Spoken Word: Names

Abhinav Kejriwal
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

In 9 months, I took this shape,

I did not choose my gender,

I did not choose my name.

But, I had to be labeled, for I had to be ‘addressed’,

Thus, a prisoner’s tag, a name was set.

The name was the source,

The source of my relations

The source of my world,

The source of an identity

The source of an illusion.

That name became me, I became that name

My name was suddenly me, I was suddenly my name

But I wondered:

Would I still be my name if I were not a boy,

Would I still be my name if I were differently named

Would I still be my name if I were a girl

Would I still be, or, not be?

Soon, I grew up, my body changed,

My mind developed, my nature changed,

Yet, my name was the same

My prisoner’s tag

My ID. My reality. And that, I did not choose.

And I still wonder:

Would I be the same without my name

Or rather, another name

Or rather, no name?

For can I actually be named?

Who was I before the birth certificate registered me as a citizen of a country?

Who was I when I was in my mother’s womb?

For what did the world, or rather my world, address me as, before my name was given to me?

For can a name really determine who am I?

Is my name my identity or is it just a limitation?

Is it for the convenience of others to address me, or is it really me?

I wonder: If I had no name, would I, in fact, ‘be’? And what would I ‘be’?

For, you see, being, and that too without a name, is a funny, unimaginable thing.

How would it look like if my ID had the name — Unnamed?

So, the next time you mispronounce or misspell my name,

I’d thank you for it is yet another reminder that I am not my name

So, who chose me? Who brought me here?

Am I just a drop in the seven billion?

Or am I something more?

Who am I?

No one told me, ever.

I was born in a world I did not choose

And named with a name I did not lose

Yet I believed my name was me

And I was my name

Until I realized:

There’s something more to me, my name

And that is who I am.

I am that,

That star

That galaxy

That universe

That cosmic force

That consciousness

That power

Contained in the limitation of this body.

That is really me.

I am That, not just my name.​

And so are you.

)

Abhinav Kejriwal

Written by

https://twitter.com/abhinavkej

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