Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Identity

Long ago my brother asked me a simple question, "Who are you?"
I said, "I am Abhay Shukla."
"Yeah, but...who are you?"
"I am the son of M.P. Shukla"
"I am not asking who you are son of or who your father is. Am asking, who are you?"
"I am the resident of the country India. i live in rewa, m.p., and my name is abhay shukla"
"But that is not the answer to the question i have asked"
I got confused, "Am a human being!"
"Everyone's a human being, so how does that describe you?"

I realized that this question is much much deeper than what i could have thought then as a ninth grade student.

I gave probably a hundred more replies but every time i was answering back, i was growing more sure that this is not what the answer is supposed to be. And every other reply was like an introspection; finding out something that could distinguish you from every other entity around you. Finding out that very element and essence which makes you unique.

I realised that an identity has to be something which is there even when all the connections have lost, something which is glowing when you are put in a swarm of billion strangers, something which could not be erased in time.

Seven years have passed since but still am puzzled by the profundity of the question. It still gets me teetering and shaky. Although i believe that now i know myself a lot better than i ever did but when it comes to self realization and self identification i am still on the wander road...sometimes it feels am a stranger to myself!

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4 comments:

  1. after reading this, even I am in turmoil, you have correctly perceived the question, "what are the unique features that distinguishes you from others". ........... I mean an answer to this will follow a heavy self-interrogation and even after I may not be sure of getting the answer to this question...........thanks:)

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  2. i won't say keep looking for it every time because if you start pursuing it you sometimes find it hard to move on with life...well lets just hope that in time we realize it somehow.

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  3. identity..!! :)

    huh..!! an issue with abnormal people like me.. and probably u .. it keeps haunting those who think.. think beyond the normal..!!

    and those who do not think beyond a certain point.. they very well know what they are..

    how ironic can that be. .?

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  4. Very true! I have seen so many people enjoying their life without even having a clue of who they really are!... and they never even try to know and then there are people like me, so full of crazy questions! :D

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