel, dear friend, which you are writing
Is it cuddly, sour, bitter, or biting?

The reviewer within me dreads…

Two days ago I sent my book
My review, sir, how soon you’ll cook?

The father within me dreads…

You haven’t sent, haven’t done, haven’t bought
When will you do all that I’ve sought?

The husband within me dreads…

Junk food is not what you must eat
When will you jog or walk or be on your feet?

The winner within me dreads…

Another phone now you have won
Won’t you now give me at least one?

The lethargic man within me dreads…

I wait a thousand miles away
When will those pictures come my way?

The disciplined one within me dreads…

I see you have a pen, may I
Fill my form with it, may I?

The poet within me dreads…

He writes poetry, tweets them too
Will you recite a few that are new?

The thinker within me dreads…

I know you’re thinking something wow
Your thoughts, will you tell me now?

Specky, my wife, was reading the rhymes as I was writing, and asked, ‘That’s it? You dread or hate just these ten questions?’ Her smile told me that she had a boxful of them for me that would make me hop-skip-and-jump like a water droplet on a heated car bonnet, so I calmly told her that this was just a start. There are hundreds of personalities within me and each of them has at least one question that they despise… but I’ll list them all someday in another post.

10 question you hate being asked. #10Questions
Topic posted by Narasimha Sharma Veturi under Memoirs – 17 votes
Post written on the topic in Edition 7 on Indispire on Indiblogger

Arvind Passey
04 April 2014