Inadequate Identities is the story of one man's battle with himself as he struggles to find his roots. Born in an alien land to an Indian father and an American mother, and brought up largely by his grandfather, who himself was a misfit in America, Kannan, the protagonist, travels back to the village of his ancestors, Maanavi, hoping to find an anchor. But the Maanavi of his imaginings is far different from the Maanavi in reality. So, how does Kannan fare? What are the stories he carries back with him? Does he find what he sought? Through his Maanavi Diary jottings, we try to find out what went on in Kannan's head during those days he spent in the land of his ancestors.