Quest for Identity

QUEST-which literally means ‘to look'or ‘to search'for something. Logically, one searches for something that is LOST, which further strengthens the argument that the thing which is being searched for, certainly, existed once. Quest for identity is a sensitive search where one not only searches for something materialistic or tangible but searches for one's own identity; something without which one can only exist and not LIVE. This paper is an attempt to search and look into the distorted identities of Devadasis, the servants of God, through the powerful and piercing poem, “Mascara” by Meena Kandaswamy and the unnamed heroine of Margaret Atwood's novel, “Surfacing”. The paper is an attempt to unite the otherwise unrelated author and poet; to bring Devadasis and Atwood's heroine on the same pedestal of identities after years of torment, distress, subjugation and isolation. Mascara symbolizes the mask of religious euphemism for the devadasis and Surfacing symbolizes the resurgence and revitalization of the heroine in search of her identity in the chaotic ocean of society.