At times I feel that we are all born as diapers. I do not use that word in any derogatory sense but because of the properties that make a diaper useful, properties that a sponge or plain cotton wool obviously don't have.
A lot comes our way after we are born, in the form of language, culture, traditions et al. If we were like a sponge or cotton wool, we could easily wring out whatever we didn't want after we grew up. But being like a diaper, we internalise and solidify it; it becomes an inalienable part of us.
Not only this, we human diapers have an additional property. Those with the same absorbed contents tend to stick together while showing no such affinity to other diapers with different absorbed contents. This is a feature that the inanimate diapers don't have.
There are those, both amongst scientists and artists, who feel a sense of deep alienation because they somehow have been able to rid themselves, in varying degrees, of the absorbed contents and hence the ability to stick to others too. This could be viewed as a defect or an evolution depending on one's inclinations.
Do you think it would be better if we were born like cotton wool, with an ability to wring out the bulk and hopefully the spots too? Only then we could come somewhat close to saying with Kabir, "Daas Kabir jatan se odhi, jyon ki tyon dhar deeni chadariya."
