Toddler’s Tale for The People: Lesson 2 - Q&A

There is no such thing as a stupid question.

- Anonymous

Asking Questions (right/ wrong is subjective) - prerequisite of any Consulting and Business Analysis profession.

Personally, I keep my questions with me till the last lag of any conversation in the hope of someone else will cover this. On this very habit, my friend and colleague Shekhar Mandlik once commented “You always drop a bomb at the last”.

Intention is not to drop a bomb or take a center stage, but a thought of someone else will cover this.

I was never able to understand whether this self-imposed restraint is natural, or I have conditioned myself into this.

COVID and WFH setup is a blessing in disguise where I get to spend more time with my 2-year (closer to 3-year mark) old daughter and see her growing day by day. Now her words are forming sentences which has expressions, observations, and most importantly questions. Some of them she learnt from surrounding conversations and others are from her cartoons, Wolfoo and Peppa.

Once I gave pat on her back and as a reflex question was shot back to me.

"????? ?? ??? ????????" which means “Why did you pat on Aadhyaa's back?”.

Immediate question, seeking an explanation caught me off guard. All I could answer is "You did a good job." and she smiled.

This is just one example. These days she have tons of questions for us like,

1. What are you doing?
2. Where are you papa? Etc.

If her questions are unheard, she will repeat it continuously.

If her questions are not answered, she increases volume and adds expressions.

As Bhagat Singh said and practiced, we are wired to raise a question with greater intensity, if they are unheard or unanswered.

Eventually, I need to answer her in a manner, she can comprehend instead of using jargons, diversionary words. One can still try to stay politically correct. No guarantee of success.

Now looking at her, I can confidently say we are wired to be curious and ask questions. Over the time these questions subside as we do not want to make anyone uncomfortable with the questions. This may be because of a social order, professional decorum or plain simple go with the flow attitude.

My daughter reminds me to ask questions fearlessly and nurturing me to answer them comprehensively.

After all question represents Quest of a knowledge, awareness, and dialogue.

Questions may or may not be stupid, but answers certainly echo intelligence, empathy and adaptability level of an individual.

Questions reflect our understanding of the world and answers reflect our perspective of the world.

Hence, to me Question is a Quest of an Ion where Ion may become a positive or negative depending on individual’s view of question and answer.

Remember to Question Fearlessly, Answer Comprehensively.