Wednesday, September 12, 2012


Identity!







There are certain things around you which you neglect for years and one day they make you realize their existence in their own way.
Just like a coconut tree in the backyard of my house! Yes, I have an inevitably growing coconut tree in the backyard of my house right in the middle of our garden.

When I look at it now I am always left wondering about how  it has grown taller than my house and its shafts have spread all over. Its root has grown stronger and looks old, whereas it has covered itself into the brown layers of net. Many insects have made it their home. Some of its branches look immersed in a conversation with the mango tree standing  in the neighboring house since many years and others are busy covering my bedroom’s windows by its shadows forming various shapes on walls.

I have seen the moon through its branches and it looks enchanting. Looking at it now, I remember it was only 2 feet tall when my father got it as a gift from an old neighbor few years ago. There were a lot of talks about its identity, many of our acquaintances thought that this tree is a Singaporean coconut tree so it will not bear the coconuts that we find in India. 

For me, this tree bears several identities.It can call itself a witness of my teenage years, a gift from an old neighbor, a home to various insects, a proud member of our garden or just a coconut tree which is ambitious to rise above all and bear the fruits containing water as sweet as sugar. 

Identities!...which one will it choose? Or will it just stand on its root and keep itself aloof from all the identities associated to it?

Thinking about this makes me realize a sentence I heard some time ago which says,
‘Identity is not static and always in the making but never made.’
 So what is my identity?…I wonder!