So does Bangalore have hard water?

How’s the traffic around the place?

How’s the community?

Is there space for washing machine?

My baby is too small and will I get a maid there?

The barrage of questions that came my way today were from a prospective tenant. She mentioned that her husband was throwing some angry looks at her but she went on putting me through a grilling session.

My crime was that I  own a flat which I bought with much effort and great love and which now I had to vacate to maneuver the menacing traffic of Bangalore.

The interrogation that my prospective tenant put me through made me wonder about my own poor questioning skills.

How many people do I question on an average? Do I ask enough questions to myself?

My daughter is now convinced that ‘deep thinking’ is the way to success. Do I practice deep thinking?

How many questions did I ask the owner before agreeing to the rent and the deposit he demanded of me? How many questions did I have for my employer before I joined the institution? Do I ask my family enough questions? Did I ask my parents any relevant questions? Did I question the choices they made for me? Do I ask my partner why he does what he does or why he does not do what he should do?

I like to believe in the goodness of things and that the world is in general a great place. I also like to believe in the power of the universe and her effort to get me what is best for me at any time.

But I do find myself of being of quite a ‘questionable’ character, I mean, random people shoot off questions to me.

So what do you do?

What does your husband do?

How old are you?

What do you have for breakfast?

Have you had any accident before? Yes, this literally took me aback, coming from someone in my team. She wanted to know how long I have been driving and how many accidents I have had.

I was like, goodness, what a great question to ask someone first thing in the morning!

Honestly, I rarely ask questions to others. I am very interested and usually find it offensive to ask too personal a question.

I have had to tell some of my ‘questioners’ to take a break and quit questioning, questioning me!

Now are the questions relevant, are they in the right spirit, are they even sensible?

My philosophy about questioning is that ask only if required. And ask personal questions, I ask them too rarely.

Asking a random person, so you never thought of a second child? or you never bought a house for yourself? or you never wanted to give up this relationship or you never wanted to consult a doctor can be as annoying as giving unsolicited advice to strangers.

While I understand the prospective tenant’s interest in getting to know more of the place, she is getting to, I am not sure how much an owner can be responsible for the weather, traffic, climatic conditions, quality of water etc. of the place.

But yes, I must thank her for getting me to rethink my questioning abilities. Perhaps it is time to relearn the ability to ask a question before getting into a situation. Perhaps!

But do you shoot random questions to random people?

Have you had people asking weird questions to you?