The recent incidents in Assam and its consequent sparks in the rest of the country has set me thinking. Why is it that we are riddled with such divisive elements? What drives human behavior at such times? How do people find within themselves the fire to extinguish another life - that too of the same species?
While there are a lot of drivers quoted in popular media such as 'foreign hand', communal forces, illiteracy, poverty, immigration etc., I think these are shallow reasons given by lazy thinking. A deeper analysis will reveal that we are driven by our context for life. And this context is shaped by our identity.
Identity is a funny thing. Most people don't see their identity as being different from them. It is like water to a fish - it doesn't know of a world beyond! This happens because in life, the unexplored, un-investigated and unstated, typically runs us.
Let us go back to the time when we were born. Who were we? A human baby. The only thing that we were born with was the tag of our species - human beings. And the other thing was our gender - that too because it is so physically evident!
Slowly, we came to realize that we were Hindu or Muslim, Rich or Poor, Indian or Pakistani, Brahman or Dalit, North Indian or South Indian, Tamil or Telugu - these are identities that come with the parents we are born too. They don't appear as choices because we never explore them - in fact they come as inheritances. But if we think deeper, they don't have to be. So religion, economic status, nationality, caste, region and language are not embedded within us - they are clothes we wear AFTER taking birth. And the more we insist on our right to choose these vs. accepting what is inherited, the more we will be free of it.
As we grow, we assume other identities - Engineer vs. doctor, executive vs entrepreneur, private vs public, graduate vs post graduate vs doctorate, maid vs master. As our family grows, we become friend, beloved, husband, wife, father, mother, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother and host of other relationships.
And slowly from an infinite possibility at birth, we become a defined identity that is wrapped in its definitions and limits. Each identity that we take on, limits us as it defines us. While it makes us more of something, it also makes us less of something else. And this constant reduction in our span of possibility makes me what I finally call myself - An upper caste North Indian Punjabi post graduate Hindu Indian CEO who is father of 2 children.
And to think that I was born a human male - just that!
If we get in touch with who we truly are - human beings - don't you think the conflict that's dividing us everyday can disappear?
