Don't let the intimidating question go unchallenged

Most Indians can be forgiven for thinking that our VIPs have the copyright on the magic phrase, “Don’t you know who I am?”, barked out in every single one of this nation’s 22 major languages, not to mention hundreds of minor ones. It is rarely meant to elicit an answer; the usual acceptable response is instant and abject compliance no matter how absurd the demand. Those who are prone to using the phrase are not always worthy of instant recognition, but given the Open Sesame-type effect of this phrase, it is often bandied about by undeserving candidates, so to speak. The hope is that the question will not beget a potentially embarrassing, “No, I don’t. Tell me why I should,” reply, though not necessarily couched in polite language. But in India, suffice to say, the rhetorical question and questioners are scarcely challenged.

Cinema and music celebrities in the US are known to be partial to the phrase, especially in their less cogent moments, but it should be a redundant expostulation for a presidential candidate. In the event, Donald Trump may warm up to India even more once he realises the very query that has got him into yet another controversy with an outraged woman this week is fairly commonplace in India. Of course, no public figure has been accused of lobbing that question in quite the same context as Trump, at least not so far.