By its very design [?], the shape of a human head, it indicates that with a simple stroke of graphic ingenuity, our unceasing mental processes are permanently engaged in a forest of fertile fantasies, forever figuring out what our future and fortunes are all about. A disciple with deep devotion for his Spiritual Master, after complete surrender to his infallible wisdom, being a skeptic rather than a cynic, once asked him: “Should one ask questions?” The Master replied: “You asked a question, and that is your answer”. The answer always lies not in what comes after we ask the question, but instead before, our question itself embodies the answer. Before we punctuate our thoughts with that ingenious bit of intellectual expression, which depicts an empty head, {?}, with the question: What is existence all about? The answer lies in the very words of the enquiry: “We exist hence we can ask the question”. The period, or full stop, {.}, under that hollow head is telling us: “Stop, don’t look any further, your question is the answer”!
Winston Churchill spelt it out for us: “Life is a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma and tied up with a mystery!” The great Bard himself, exercising his supreme linguistic faculties, posted this all-time dilemma that engulfs every philosophical pursuit: “To be, or not to be”. And he doesn’t even apply the question mark, which in fact projects that traumatic postulation to infinity.
A more current example that demonstrates the power of the “q” mark by its very absence is the name of the world’s arguably, most prolific and universal internet App: WhatsApp. A simple 8-letter word that changed the way we all communicate and manage our lifestyles. It’s obvious that the inventor was intuitively inspired by our ubiquitous greeting: Hey, what’s up? Perhaps the most articulate pun of all time. Using this invaluable service does both, tells the receiver what’s happening on the sender’s side, and also asking what’s going on at the receiver’s side. Today, it’s the best tool we have to monitor and manage the wayward machinations of our elected representatives. A priceless tool that’s (almost) free, fearsome for some, and a formidable foe for the less fortuitous. You can mentally impose your presence anywhere, anytime with anyone!
The questions we generate about the way we are governed are never-ending, the major concern, priority numero uno, is “Why?” Why don’t we/they ever get things done the way it wants to be?
The questions don’t end there. We are totally engrossed in precisely the opposite direction of a definitive answer. The questions and that ever present q mark, in its infinite wisdom, predictably, prevail.
Let’s see if that’s correct. We ask: “What is life all about?” So according Mr. Q Mark’s wisdom the answer should be: “Life is all about living”.
The Pundits unceasingly declare: “Only when one begins to raise the questions (Who am I, Where have I come from, Where am I going, Why am I here, How did I get here, Who/What brought me here); it’s only then that one qualifies to be called a Human Being”. Add a q mark to each of those intellect-engaging little queries, and you get the answers. The source of wisdom lies within each of us and the only purpose in life is to find that source at which moment, the questions, and that pesky little q mark, cease to exist. One attains a status where everything one needs to know, is known.
Then more questions. Knowing for certain that we carry an “expiry date”, for life and death begin at the same moment, this question: How long will I be in possession of the “human being” tag? That’s one big mystery we hold secret until the very last breath. Better not knowing, for between the “now” and “then”, it becomes our bounden duty to live for as long as we can, in good health, in peace and intricate harmony with Nature, the motherly source of our “mortal coil”. She provides much more than what we will ever need to fulfill every wish and desire that engages our imagination.
But instead, yes, but instead, we twist it all around and find ourselves sloshed in oceans of pain and misery. But why? (That q (?) mark again)! We possess all the required wealth and technology, all the wisdom to confront and solve, and dissolve, every obstacle in our path, we already have all the blueprints to create an existence exactly the way life wants to be. It’s time to gear up and clear up, to clean up and team up, starting from the top and from the bottom, to double-speed all that needs to be done. It will, and can, and should be done, no “questions”, and “?” marks to follow.
Our Legislators must be made aware of this: that along with the enthusiastic, educated and exuberant effort of their electorates, and the governing body’s clean and open-heartedness, their professional expertise and experience, their commitment to unitedly endeavour to work towards the welfare of the citizens of the State, to clean up all criminality and corruption within, and without, the sacred confines of the legislative chambers, that together we can make this wonderful Goa attain a style and standard of living that could be the envy of the universe! We know all the questions, and problems, that need to be addressed. Going by the Q&A Rule of Thumb, (the relation between the question and answer), we already have the answers. It’s time to get started, no questions asked, no ifs, ands, and buts. When the Government and its people cannot exist without each other, then why this constant and continuous confrontation between the elected candidates and their constituents?
And of course, the big question about the degenerate condition we have heaped upon the environment, our Mother Earth, Bob Dylan: “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind”.
Are we listening?
(The author is now a permanent resident of Goa after many years of living in Mumbai, New York and London)
