Identity Card - S.
Joseph
l . How does the first stanza of the poem create an illusion of secular love?
The pot!t evokes. a sentiment o_f nostal~ia rn the 1~itial li.ncs of the poem as he recounts hi:. 'student days'
and his love interest. The girl 1s descnhcd as rcc,procaung the sentiment creating an illusion of secular
love Nevertheless. this turns upside down when she rejects him because of his caste.
2 How does the loss of identity card bring about a realization about the ·actual • situation?
,orlc ol d1sc n1111n,1I ll• ll
Whc-n the girl d1sco\'cr.; the rdcn11tvJ card, she redons , ,11 Jnc.J ian
ns actual mcanmg. 11 is. llanpscud o IOl ..ll.lC
.d . d d 1· ..
hJsed on caste Casie becomes 3 reality and it deer es ao m 1v, ua s pos1t11..111 ,n
society.
3· Why d~s the poet say that these days he never looks at lovers lost m themselves?
. . . . I d f,J a v1c1im of lost love. HI S
an upper caste a Y· ,c is
Bc111g a dal1t. he was depn' \Cd of his love who "as k . ·
• bo t h· n • efore see mg lovers 1ost in
lover was not ready to accept him when she came 10 now a u JS caste. -.er
themselves makes him disrurb4!d.
4 0ring out rhc painful sarcasm in the hoc ·1 won'r be surprised even if they unite'
The poet is a dalit srudcn1. He lost his love onl~ because of the red ~ark i~ his i~t1t~ card. H\ ':,~":~!~_
surprised when a boy and girl of high c,1.<;tc unite. They ar~ not den~ed thcrr rclat!o~sh1p becau~ . 111
casrc. Both of them arc high class. The dark fi s!-ur~ thal 1s found rns_1de the rd~g,ous-caste nc:itus I!> •
mstance of a 'historical \\Tong' that still tarnt.s the cla11ns of modem Indian sccul:m sm.
5. How docs the reference 10 Pa~lo Nemda intensi fy the political concern!- of the poem?
The narrator in the: poem says that he whiled away his t ime radi~g Ne~da •~ poetry. He ~lie ved i_n an
egalitarian society and he found mspirat,on m Neruda's poetry wtuch was dnven with poh11cal mottves.
His poetry gave a voice 10 a population that felr ignored by their government and by the upper ch,sses.
The poems gave courage and pride 10 the struggling working class.
II I Discuss the condtst-cndmg rac;te1s1 contempt rn l111es 'the account of your Sllptnd / 1s entered there in
red?
2. The poem ends thus. "Their ldcntiry Cards/ w,11 have no markings in red ' Bring out the significanc e
of ~uch an ending.
In his poem .. Identity Card... he shows a w01 Id wheie love seldom triumphs over caste identity He purely
talks about racism where a 0 aht 1s scorned by his non-Dalit girlfriend: Our hands met kneading her ric\!
and fish c urry. On a bench we became a Hindu-Chn sllan family. (3-6) One day he lost his idemiry ca,d.
HI' must have never thought along with the identity C<1rd he would also lose his love. His girlfriend gave
him his lost 1dcntaty caid and told h,m. the account of your stipend is entered there in red. After knowing
that he was o Dnlit her love faded for him. Whenever he sees a boy and girl deeply m love he is s ure that
they will dcpan very soon of the same rcoson ofh1s or if they unite he wouldn 't be surprised because that
boy will nev~r be a Dali!. This (s a sho11 poem where much lies unsa id between red scribbles on college
IU card and m1enscly charged Imes of verse. S. Joseph depicted the plight of a Dal it who has no right
even in his love.
3. Write a note on the poem's tone of indifference in presenting o humiliating personal experience'!
Caste discriminat ion as a hcommon ~penence 10 people who ~Ion•• to lower castes and th s pcaker 11.a~
· . I r, Th , · 1• h
O c
real1.tcd 1t very youn_g 111 rs I e. _ e gir w u came 'laughing' to Im life rc:Jects him for his cash.:
'Returning my tau.I' 1s sy111bvl11.. ot 1he d u),ure to their 1da1ion. The 'card· was "•uppOS= ._, t , ·
· I k f · o remove: the tao
of oppression and ac o sratus a11rrbu1cd 10 the dalits. S. Joseph expresses through the "Id . "'
card" the subaltern cxpenence of the speaker who is loved and later neglected by oth ~oc~ cnr,ty
poet speaker ridic~les th~ 'subahe_m marg1_nahzatton' through his poem. ers or HS caste.. The
TI1e speaker was d1scred1ted by his lover for being a Dalit, and realizes that ca5t -11 8 1
fac tor in 1he relations and associ.11ions of people with one anoiher After th . • ~dw, ways remain a
r lo 'S He knows 1hat only people belongino . c 111c1 ent 1ie iook a de ·,s
cJ1-.1:111cc: himsc: If ,roni vt:1 same c ion to
" 10 caste Ilive the possibility of
11nil111g.
Herc the '1 dc11t1ty card· is the: moment of rcvelat,on fo, the SJ)l!aker, the moment whe .
Ii r" 1!- tbnked on bo1h sides_by caste and 11s deltn111mg principles. n he realized tho, lus
IJ..:nlity card 1s an image ol 1~cJ11Terence. rc:sriination and loss of hope He rhinh th 8 1
, l•11u11n m:irgmal ,111d d1scrrmmatory alwa~ s dalt1 1dent11 y "'' II
l\ri:.wcr 10 )00 words·
~,,, '"'""'"Y (. I' I
I 111. f 111
1\ ll t'R~I("/ · • l1
111 w 1 1t'!> .
~ Ju•,«'plt lkHtrny the ~h.1lll'llno of the dream ol love when 11 confronts the
t,
In tho JIOtJhl i I1 , , • · f
Ill\ <l Cllhly Cnrd tho pout c1cp1cls tho linos of caste di.,crimination through lhe rcpresentallon o·
, ,t,', ~llthlt_y ~ m<I 'I hr • rJ ts 111<1onyn11c of a secular modcm11y ilial promises a pseudo-libcratory
1 11
'th ens tr 111 ti N1111011 · ·
ll' Male . The c:a1d portrays the shattering of the dream of love of a daht stu dent ·m
·11's flt'<'Jm. I le loi.r~ Im, upper ca!itl' ladylove by virtue of the red-ink entnes found on his Identity Card.
hd•c c;,r
11
anJ the ~ t111('hu
•·• ·
tntcrcd III rtd rc.'Cc1vcs ·
as a dalit that emerges as a mask of his caste, ma de the
th0
tli~ ; :uc t the man Ix-longs to a low<'r caste which made their love im~sible .The poet says that,
c adys he nl'vrr looks nl lovel's lost in tltcrnsclvcs just because that reminds him of his lost love that
once Iia n stronu · · on ·
•
CilSl'. It won't be ~
"' impression him. I le says that those lovers will part someday as 1·1happene d 10 h'is
. ' r . .
1 D 1>urpnsc , 0 1 h1111 even 1f they unite. Occause then they would be upper caste Iovers.
ISC\iss S.J~rrh's 'ldcn111y Card' m the hghl of dalit or subaltern margrnahsation.
'Sub:i)tcm _refers lo alt the sections of society who arc marginalised. The wa-d operates broadly ~
stondmg m for the oppressed under-classes based on race, ethnicity.etc. In the Indian context it
encapsulates the •~sues of the aadivasis Lhc dalits with the onus falling on the issue of 'lower caste' or
even'ou t-caste;• an d also people
who arc' perceived as boclcward.
In the poem' .poet S.Joscph portrays a growing up story of a dali1 student who tosses his uppc~ caste
ladyl~ve by virtue of the red-ink entries found on his identity cord. The card and the stipend he receives as
a daht,. emerges ns a caste mark, that makes love impossible in a pseudo-modernity that espouses
scculansm .
The 'religion-caste' nexus, an instance of a 'histoncal wrong' still taints the claims of modem Indian
secularism. The student being a dalit was denied of his freedom in a counuy that we call secular
democratic. Even in lhe mind of children, this dangerous discrimination is being injected by the society.
The real betrayal is not singular or by an individual; it is a many,layered betrayal by a politics, a
government, an era What he encounters is not a traditional taboo bu1 a modern stigma.
The student Lhen says that, ,fhc finds a boy and girl lost in Lhemselvcs, he won·1 be su11>riscd because they
will part after a while, when one discovers the entries of other's identity card in red. If they unite, then it is
understood that their identity cards do not have markings in red
3. Compare and contnst the image of '1den1iry card 'as it is differently employed by Mahmoud
Darwish and $.Joseph.
During Arab-Israel i war Mahmoud Darwish fled with his family to Lebanon. But they were 100 late to
come back so that they were excluded from the census of Palestinian Arabs. Subsequently, they were
denied identity papers; he could not travel due to this and was continually harassed by the authorities. The
trauma of this event resonates in the poem "Identity Card".
..Identity Card" is a poem about Palestinian's feeling and restriction on expulsion . This poem shadows on
lhc hypocrisies of politics and the sufferings of a displaced people. He repeats ' put it on record' in every
stmza. shows bis feelings against foreign occupations. He wants Palestinians to record th~ historical
events down and remember that they have been excluded. He reveals the anger of the people when their
property and rights were taken away. They were totally excluded and denied all the rights. He lost his
idcntiry paper which in tum giv_e him_· a ,na~e without a title'. He was _working in a quarry. and fed his
family from the rocks. And he _1s ask,_ng W~ll yow ~ovemmen, _be taking _them too'. The repetition of'
anger' in every stanza shows hts feeling against forc1g~ ~ccupa~1on. Darwish shared the struggle of his
penrle with the world. The poem ~hows cul~ral and pohl1cal resistance to Israel's forced dispossession of
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of their home land.
In the poem 'Identity Card' by S. Joseph discrimioa11on ~f caste is pictu~d through a growing up story of
1 dillit ~tudmt who loses his upper caste ladylove by virtue of the red-ink entries foond on his identity
card which indicates his 1dc11ti1y 8$ a sd1eduled ca 5~c boy who receives stipend. This also shows the
or
pnwncc cas1c judgment even in the min~ of cluldrcn. He was reading Pablo Neruda who ..,,."' a
~lulio ntry wnter giving voice to the working classes. But he never thought of the 1:as1e sysl('m
111111
in re d'. The ca,J ,11,u
prevail ed u ntil h1!> lady love points o ut ::,e account o f yo ur s11pe11J 1s entered there •
1mposs 1ble in a pse11d o -
the sti~nd he n.-ce1ve s a s a dali1 , emerge s a s a casie mar.-~ that makes love
modcm11 y tha t espo uses seculari sm .
show his na11ona lity. He
In Mahmo ud l>arwis h's 'Identit y C ard' he docs not even have an 1dcnt1ty c ard 10
Card' of S Joseph , he pic tures
becom ~ a pe rson wi1hou1 tillc, w11hout na11on. When coming to 'ld<-nllty
of the rcd-mk entry
i<lcnriry card .ts a symbol o f discrim inauon, which make~ his lover shun him because
ham from o thers .
of ca ste. In this poem, he has an identity card bur 11 is 1!-:is card which d1scnm1na1cs
