To A Communalist I am a Muslim by family; by linguistic affiliation a Hindustani, though, also, English. Ethically, I am, or wish to be a Jain; morally, I can only be a Buddhist. Ontologically, can I be any, but a Monist? Epistemologically, I guess, I really am an evidentialist… …And God alone knows if he has made me an atheist or a pantheist! By Nation, by geography and by race I certainly am a Hindu, rooted and living as I am between and including the valleys of Indus of Ganga, and of the Brahmaputra. By ambition, I think I am a SanatanaDharmi. And in other non-communal categories, I respond to other labels. Only you can tell me which shelf, you want to exhibit me in? You see in matters of identity, as much as in literature and lunch I prefer a buffet. Apologies, but shelving and labeling of people are your problems. Not mine. - owais -- This is first being published here.