THE ART OF COUNTER- QUESTION

The title may have led you to believe that I am going to write about questions asked at a counter – at the bank, at the post office, at the railway station and the like. Sorry to disappoint you!  Read along and enjoy (or should I say suffer)!

Winston Churchill was once asked about his position on whisky.
Here's how he answered:
Quote: "If you mean whiskey the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that topples men and women from the pinnacles of righteous and gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, shame, despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am opposed to it with every fiber of my being."
"However, if by whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the elixir of life, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes;

if you mean good cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an elderly gentleman on a frosty morning;

if you mean that drink that enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies and heartbreaks and sorrow;

if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of pounds each year, that provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb , our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of it."
Unquote

This shows how great orators and scribes (Churchill was both - 'England expects every man to do his duty' - remember Sir Winston Churchill received Nobel Prize for literature) can handle any question deftly leaving the questioner dumb-founded (It is usually the recipient of the question that gets tongue-tied!).

Another such illustrious person was our own Shri Morarji Desai, former Prime Minister (of ‘pissky’ fame!). He could floor any press person with a counter question to every question that was asked of him. The questioner was none the wiser on the subject of discussion. And our dear Desai never gave away any information!

This is not easy because your counter question should be relevant to what is asked of you and should at the same time not answer the question asked of you – a tricky art! It is not simple tit for tat!

That reminds me of Bernard Shaw. A lady accosted him at a party and told him that she had wagered with a friend of hers that she will make Bernard Shaw say at least three words even though she was not acquainted with him. To which in his inimitable style, Shaw said, ‘you lose’. Such is the ready wittedness of Shaw whose quotes on several things like Oats, Cricket, Britain and America make delightful reading!