Are you happy?

An often asked simple question, or is it? Come to think of it, the last few times I have been asked that question, it has been in situations where I had been nagging (anyone care to substitute it with a more manly word?). The person with me finally gave into my demands and the question was actually a way of saying – I am giving in…Now get off my back. Even if someone says – I hope you are happy, it is usually in a frustrated mood actually meaning – I am not happy about it, and I hope you are neither. I don’t remember the last time anyone asked it to me in its actual sense, as a plain, simple question.

Even if it was done so, is it equally simple to answer it, truthfully? I remember being in autopilot giving the response – yes, even if I may have thought otherwise. Actually, this thought was triggered off in my head by an episode of Frasier I was watching. Like the protagonist, the more time I took to answer this question, the more difficult the response became. If you take five seconds to think on it, the last incident on your mind will determine your answer. I had a good meal at the mess (for a change), so I thought yes. Then I gave it a minute. My mind started running backwards. And the answer kept changing as I tried to sum up all the incidents of my life I could remember. The deeper I probe, the more complicated it gets, and the answer is yet to come. Although one thing is sure, when I get an answer, I will be in a good position to assess what I want to do next.

So, in the greater scheme of all things put together, would you say you are happy?