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8 October 2026
When we are children, almost everything begins with a question.
Why does the moon follow us?
Why do people grow old?
Why does rain smell different from water?
Why do some people stay, while others leave?
We ask without embarrassment. We are not afraid that someone will think the question is foolish.
Then life happens.
We go to school, find work, build families, accept responsibilities, learn what is expected of us. Gradually, we become better at answering questions and strangely less willing to ask them.
Perhaps that is one of the quiet changes of growing older.
Albert Einstein once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
I have always liked that thought because curiosity is not merely a child’s quality. It may be one of the things that keeps a person young long after youth has gone.
There are questions we should perhaps return to—not because we need answers, but because the questions themselves keep something alive inside us.
What still surprises me?
What have I changed my mind about?
What have I never really understood?
And, perhaps the most important one—
What am I still curious enough to discover?
Rajat Chandra Sarmah, Guwahati, Assam, India, Instagram @rajatchandrasarmah, YouTube: conversewithasmile, email rajatchandrasarmah@gmail.com
