java SAX parser giving NullPointerException after change in working code

I'm modifying an app that loads data dynamically from an XML file that contains a quiz and displays questions and replies. The change consists in the fact that i want to load a single(hardcoded for now) file instead of using a JFileChooser.

Here's the relevant code working before(undefined variables are class attributes but i won't post the whole class declaration):

public ClassConstructor()
{
  JMenuItem load = new JMenuItem("Load");
  ...
}

load.addActionListener(new ActionListener()
        {
        public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent e )
        {       
            if(status == UNSAVED_CHANGES)
            if(JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(gThis , "There are unsaved changes. Continue?" , "Unsaved changes" , JOptionPane.OK_CANCEL_OPTION) == 2)
                return;

            int returnVal = filePick.showOpenDialog(new JPanel()); 

            if(returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) 
            { 
                try
                {
                    load(filePick.getSelectedFile().getCanonicalPath());
                    pathname = filePick.getSelectedFile().getCanonicalPath();
                }
                catch(IOException f)
                {
                    System.out.println(f);
                }

                setupQuestion("q1");
                openingLabel.setText(theBase.getDocumentElement().getAttribute("opening"));
                status = FILE_LOADED;
            }
        }
        }

                   );

    private static void load(String fileName)
    {
        System.out.println(fileName);
    try
        {

        DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = 
            DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();

        dbf.setValidating(true);

        DocumentBuilder db = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();

        db.setErrorHandler(new DefaultHandler());

        theBase = db.parse(fileName);

        idno = Integer.parseInt(((Element)(theBase.getElementsByTagName("base").item(0))).getAttribute("idno"));

        System.out.println(idno);
        lastName = fileName;
        status = FILE_LOADED;

        }
    catch(IOException e)
        {
        System.out.println(e);
        }
    catch(ParserConfigurationException p)
        {
        System.out.println(p);
        }
    catch(SAXException s)
        {
        System.out.println(s);
        }
    }

public static void setupQuestion(String qid)
    {
    linkids = new Vector();
    links = new Vector();
    qdata = new Vector();

    Element e = theBase.getElementById(qid);        

    question.setText(e.getAttribute("value"));  

    int items = 0;

    NodeList nl = e.getChildNodes();

    for(int i=0; i < nl.getLength(); i++)
        {
        if(nl.item(i).getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE)
            {
            items++;
            qdata.add(((Element)nl.item(i)).getAttribute("content") );
            linkids.add(((Element)nl.item(i)).getAttribute("link"));
            links.add((Element)nl.item(i));
            }

        }
    replies.setListData(qdata);

    thisq = qid;
    }

And now for the code that doesn't work:

public ClassConstructor()
{
    //JMenuItem load = new JMenuItem("Load");
    load("C:\\file.xml");
    pathname = "C:\\file.xml";
    setupQuestion("q1");
    openingLabel.setText(theBase.getDocumentElement().getAttribute("opening"));
}

// i've dropped load.addActionListener() but rest of the code has no changes

Also, the exception:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException

and it occurs at question.setText(e.getAttribute("value")); on calling setupQuestion("q1");.

Edit: Interestingly enough System.out.println(fileName); gets printed before the Exception is thrown and System.out.println(idno); is printed after it. Actually on restarting the IDE both echos appear after the exception is thrown.

I've been stuck on this for quite some time. Any help is much appreciated.