Who are you?

Have you ever encountered the question “Who are you?”
I bet most of the people if not 100% don’t like this question. Although this is not a very complicated question to answer, is it? I also had a feeling like that. But after spending some time with this question I realized I am not right from every prospect of the question. Sometimes it’s not that tough to answer but not always.
No matter how complicated you think the answer is, I think the best answer of this question comes out from a person (rather character) who we all know. “My name is Bond, James Bond”. I wish if I could answer someone like this, “My name is Banerjee, Kaustav Banerjee”. Dont laugh, let me clarify myself. I am not going to say this for my entire life, nopes, no way.
I find my best answer to this question when I ask it to the mirror in a place where no one is around. Who am I? You want to know who I am. I am the king of all the kings, Badshao ke Badsha. I am the one who can change the world; I am the most powerful man on planet earth. But the answer changes the moment someone comes around. I get back to the normal me. Wise men will say, why do I think that I am not the best, I can’t change the world. If I can’t feel that way I would have to answer the question to the world for rest of my life. If I can take myself to that level, no one is going to ask me the question again. Actually I would love do something like that, but it’s too complicated to discuss at this point. Let’s get back to the question again.
I remember in my childhood days we used to go for collecting Chanda (donation) for Durga puja, door to door. After knocking on the door, first question would always be “Who are you?” You might think this is an easy to answer question, but no. In reply, I always had to portray myself not as Kaustav but as a young devotee of the goddess Durga who wanted to make sure the Puja committee gets enough funding to overcome all the barriers that comes on their way while arranging a festival which is solely made for the people around. So we had to have mock up session before going for collection regarding how to answer “Who are you?”
I never experienced but heard it from lot of people that door to door salesmen are very cautious about this question. For them, first impression is the last impression. Again their personal details are not important if somebody ask them who are you, it’s their company or product profile which they always wants to emphasize. If they can answer it well then it’s their lucky day.
Yesterday I went for a meeting, where a saw a new face in the room whom I didn’t know. Before I said anything he stood up and said “Hi, myself John and you…”. That three dots are nothing but the same question “who are you”.
“Who are you” appears to be a very blunt and harsh question to ask. Corporate world has changed that question into a statement, Introduction. Starting from job interview to project interview, meetings, sessions everywhere this word comes in our lives. I am tired of giving introduction and saying who am I.
Few days back I got a friend request in facebook from an unknown girl and with that she sent a message “Who are you?”. I was really irritated with the question, wasn’t sure whether I should laugh and ignore her or give her the proper answer asking the same question with additional words, “Who are you to ask me that?”. But finally I came to know why she asked that. My name was coming in her profile as “add friend suggestion” because of number of mutual friends. But she couldn’t recognize me and ended up asking me who am I. Justified, isn’t it?
In short this small question has many different forms beyond my thought. So I will stop here, but as always I will end this with one small incident. I heard this story from a person I met while travelling from Pune to Kolkata in train. I forgot his name, lets assume his name is Sunil. Sunil told me when he came out of his hometown for the first time for job, he was travelling in train. One guy started talking to him as he is a very close friend. Sunil thought better not to entertain that guy as he was a complete stranger. He was scared if that guy’s intention was good at all. Lot of incidents happen in train where a stranger give some food item and consuming that, passenger becomes senseless. By the time they regain the consciousness, they lose all their valuables. Sunil started ignoring that guy, but the stranger was not at all in mood to keep quiet. Finally Sunil told him in loud voice, “Why are you disturbing me? Who are you?”. That guy was shocked with this incident and never said a single word after that. Sunil didn't have a pretty good idea about Pune city. After reaching the station he was confused. He only had a big suitcase, he took an auto rickshaw to his destination towards Swargate. There the biggest tragedy was waiting for him. He was peeping out from the rickshaw to see the place, when an over speeding car hit the rickshaw. He fell out of the rickshaw and after that it was all blank for him. He got his sense back on the hospital bed next day evening. Injury was severe. He was in hospital for 7 days. His parents came and take him back home. While leaving the hospital he asked the attendant about the person who brought him to the hospital. The lady checked the register and said there was a whole group of people who brought you here, but no body was ready to register their names. Sunil asked the nurse also if she had any idea about any one of that group. He just wanted to thank that person. Nurse also couldn't help him, but told him about a guy who stayed in the hospital pretty late. With the description she gave, Sunil easily visualised the person. He was none other than the guy whom he met in train. He was so surprised, couldn't say a single word. Here the story ends of Sunil, but not mine. On that day Sunil told me, “You know buddy, I shouted on that guy in train, I asked him “Who are you” just to keep him away from me. But today I feel, if he could have answered my question on that day, I could have meet my life saver again”.