Questions

Last night, I was watching Mughal-e-Azam for, maybe the hundredth time. The movie shows Jahangir to be in love with Anarkali and wants to marry her against Akbar’s wishes. They defy Akbar’s law which puts Anarkali on the death row. Fortunately, her mother produces a ring which Akbar had given her when she informed him of his son’s birth. This ring could be produced anytime in Akbar’s lifetime to get any wish granted. One question which has always popped up at the end of the movie was: ‘Why the hell didn’t Anarkali’s mother wish for Anarkali to become the Princesses when she reproduced Zin-e-Ilahi’s ring rather than merely wishing for the nullification of her death sentence?’ This question has remained unanswered since always and will be so for eternity.

Well, questions! There are a lot of them, with and without answers. But few of them, simply put, are not supposed to be asked at all. Say, what if Andy Dufrense had not got the last cell towards the bulwark, but one somewhere in the middle? Where would he have dug the hole to free himself? Oh! And Why is it that Hermione did not use her time-turner to bring back Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore or Dobby when she could make Buckbeak spring back to life? And in what language do the deaf people think when they could never hear any? Why do you call it a Television set when it’s only one Television? Why is does a fridge have a light while freezer doesn’t? Why is it that the question mark requires the usage of ‘shift’ and is above ‘/’ while you use it much more than ‘/’?

One may try answering any of these, but one should not. They are the best when they’re left as they are. The perennially perplexed questions which would botch up all the sense the world dribbles if they’re given answers. You can keep on throwing questions at yourselves until you reach the ultimate one: ‘why did God create the Apple fruit and place restrictions over it for Adam and Eve in Heaven? What was the point?’. Well, as Denny Crane says in the very first episode of Boston Legal, “Questions like that will kill you. You don’t ask. That’s the point!” There are enough questions which are awaiting answers. These don’t have to be a part of them!

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