"I don’t know you" Syndrome

Many people have this “I don’t know you” Syndrome. I wonder why people develop this and from where they get this disease?

My colleague in office introduced me to this one girl. She smiled and I smiled and we both said “Hello” to each other. Tell you what, that day we actually had lunch together and she also ate my food!!!

Now, after 2 days, I see her and give her a nice “Good Morning” smile and there she is…standing and staring blankly at me. For a moment, I thought, Oh ****, did I again mix up two people? (This happens to me with Chinese people…am sorry guys…nothing personal against you or your country or your people. But I tend to get confused between two Chinese people. If I meet two of them around the same time, I really get confused between the two of them, at least for the first few days after introduction until I really get to know them personally …I guess this is a normal phenomenon and that the Chinese must be getting confused with Indian faces because we all look similar to them and so on and so forth) Ok…so now am really confused and I don’t know what I have done wrong and why today is such a bad day that people are not recognizing me or caring to give a smile back. So helpless but hopeful for some another day I return to my normal routine.

Then on that another day, some simple soul happens to walk by my desk and this person is accompanied by our troubled lady with “I don’t know you” syndrome. So the simple soul says “Hi! How are you?” and then comes the introduction!! “Do you know Ms. XXXX?” I am very confused as to what I am supposed to say while the troubled person says “Yeah…I know her, I even ate her food!!!” Every corner of heart rejoices on hearing the fact that yes!!!….she does know me and recognize me. Finally I was at peace. The once rumpled feathers of my heart were OK now. I smiled back and said “Yes…we know each other”. I get back to my work with new vigor and a sense of achievement and fulfillment. Fulfillment of satisfying the desire to know what had went wrong??? Achievement is realizing that I was not invisible and everything is normal between me and “the lady”.

Today morning when I enter the elevator…BOOM…There she is…I am ready to throw a “Good Morning” with a smile again and she just IGNORES ME…I am shaken, surprised, confused, troubled and disturbed

Well…not any longer! I left her to herself. I think she is too troubled in life with either her own self or with some else or with a very commonly found disease called as “I don’t know you”. Now, I really don’t know whether there exists any cure of any form for this disease. All I know is that this one can affect not just the sufferer of this disease but other people too. So I am trying to reach out to all those people, not who are suffering from this disease (leave them alone!!!) but to all who are victims of this disease…don’t let these things bother you. Nothing is wrong with you. Whatever is wrong is with them. So chill and keep smiling and recognizing everyone you know (excuse the troubled souls)