That piece of paper

It was funny, what you could get away with, just by using a piece of laminated paper. Without it, you would get held up outside the library, the bua stretching out her hands infinitely like an inescapable boundary. The ones without the ID cards were gathered outside, trying to persuade the bua to let them in. But not him- oh no, he was too clever for that. He always kept his previous year's ID card in his pocket, since he had recently lost this year's ID. Actually, lost would not be the best word- it was taken away because he wore the wrong shoes to school. The bua, of course, checked only the photo, matched the face in the photo with the one standing before her, and lowered her hands just enough to let him inside the library.

It was cool, what you could do, with just an ID card. You could access doors open only to a specific circle of people, of which you were a part- and that, of course never ceased to make you feel special. You could get your food if you showed it at the counter, you could access the athletic facilities, you could get free bus rides across the campus, which took you to the center of the town. The best part was that look of absolute awe this little piece of paper inspired when you showed it to people outside the elite university.

It was awesome, how this one thing was who you were in your country, and in fact what you were to your country in every other place. Voting, one of your national rights as a citizen, was dependant solely on this. You needed it to open bank accounts. You needed it to show you belonged.

The sometimes-changing sometimes- unchanging ID cards represented their situations more aptly than they could explain themselves. Sometimes phases in your life change and you evolve and your various identities mesh together one after another and your ID cards tell your story, changing every year with a new signature, a newer photograph and a different identity. And then the identities stop barging into your life unnoticed and solidify into one solid mass of you, and that's when you become your ID card.

3 people, from different walks of life, defined by their ID cards.

By Anika Tabassum

---

Mysterious Neglected Middle Born:
The gift and the curse

It is the curse of fates if you are born as the middle child. Apparently, nothing is worse than the torture of having both an older and a younger sibling. See, supposing you are the middle child, the older sibling goes through it all before you and the younger sibling is the last in the family to go through it all, thus the hoopla when its them and the boredom when its you. This means that your older brother graduates first, big deal and then your younger sibling is the last to graduate and so it's a bigger deal. Now, the middle born's graduation is sandwiched between these two most important events in the history of the family, so for the middle born everyone's like 'who cares?' Importantly the reclusive nature of the middle born is held responsible for all this. However, it is important to know that it is the birth order, which results in the characteristic and the possible future career of the mysterious middle born.

Middle Born Who?
There isn't even a word designated for the middle child. Not a single word. So why should a middle born even dare to think that people really care? It's a given that middle born children will be the most neglected. S/he isn't the oldest or the youngest and thus has no idea what s/he really is. The feeling of being left out is common and prevalent and thus if you are a middle child, don't be surprised if you have a large friend circle. In order to compensate for lack of attention at home, middle borns usually mingle with a lot of people. They are also very outgoing, thrive on friendship and make it a point to please people.

Middle born children are also usually referred to as the 'mysterious middle child' since middle borns may possess any one of two sets of characteristics and even these two sets have not been clearly defined. The eldest or youngest child is seemingly more predictable, whereas the middle child can be either friendly, patient and laid back or a loner, impatient and uptight. A middle child can also have a combination of these two sets.

Middle borns however are peacemakers who hate confrontations, like their independence, are imaginative, competitive and also a little rebellious. Middle borns can also rise to the top despite what you believe. Look at Donald Trump's example.

Neither The Black Sheep Nor The Shining Star
It is a common misconception that the middle child, though neglected, must be perfect. S/he cannot be a black sheep or a shining star, but must solely live for pleasing the whole wide world. Even after that, everyone around will be much better than the middle child in one way or the other. It is worst in our sub-continent, as middle borns are not compared with their siblings but with their relatives, neighbours, classmates and pets.

Dalton Conley, author of the pecking order says that 'middle borns are 25 percent less likely to be sent to private school and five times more likely to be held back a grade.' This is largely because people have less faith in middle borns and the burden of expectations may become too much for them. They not only have to be compared with their elders but also have to set an example for their younger siblings. That's a hard job.

Thus middle borns become rebellious and hate to live by the book. Therefore, they choose careers that allow them to be creative such as art, sales, advertising or careers, which deal with management, where their creativity and level headedness is useful. Creativity usually leads to innovations, which lead to great success, and middle borns can be famous too as illustrated by the achievements of Bill Gates and Julia Roberts. It's possible that you may not even know the name of your middle born child so its best to learn it now or you may live to regret it.

Better Second Than Never
Yes, it is better to come second than to never be born. Your birth order WILL define how you will be, despite exceptions. And hey even if you are a middle born male but your elder sibling is female than you can still reap the rewards of being the first born male. And not only can you bully your younger sibling worse than you were bullied but can also take revenge on your elder sibling when s/he grows really, really old. However, whenever you are born there is a lot to learn from your younger or elder sibling. And in the end, despite the inadequacy in attention levels, remember each child is loved equally (yeah right) by their parents and give them a reason to cherish the fact that they gave birth to you.

By Osama Rahman
Sources-wikipedia, birthorderandpersonality.com, careerbuilder.ca