Patel explores his identity and the general concept of identity through his story and experiences in which he outlines what identity meant for him in the past and what it means now. He establishes the idea that appearance cannot portray one’s identity as well as the idea of people being inspired by many and trying to become like them. However, the more one tries to become like their inspirations, the more they lose aspects of their identity, the part that makes them unique and different from others.

At the start of the video, he speaks in Chinese to avoid assumptions made by the audience in order to present his opinion and intention for the TED talk. While telling the audience about his encounters with people, he mentioned that the more Indian he looked, the more discounts he got at an Indian shop. This comes to show that there are people all around us that judge us based on our appearances, and therefore, their actions are based on their judgments.

His overall intention for this TED talk was to encourage others to strive for authenticity rather than becoming someone they are not. I believe this message is quite inspirational because his experiences in the past are quite relatable to my experiences. I have been inspired by many people throughout my lifetime and I have strived to become like them in order to achieve success and satisfaction in life. However, after this video, I now choose to find the true and authentic me in order to achieve success in life as well as my identity.