The Stranger

‘Stranger’ does not have the aura, mystery or expectation of encounter associated with ‘Ajnabi’. It is a fascinating word, full of contradiction because you only use it in anticipation of unraveling the mystery of ‘ajnabi’ or in expectation of an encounter with the stranger. But more than external significance ‘ajnabi’ has deep spiritual meaning in literature; of exposing or understanding our own other persona. Do we know us? Hardly, we surprise ourselves revealing layers over layer during our lifetime meanwhile external persona itself undergoing metamorphosis repeatedly.

What derails serenity of life are unexpected occurrences forcing reassessment of our own identity. We pride on some of our power attributes only to learn how in astonishingly bizarre manner in they affect us.

Am I a stone hearted, feelingless monster? Why then I don’t cry like others, why doesn’t sorrow overwhelm me? Why I am left lacking, dissatisfied and incomplete in life?

The only time I cried uncontrollably was when I saw inert body of my daughter in the hearse. The cries on other occasions were not the same perhaps it was socially appropriate therefore!

I am in state of denial, I can’t imagine Kriti in any other form but alive.

The more I know about myself the more ‘ajnabi’ I become.

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