BREAKING NEWS: IDENTITY HAS BEEN CALLED IN FOR QUESTIONING.

# INDEPENDENT WOMAN REFUSES LIFT. THE LIFT WAS WORKING.

Priya lives on the fourth floor in Pune. Last Sunday she carried six bags of groceries up the stairs. A neighbour offered to help. She said, “I’m fine.”

She is fine and also independent, and she will tell you so, usually while carrying something.

Witnesses say it started in 2013, when someone she relied on didn’t show up. She decided on the spot that she would never need anyone again. Nobody has seen that decision since. It goes by “independent” now, and it comes to every dinner.

Since then, according to our sources, she has turned down a lift in the rain, a hand with a wardrobe and one very persistent man with an umbrella. Independent was reported to be delighted. Priya was reported to be wet.

Now the question, and it isn’t really about Priya.

A person who can’t accept help isn’t independent. She’s obliged. Choosing needs an alternative, and hers has been retired since 2013.

So here it is:

ARE YOU USING YOUR IDENTITY, OR IS YOUR IDENTITY RUNNING YOU?

Everyone has a Priya in them. The reliable one. The funny one. The strong one. The one who has never lost an argument.

Each came from a bad afternoon, and none of them has been questioned since.

On 21 November, ten strangers in Pune will question theirs. By the end, perhaps everyone keeps theirs or one resigns. We have no idea.

Priya does not exist. The lift does.