Ain't So Unique

Penguins mate for life. That doesn't surprise me much because they all look alike. ~Anonymous

It's rather common how some people may almost totally resemble someone else whom they're not even distantly related to.

A friend of mine is fondly called "Spiderman" because of his Toby McGuire looks. (Although to me, he looks more like the lead actor who stars in a Cantonese serial drama, Healing Hands.) At the place where I worked, there's an engineer who looked just like my history teacher.

That's no big deal, right? "Elvis Presley" is often seen strolling by the Mississippi; Osama look-alike sells roti canai at a mamak stall in Taiping. As long as you don't resemble some porn star or a king pin high up on Interpol's wanted list, you probably won't draw any more than a couple of comments.

Two years ago, I worked in a supermarket at the information counter with a friend. Many customers and colleagues thought we were brothers. And because of our similar age, some even went further by surmising we were twins! When we explained that we weren't, they'd frown as if it was an April Fool joke.

Once, a classmate told me that she knew of a person from another school who resembled me.

Back at the engineering consultancy where I worked, I looked like another colleague (though I really, really disagree). And when I was having lunch with a schoolmate, someone at my workplace bumped into us and later asked me if I was having lunch with my "brother".

This "match-the-same-pieces" game didn't end there. My boss thought I looked like one of his friends.

Oh god! Why on earth do I look like so many people whom I have not even met? No, let me rephrase - why on earth do so many people look like me? I guess, when you have brains and looks like mine, people just can't refrain from stealing your DNA.

Is this some kind of conspiracy? Is there a mad scientist attempting to build an clone army using my "highly divine and refined" genes?

Nah, maybe there's a more plausible explanation. Perhaps, we shared the same ancestral roots. Perhaps, our traits are passed down by the same cavemen Mr and Mrs Abukaka eons ago. Whatever reason it is, this is getting rather eerie.

But, what to do? Sue them for copyright infringement? Too bad my parents didn't get me patented.