What is the question? │✔

| after the words

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A wall.

A blank uninteresting wall. Yet the creature was staring at it as if it was the most exquisite thing it had ever seen. Not to mention the string of ants watching her, the creature, wondering if Homosapiens' had really gone bonkers.

Did they even know that they themselves were the objects of fascination under her scrutiny?

The strange human called out for a person.

"Amma, where do ants live?"

The lady knew that her daughter was mad. The extent was something she was unaware of. Brushing it away as the madness of lockdown, she searched for an answer.

"Ant colony right? You don't even know that! Why are you asking that all of a sudden? Was that a question in your boards?"

Yes. She had just given her class tenth boards. And because of the lockdown, she was sure that their answer-sheets were misplaced. The results were delayed. And she was not in a hurry to receive them.

"Just like that Amma, just like that."

For the others, they were mere organisms under phylum Arthropoda or simply said, ants. For her, they were a society. And had she known their language, she would've been able to prove that they were just as ruthless as the human society was. Sophisticated to understand and even more to misunderstand.

Yes. The strange creature is the writer of this book. The one who flaunts her 'touch of madness' so that she can convince the world that she's not completely mad.

And that's the story behind the birth of 'What is the Question?'.

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Society.

A group of people with common territory, interaction, and culture.

Fair enough I guess. Fair enough. But not perfect. Then again, what is perfect?

What is society? How does one 'belong' to a society? Who is an individual? What is our identity? Do we get to shape it? Or is that predetermined?

Answers to these questions are rare. I know. Undefined. I know.

Then what should we do?

Perhaps.

Perhaps, we should ask ourselves, 'what is the question?'.

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· Who was the character you felt was the most striking?

· An honest rating for the book out of ten.

· Where do you think the writer could make improvements?

· Who do you think was the 'innocent' here?

· Guess the year in which the story is set.
(Hint: Subtly mentioned in chapter 5 of the first part)

· By the end of the book, what do you think its genre should be?

· Lastly, which theme do you think stood out the most?

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So. Where do I start?

A year. After one whole year I've successfully completed a book, yes a book, not a short story (even I'm surprised cause they are kind of like my arena), and that itself is a big achievement for me.

As a person who takes my own sweet time to write, as an author who might not be able to give her readers updates every time they demand, I had decided to write up the whole book and then publish it.

I thought it would be easy. But.

But.

Writing a book without any encouragements, any comments, boy it was tough!

.

To each and every one of you, friends and strangers, ladies and men, kids and elderly, mad and madder, unique and bland. Thank you. For sticking till the point where you have to read this. 

Thank you, once again.

.

Shakespeare once said, 'What's in a name?'

As a conclusion let me ask,

"Is everything not in a name?"