QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY
Published in The Sikh Review, an international monthly from Kolkata in the issue of August, 2011 under 'The Urge to Merge' and 'Abstract of Sikh Studies', September 2011 as 'The Urge to Melt'.
Youth from minorities in most regions are faced with a choice as age bestows a host of freedoms. While identity pride is something that remains alive in their hearts, it does not quite manifest physically. As I look around, I find many Sikh friends in my friend list listing their religious preference as a Sikh but shunning off all those symbols which lie at the heart of Sikh identity. I have been grappling with questions of identity for long – what is an identity afterall, why do I need to be different, who am I, what do people mean when they say ‘I am what I am’ etc.
So, why is it that people in my community and in the minorities in general have an intrinsic desire to melt their identity into that of the crowd and get camouflaged? After reading this rare piece of fiction 'Beyong Identity' by P.S. Sandhawalia, I now feel in a better position to address questions of identity. I identify 6 reasons in my blog for such behavior.
1. One reason can be LOW SELF ESTEEM. An individual who is pining for attention among peer group and the society usually stoops to the level as seen. He/she tries to prove her worth by revealing the texture of his/her skin thus expecting adoration through some channel.
2. Second reason can be the HOLLOWNESS of the individual in the sense that when a person is say talentless and usually a fiasco academically or in a field that society tags value to, he/she in order to gain acceptance tries to do what the majority does.
3. Yet this does not quite explain why sometimes successful people may also adopt the majority identity. The possible explanation can be a LACK OF INNER COURAGE. It requires a lion’s strength to be distinct and unique and to swim against the tide. When the world talks of fashion, style and haircuts, it requires determination and grit to debate the motion. That is how the majority’s soft power works. It is an attempt to impose one’s culture, one’s viewpoint, one’s way of doing things on others in a way that the imposed gullibly accepts. As I learnt at school, it manufacturers consent – yes it manufactures it indeed by an overtly mechanical process.
4. Another thing that people often overlook in the dignity of differences. The most beautiful thing about differences is diversity which facilitates mutual enrichment and knowledge.
5. Another factor for assimilation is DISRESPECT. When an individual becomes illusioned with the core of his faith and the beliefs that hitherto carved his identity, he casually jettisons all the symbols associated with the belief as a 'bold' act of freedom and detaches himself from that community. For instance, a girl deciding to take off her burqa (remember I am not making a judgment about a faith by this example and this also does not mean that removing burqa is assimilation in the crowd and that not removing is somehow an act of courage, it may actually be the other way round, as per context).
6. Lastly, I feel that majority in this world are driven by a herd mentality. It’s a herd of sheep with a few roaring lions who have kept their identity intact, rest have shaven and joined the herd of sheep.
So what is exactly an ‘identity’? It is an amalgam of religion, language, culture, customs, symbols, traditions – something into which all of us are born – it is real, visible, palpable.
If we have respect for it and pride in it, we will retain it. Otherwise we will abandon it and assimilate.
Published in The Sikh Review, an international monthly from Kolkata in the issue of August, 2011 under 'The Urge to Merge' and 'Abstract of Sikh Studies', September 2011 as 'The Urge to Melt'.
So, why is it that people in my community and in the minorities in general have an intrinsic desire to melt their identity into that of the crowd and get camouflaged? After reading this rare piece of fiction 'Beyong Identity' by P.S. Sandhawalia, I now feel in a better position to address questions of identity. I identify 6 reasons in my blog for such behavior.
1. One reason can be LOW SELF ESTEEM. An individual who is pining for attention among peer group and the society usually stoops to the level as seen. He/she tries to prove her worth by revealing the texture of his/her skin thus expecting adoration through some channel.
2. Second reason can be the HOLLOWNESS of the individual in the sense that when a person is say talentless and usually a fiasco academically or in a field that society tags value to, he/she in order to gain acceptance tries to do what the majority does.
3. Yet this does not quite explain why sometimes successful people may also adopt the majority identity. The possible explanation can be a LACK OF INNER COURAGE. It requires a lion’s strength to be distinct and unique and to swim against the tide. When the world talks of fashion, style and haircuts, it requires determination and grit to debate the motion. That is how the majority’s soft power works. It is an attempt to impose one’s culture, one’s viewpoint, one’s way of doing things on others in a way that the imposed gullibly accepts. As I learnt at school, it manufacturers consent – yes it manufactures it indeed by an overtly mechanical process.
4. Another thing that people often overlook in the dignity of differences. The most beautiful thing about differences is diversity which facilitates mutual enrichment and knowledge.
5. Another factor for assimilation is DISRESPECT. When an individual becomes illusioned with the core of his faith and the beliefs that hitherto carved his identity, he casually jettisons all the symbols associated with the belief as a 'bold' act of freedom and detaches himself from that community. For instance, a girl deciding to take off her burqa (remember I am not making a judgment about a faith by this example and this also does not mean that removing burqa is assimilation in the crowd and that not removing is somehow an act of courage, it may actually be the other way round, as per context).
6. Lastly, I feel that majority in this world are driven by a herd mentality. It’s a herd of sheep with a few roaring lions who have kept their identity intact, rest have shaven and joined the herd of sheep.
So what is exactly an ‘identity’? It is an amalgam of religion, language, culture, customs, symbols, traditions – something into which all of us are born – it is real, visible, palpable.
If we have respect for it and pride in it, we will retain it. Otherwise we will abandon it and assimilate.
