Identity

 Identity Crisis.

- Dr Tripti Milind Galgali
Hubli.

I saw a short film" ओळख "..... means " Identity " in Marathi.
NRI settled in US.....it was Pre Diwali and the lady was to surrender her Indian passport and had to take Oath becoming US citizen.
She felt being uprooted from her homeland and planted to US soils.
She was trying hard to keep her Indian culture and traditions alive.....but was perturbed to see her kids adopting and adapting to US culture....however hard she tried......

Identity....

When we leave our hometown, village,....place our ancestors had been living for years.....place where we spent our childhood......
Our soil, our house, our surroundings......
And culture, traditions, language,food,lifestyle........
Everything....
To settle forever in another place,another town, city, State,Country.......
We feel being uprooted.
We try hard to stay close to our homelands by trying to speak our language at home....or call our family or love to occasionally get a chance to speak our dialect or taste our cuisine.....
This is about us who migrate outside.
But our kids are born in that new environment we are today.
For them the place they are growing today is Homeland.
They adopt and adapt themselves to that particular culture and traditions....
For our kids.......our birth Homeland is " Foreign"....

My parents are from North Karnataka. For work ,they came to Mumbai and subsequently settled in Mumbai.
I am born and brought up in Mumbai.
My parents tried to keep North Karnataka still alive in their home....taught me Kannada,North Karnataka culture and food.
But I had to Adopt and Adapt to Maharashtra culture, language and surroundings......spoke Marathi very fluently compared to Kannada.I lived my Sabudana Khichadi ,Kande Pohe and Varan Bhaat....more than Bisibele Bhaat and Avalakki.......
Much much to the changrin of my North Karnataka born parents. 😄🫣😌

So dear Friends, each one of us always tries to find husband ओळख or Identity wherever he is......
Whether immigrant parents or their foreign land accustomed kids......
Whichever Land we are born and brought up in.....Whichever surroundings we grow in.....becomes our " Homeland"....our place of comfort. Whatever is the culture and lifestyle of our " Homeland " remains ever inside us .....however far we may have come today.....
You can leave your village forever.....
But your identity belongs to that village and it stays forever with you .....
Nobody can take it away from you.....
Your ओळख....
Your Identity is ever immortal inside you.....