Dopplegangers

When I was in college, a friend told me of a time he and our common friends were having lunch in the canteen. He saw this guy at another table and said, "Hey, that's what Carl would look like if he were a muscular." Strange, considering that DLSU is such a small campus and I've never bumped into the double.

Since then, there'd be folks who tell me that they'd seen me somewhere in the metropolis at a certain time, and I swear I was never there. (Or maybe they saw my brother; people mistake us for twins sometimes.) The closest encounter I ever had to seeing someone who resembled me was a picture in the newspaper, of a hunky guy who was a member of a dragon boat team. I kept the pic for a time, perhaps to prep me for an off-and-on gym crusade a decade later, until it decomposed at will in my wallet.

Last night, my eight year-old niece came up to me with a 2007 calendar from National Bookstore. She said in Filipino, "Uncle, he looks like you." She was pointing to an image of one of the models in the calendar and, yes, me and the guy in the pic could be mistaken for brothers.

I just find it fascinating how, despite the bazillion combinations genes could make in coming up with a unique individual, a lotto number gets drawn and voila! Instant distant unrelated twin. My cousin had a personal encounter with her ersatz twin in an elevator of all places, and she swears the experience was bizarre. I don't know how I'd handle it if ever it happens to me.

Comments

Apol said…
A Swiss girl I know swears that her best friend looks and even gesticulates just like me... except that the best friend is white-skinned and blonde. Ang weird.
Anonymous said…
Apol...Happy New Year! So may picture bang pinakita sa 'yo ng friend mo? Masayang blog entry 'yan. :-) Take care!
Slvrdlphn said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Slvrdlphn said…
Uhm ... Carl. Remember THIS photo?

http://images.slvrdlphn.multiply.com/image/12:zsazsazaturnnah/photos/2/500x500/1/raven-carver.jpg?et=KTACuJdFDUOm6HLaeYvOCQ
Hazel Manzano said…
interesting post. there are a lot of "these" in our office (call center). One time, i went to the rest room and my agents saw me in my table doing a phone call. they even called me since they needed help. unfortunately i returned on the floor and the doppelganger failed to approach them. nyak!

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