Question rightly

"It does not matter what answers you get, if you ask wrong questions" - Jim Thompson

"Sir, when is the last train from here to Hubli ?" the person in front of me in the queue at the railway inquiry counter asked. "09:30 PM" he got the answer. The highly inquisitive person did not stop at that - "Is there any train after that ?" . If you know the answer for this and if you think these people at the inquiry counter will be enthusiastic enough in reading some stuff  after answering all the questions for the day, please share it with them !

Imagine you are in a celebration party. It is highly probable that some new face would be coming across you carrying a small kid, fondling him all the while. It is also highly probable that you also fondle the kid a bit and then ask "what is your name?" and to please the "carrying" person you will go one step ahead - "he resembles you a lot" with out knowing that the kid is not actually his but his neighbors !!


You might have heard the above joke in many movies. You might have read this joke many times. Why take so much pain, if you just close your eyes and think of a few stale, sick  jokes, this one will top the list for sure. Then you must be wondering why I wrote this here. Reason is simple, you will never stop carrying around your neighbour's kid whenever you get an opportunity ! If at all you don't have that habit, you will never stop completing your right question with a wrong "value added sentence" just to please the other party !!

I also had faced an interview with my wife and child, for LKG school admission. Three senior citizens were talking to us. "Your elder child also studies here right?" One of the talkative citizens asked me. "Yes sir, our elder on also studies here". The next question from him kept me quiet- "So when  will you come for your third child's admission". I kept quiet at that moment because our child's admission was very important for us, then on I kept quiet through out my life so that I don't face them again with another child of ours !!!

Also, how much ever right your question is, there is a right a forum to ask the same. Our company chairman was addressing us in the annual meet to his employees. Venkat, one of our colleagues asked a right question "Sir, we give lots of importance to our company values, especially to Integrity. But we doctor our CVs while submitting them to prospective customer to convince him our suitability in projects". We all knew it was a genuine question, we used to say in our CVs that we were fairly conversant with "C programming"  after just reading C Manual and successfully completing "Hello World" program and a few more. It was a necessity during those initial times, when we were dying for projects and live project experience was rare for many of us. But, Venkat need not have raised it in an open forum, he could have sent an email to all concerned, as he was upset with this "exaggerating"  process.

Right questions deserve right answers. I vividly remember, his name was Balaji. I was taking his final interview in his college campus after he cleared necessary tests. So I inquired about his siblings. "My eldest brother is in US working for a law firm. Another brother had migrated to Canada. Another one is doing higher studies in Australia". I asked Balaji "Don't you think you should also follow their steps and should not waste your time in an Indian company like ours ?  If I am in your place I would have definitely done that". Soon came Balaji's reply "I am not you" !! Balaji got selected !!!!

Please ask questions only when there is a need. Chances are high that many of those questions would turn out to be right ones then.

Today, my question to you is "Did you read this blog from start till the end  !!!!!?