Making Introductions

When someone asks for your introduction, you should give a complete one—unless you're terrifically famous. You're not exactly Amitabh Bachchan, where people will understand the whole thing properly just from hearing "A" instead of thinking you're talking about a python!

: Would you introduce yourself?
: You won't know me even if I introduce myself. I had something to discuss with you.
: Who are you?
: Well... I'm Suman.
: Could you give a proper introduction?
: You won't know me anyway. There's no point in introducing myself. I know you.
: How will I know you if you don't introduce yourself?
: You won't know me even if I introduce myself. I don't really have much of an introduction to give. I've contacted you for some work. My problem is... blah blah blah.

What does the conversation above suggest to you? Doesn't it seem like Mr. Suman has simply assumed that this person is sitting there with his mouth open, ready to help him? Do people give time to someone in whom they have not the slightest interest? At least not the kind of person whose time you actually need. What's the point of contacting someone and annoying them like this? You need to have at least a minimum of self-respect, don't you? How can someone who lacks even this much common sense expect help from a complete stranger? These useless people actually think everyone is a customer service representative.

People give time only to those they want to give time to. Before asking for time from a stranger, you need to become acquainted with them and develop that acquaintance to a level where they themselves will want to give you time. You need five minutes from them—more important than that is to verify whether they need to give you even five seconds. Someone who doesn't know you is not obligated to give you time. Time isn't something you get, it's something you earn.

Anyone who contacts someone and immediately starts talking about their own needs is called tactless. Perhaps the problem you're facing is threatening your very existence, but what does that matter to someone who doesn't even know you? To serve your own interests, you can call them great, selfless, kind-hearted, sir, or great sir—whatever you like—but what does that matter to them? Those who forcibly inflate someone like this for their own needs are called schemers. Only that praise is genuine which people offer without any ulterior motive.

You think very highly of them, you like them a lot, you could die for them, you've approached them with great hope, you think about them all day long, you love or respect them deeply... and so on and so forth! Fine words. But you do all this because doing these things makes you feel good. Where's their obligation in this? Love, respect, reverence, trust, expectations... these are all foolproof techniques for shackling people's feet.

So Mr. Suman, if you want to get time from someone, first create at least a minimal interest about yourself in them. If you don't introduce yourself properly, by what magic will they develop interest in you? You need to have at least this much smartness if you want to extract time from someone busy. Everyone is busy when it comes to giving time to someone who doesn't know how to extract it. Your need means a lot to you, but to a stranger, your need means absolutely nothing. Introduction, relationship, friendship are very important things.

Postscript. I see another class of unsmart, fame-obsessed birds who, after knocking and getting a reply, begin the saga of the world. "Oh my! You replied to me!" "Did you really reply? Or is someone else replying?" "You must be someone else! He doesn't have so much time that he'd reply to me! Aren't you ashamed of running a fake ID in someone else's name?" "You... how did you reply to me! I feel like dying of joy and lying down beside my grandfather's grave!" Thousands of such foolish replies! Truly, terribly embarrassing! Some of them even take screenshots of the replies and start a supply business in various places, including putting them on their status! Through this business, they become owners of crores of rupees and buy cars and houses very quickly. Inbox marketing very easily turns even street beggars into kings and emperors.

If I send a message even to Shah Rukh Khan, and if he replies to that message for some reason, and upon getting the reply I start such drama, what does the situation become? Didn't I send him a message hoping to get a reply? Or has he committed some great injustice by replying to me? If I don't have the strength to digest his reply, what's the point of bothering him? People can certainly reply to people. If I can't talk normally after getting a reply, why knock in the first place? Or do I not consider myself human but think I'm a cow?

Most importantly, what's there to act like a beggar when you get a reply from someone? Even a beggar has at least this much self-respect. And when I share a screenshot of this conversation with someone else without his permission, doesn't the situation become awkward? Inbox conversations aren't public like comments. To make it public, you need permission from both parties. Actually, you know what—those who are accustomed to bathing naked or half-naked in fields and ponds all their lives, when they suddenly enter a bathroom to bathe, due to excessive nervousness, they leave the door open and start bathing while shaking their buttocks with their naked bodies!