One would normally kink one's eye brows on a Y following a Q. Right since our childhood we have been fed with Qs and As( read Questions and Answers), most of us continue to follow this trend of Qs and As all our lives as the level and span of questions posed keep on changing. While as apprentices  the questions are posed by our mentors, later on life itself takes the shape of the mentor and poses questions at every step of our lives. Thus Qs and As play an important role in our lives and our satisfaction either inner or the outer one depends on how we are able to answer these questions. As we move forward in this game of Qs and As we come across an interesting observation.
The letter Q is closely associated with us as people at large in yet another of its forms. The word queue as we pronounce it closely resembles the letter Q. Having a close look around in our society we often see that this Q is being poorly followed rather grossly violated and the response that nowadays follows this letter is usually the letter Y that is over brimmed with the rebellious undertone of Why?? This reflects the general image of the present times where the virtues of a disciplined nation have been thrown to winds and widespread disarray in all aspects prevails that has engulfed every sphere of life in its monstrous waves. The tsunami of indiscipline and intolerance has inundated the whole society and irrespective of class, age and occupation we all have fallen prey to this vice. This is an offshoot of Pride the worst form of all the vices and as the old saying goes Pride hath a fall we must foresee a certain doom. The fallout of our vices has already taken its toll and the happenings around us are a clear indicator of the impending catastrophe. It is the law of nature that a certain degree of laxity is often provided by the Providence to enable one to take advantage of and mend ones ways however in a situation otherwise a penalty is imposed in one form or the other and when people at large continue to enjoy this moratorium without any trace of remorse, the race as a large is subject to one or the other form of punishment.
A simple form of the deviation of Qs is a common sight at various public offices, banks post offices, railway stations etc. since most of us wear Pride as our ornament we find it hard to stand in a Q to wait for our turn. In a piteously poor sense of self importance we all feign to be privileged and on one pretext or the other exude an aura of distinction that is seldom based on any quality of par excellence. As a matter of fact such self projections are often based on ignorance coupled with monetary factor often garnered through unjustifiable means. This is one offspring of corruption that has seeped into the very vitals of our society and all of us are harvesting the bitter fruits of this vicious weed.
The subject matter of this article does sound like a cliché and we often tend to scratch our heads and look in other directions feigning indifference but the fact is that it would not be too long before this indifference to the basic facts overthrows us all from our lofty pedestals propped on sheer sham. The situation that we are witnessing is beckoning us again and again to mend our ways.
Any effort by this nation in any direction cannot bear any long lasting fruit unless we are disciplined. Unless we learn to wait in a Q we cannot reach our destination. Unless we get acquainted with this letter and instead of using Y for Why, we learn to say Y for Yes we would be facing a big NO in the larger spheres of life.
At the end of the day we get caught in this conflict of Qs and Ys wherein we are lost in petty pursuits of self glorification and vanity. The greater goals of Qs and As remain untouched and unsought. The quest for the answers of life and beyond life just stay out of our reach as we are already tangled in the dog fight of Qs and Ys unfortunately which is precisely the reason why not many people strive for the greater cause of mankind.  
Time is already flying away and more often than not leaves everyone with little chance to reclaim the lost ground. The tragedy with us is that we are unaware of what we are losing at a fast pace. The vicious currents of all the outcomes of our misdoings are already flowing fast and unless we have the moral strength to turn around and swim against the tide we would simply be washed away and a nation would perhaps just remain a speck on our already tampered history. And yes!! we have already started to use all means to get rid of the mighty Chinars so their fire as will be too weak to rekindle our frozen souls.

(The writer can be mailed at xahid77@gmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST