I Was Here

This is one of the oldest handprints of a human found in a cave in Indonesia. There are many such handprints dating as far back as 40,000 years or more. It is one of the most basic signs of humans. As if they are telling us through the enormous window of time — “I was here”.

It gives you a chill in the spine that a human being that lived ages and ages ago can so simply imply his existence. That no amount of time can separate you from him. That his existence is just as real as yours.

This is basic human nature to be able to win over time. Our urge to survive longer and longer, perhaps even outside our body, as an idea; or a sign.

Even in this modern age, we see signs of it everywhere. May it be Banksy leaving his trails on city walls

or tourists trying to leave their mark on historic monuments.

Even though people across the spectrum will fail in leaving an indelible mark as human creations, the king of kings has also tried his hands on being immortal in creation.

Failing again, as million will do too.

May it be Chinese travellers disgracing the name of China or researchers trying to find a solution to this, we have at our hands a great symphony of human nature. A futile attempt to be permanent. A need, an urge to be of importance and to pretend to live a life of something done.

This want of becoming famous, being known and being remembered for important things has charged us to the ‘I was here’ phenomena. We all want to have an image of importance. We want to have unique signs. We want to become different. Although it may or may not be our reality since pretending is enough to soothe our nerves.

And this brings us to the identity crisis of human beings. That first handprint was the beginning of human individualism. A handprint doesn’t tell anything about the tribe or the species but about a single human being who stood the test of time in the form of this single print on a wall. Perhaps it wasn’t the only print and moreover, we know the chances of that print surviving are next to none and yet we are biased to look the other way. We the dreamy sapiens full of imagination want to stay here. And our small lives are not enough to express our full potential. We are far bigger than our bodies, far more ambitious than our place in nature.

So whether it is our physical manifestation across ages or our simple name that stands, we just want others to know that ‘I was here’ and this is ‘me’