What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
In the period of four breaths, I looked up at Mrs Hirani’s face twice. The second time I noticed she was still as eager as she was the first time to listen to what I had to say. I don’t know how many of you have also come across this question when you were small, but in my time, it was disturbingly common- ‘Whom do you like more, your mother or your father?’
This is the first question of my life which I hated so much that I still vividly remember the feeling. I did not answer it back then, although I must say, as I grew the answer became quite apparent due to a variety of factors.
“Have you seen the number of gold medals he has?” said my best friend in third grade of school to me. Yeah, school and the initial objects of achievements, the medals and trophies in sports until scoring academically became the single most determinant factor of life. I had a few bronze medals and a silver back then, but I hated it when she asked me that question. Maybe she had a crush on him, who knows, they never got into a relationship, the last I knew they were labelled ‘like brothers and sisters’ by their parents.
As you might have guessed, or not, scoring in higher classes was also the answer to the question average students in school like me hated the most ‘How much did you score in the finals?’ So many paths have I walked upon back then on my teenage feet and there are many that I have avoided upon spotting the person who would ask me that question.
The academic line of questioning doesn’t end till academics do in your life; which college did you graduate from, which university did you go to for your post-graduation and then a few more.
When all that is gone and you begin to work, the next question can be a bit tricky, especially where I live. ‘What do you do as a profession?’ If it’s one of the preferred and popular professions around, then you would receive the expression of admiration in return or else the satisfactory ‘well yeah that is also fine’ expression. Well, I did not select the preferred profession, but I did get the last laugh. The small businesses around came to light due to social media and it was realised how much more these simple businesses were actually earning than the high-profile professions out there. No wonder everyone is out with a startup idea nowadays.
If there is a question that I particularly hate, it would be ‘How much do you make in a year?’ The thing about this question is that, it’s not your parents, teachers or professors asking, it’s your very friends you have grown up with, believing that they were the ones who would never ask anything that would be this uncomfortable. That’s betrayal on a whole new level.
On a serious note, though, what difference does it make whether I earn more or less than someone. What happiness will it give to anyone or even to me? I am out here to do my work and every day I think about that and ways to improve upon it. The purpose is just so much underrated than the wealth, but it’s everyone’s free will and no one is wrong. If money is what makes you happy then it’s completely fine. But as for me I just hate asking or being asked that question.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 