The otherness !  A man from a different company, one who speaks a different language, one who lives in another city, a man who likes different things … A woman who looks different, one who loves differently, lives differently ,is friends with different people , likes to eat different things , wears different costumes, walks differently …There are ‘others’ everywhere.

Where does the ‘otherness’ end and ‘ourness’ begin?  Who  is the other?  What defines him?

Constantly we club people around us into some group or the other . Perhaps its our natural tendency to sort out , for ease of remembering! Sometimes,this otherness blinds us altogether! For instance, if he is one of us , well ! he should be pardoned! But if he is other, he be damned!

Life teaches us at every turn how the ‘other’  braves the odds to lend a hand, befriend  or  just be there . Yet, the segregation continues the white , the black , the brown, the  tall , the short, the physically challenged….This man of that religion, that girl speaking that language, this short person , those poor people, this wonderful man , that beauty and it goes on endlessly . From food to fashion , to way of living, to way of writing or way of seeing , labels await all!

Categorizing individuals  into tight little boxes , with boundaries that are seemingly unbreakable seems an easy thing to do.

When the boundaries are breached , when  confronted with someone who does not fit the expectations, anger surfaces, a sense of feeling cheated arises!!!

But who drew the boundary? Who set up that little box?

If only we could see beyond ‘otherness’ !!!