On Monday morning one of my colleagues who sat besides, looked a bit bothered. I am not the one to initiate prying into someone’s troubles on my own. Some might not agree with it, but as I have found, if you are a good listener people often open up about their thoughts or any form of issue on their own.
But in this case, I had to do the talking first, since he had given me that look with that kind of smile which says ‘you need to say something about what’s bothering me even though I am trying to pretend to show it isn’t’.
“The weather is a bit challenging, people are down with fever all around,” I said, poking a stick on the surface of the water so that it might hint at what’s beneath
“Yes,” he spoke and I listened, “my aunt, her husband and her son are all down with fever.”
“I hope they recover soon,” I said and he nodded. I thought this was it, I have effectively listened and responded to his issue.
But then he spoke, “You know I was watching this show on the weekend”
“The whole weekend?” I asked
“Yeah,” he said and then there was an expression which said ‘maybe I shouldn’t have done so’ but the expression faded and he looked at me, “it was a good show”
“I will check it out. Send me the link to the OTT platform it is at,” I said, but the way he said ‘I will’ next sounded like there was something more. I waited for it and then it came.
“When was the last time someone asked if you were happy with your life?” he asked
“I don’t think I have ever been asked that,” I said, “have you been asked?”
“Yes, once by a career counsellor,” he said
“Personally?”
“It was on the ad”
“Understood”
“Why don’t we say it? It is a very comforting question, right?” he asked
“It was said in the show?” I asked
“Yes,” he said, “and it made the other person feel so much better answering it”
I imagined being asked the question and it did make me feel better given that I would actually speak about my life, which wouldn’t occur in the real world.
“I think the question required a degree of personal touch which we don’t share with most people and sometimes with no one,” I said
“Ohh…” he said, drowning into his own thoughts and since we were on the topic after a brief pause, I asked, “So, Vivek, are you happy with your life?” After all, that is what he ‘wanted’.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “The Question”
Interesting.
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