Questions...

 The world is a funny place. There are so many things around me that peaks up my curiosity in my surroundings  that continue to fascinate me every single day. 

Last day, I was conference calling my parents who happen to be abroad. The mood was very light. Everyone, those in the call and those around me, was in a good mood and we felt open to one another and weirdly happy like one does when one is in a good mood. Out of the blue, my father asked us- "Why do you think it is that milk boils and jumps over the vessel but water doesn't jump over after it boils?" It was a good question and as a science student, I took it upon myself to find out why. Hence, like any normal person, I googled it. Talk about high end research.

Google was extremely confusing. What I expected was a pretty simple answer, like you usually do. Why does this happen? Because of this. This was my expectation.  But what I received as a reply was so complex, that I thought I would have to get a degree just to understand it. Google's reply to me reminded me of the time my mum asked my sister who had finished the Nutella jar and she replied that French fries were not made in France. It was a completely different answer, one did not expect it and my doubt remained, haunting me through the night.

The next morning, after successfully losing a lot of sleep thinking about milk and water, I decided to get to the bottom of my doubt. I asked my grandma what she thought was the reason. I admit it was my fault and I shouldn't have done that because she seemed really frustrated. When I confirmed this, it was too late, because she snapped at me asking "Why do you care what happens? Can't you just drink the milk and go?" A little shaken, but mostly undeterred, I continued on my journey to seek the truth. I asked my extremely superstitious neighbor about what she thought of the subject. Saying that it was a big mistake would be an understatement. It was a HUGE mistake. She said it was because the Gods were angry at me. 

Stunned to hear a clearly stupid answer, I laughed for a long time. However, after my mirth had subsided, I saw that the expression on her face was a clear cut frown. So I tried to reason with her. What did she think I should do, I asked her. She replied that the only way to stop the madness of the water and milk was to take a handful of a mixture that constituted chilli powder, salt and pepper, shake it in the air 3 times, drop it on the ground and plant a tulsi where the mixture had fallen. I stood there dumbstruck. I bet there probably was an actual question mark and exclamation mark hovering over my very confused head because my sister looked sideways at me, her mouth twisted into a very mischievous grin. She knew that I had to deal with this somehow and so she added salt to my injury by saying that the gods would be even more pleased if the person offering the sacrifice bathed thrice a day. My neighbor agreed, a grim expression on her face, while I, at a loss for words, stood with my mouth open for so long that I eventually choked on a fly that had flown straight into my throat.

I'd had enough of all of this when I returned, dejected, to my bed that night. Not only had I been unsuccessful in finding the right answer from any person I had asked, I was also stuck bathing thrice a day. It was more than I could handle. I decided not to stress myself further and move on from the question. I recovered from the backlash of my doubt, very generously provided by the people around me. The recovery was slow, but steady. By two days, I had completely forgotten about it. My mind was at peace and I felt the good vibe again. That night, we watched FIR, a channel program that summarizes all the crimes of our state that took place that day. It was about people who died by suicide, or killed someone else, their loved ones or people they didn't even know of. While watching the program, I felt a new thought creeping into my mind- was poison still poisonous after it had expired? Google's answer successfully drove me mad again. I had to further resort to asking the question to my parents, who called that night. Keep in mind that my other family members had warned my parents on my crazy behavior regarding the milk and water incident. Naturally, like any concerned parents, mine also stressed on the fact that the whole village had called to report my strange doubt. It was precisely when they were about to confront me on this- whether or not I had turned crazy, that I asked the new doubt about poison. I will have to stop here because I cannot describe the horror that crept in the eyes of everyone who had heard me ask the query.