Guddu and Vinay

Having a nickname used to be a common thing in our neighborhood. Rarely anyone was addressed by their actual or official name, that is, the name of their school certificate. I also had a nickname "Guddu." My entire neighborhood, my family, and other relatives knew me by this name, many of these people didn't even know my real name, Vinay. Many of these people still know and address me as Guddu. But in my school, college, and beyond life, I am known as Vinay, very few from this circle even know my nickname. When I look back, I find it interesting how Guddu and Vinay were two different versions of the same person and how I struggled to find any common ground between these versions. Somehow Guddu was more like a boy from the hood, living in an underprivileged neighborhood, a chawl, roaming and playing with kids that belonged to the same underprivileged socio-economic background, and who was very comfortable in clothes like lungi and banyan, I even used to play cricket wearing a lungi. On the other hand, Vinay was more like a school-going, intelligent, studious guy, whose college friends never or rarely visited the place where he lived. I think I consciously tried to shield my neighborhood and nickname from my more privileged friends for many years until I realized that my own insecurities and self-doubts were the reasons behind it, most of my friends never cared about where I came from or what was my nickname. Since then, my identities merged, Guddu is no more different than Vinay, and I don't mind which name people use to refer to me, for my chawl, I am still Guddu, and the rest of the world knows me as Vinay. This may not be a very interesting topic for many, but I decided to write about it as I know that there might be many like me who struggle with their identities when they enter into a more privileged world. If you are one such person, please remember that people who really love you and care about you, do this for who you are, this is irrespective of your background, social and economic status, or your name. If they don't want to associate with you because of where you come then it is better to stay away from such people. Embrace your identity and be proud of yourself for what you are, we don't need any borrowed or concealed identity to get accepted. Let's create our own space with our own terms and conditions, this is a simple message I want to convey in this short post. 

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com