{"id":132,"date":"2008-02-12T10:38:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-12T10:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2008\/02\/where-are-you-from-really.html"},"modified":"2011-06-30T20:40:40","modified_gmt":"2011-06-30T20:40:40","slug":"where-are-you-from-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/2008\/02\/where-are-you-from-really.html","title":{"rendered":"Where are you from, really ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The current controversy \u2013 that of the Maharashtrian<\/a>, brings to mind the question of belonging. I have no \u201caccent\u201d so to speak, no Haryanvi influence, no UP-ite drawl, no Punjabi ruggedness, no American accent. I am often asked where I am from , now in the US, and many, many times in India. I often want to ask people what they mean when they ask that. Actually I do ask for clarifications from peers \u2013 Do you mean where my parents are from ? Or do you mean me ?<\/em> They\u2019ll clarify.<\/p>\n

However try asking the Unclejis\/Auntijis this sort of stuff, and I get these weird looks like they\u2019re thinking I\u2019m an odd girl (Not very docile, is she now <\/em>?). Do they think that I have remained rooted to the birthplace of my ancestors ? Is that what they mean \u2013 where were your grand-parents from ? Surely not, since they are talking to me ? Surely they care about me \u2013 the person standing in front of them, more than my great-great-grandfather\u2019s home-town ? Are they asking me what my native tongue is ? Where I went for my summer holidays ? Mussoorie ??? Are they asking me where my father\u2019s elder brother lives ? Or my Mom\u2019s ? Or where I live now ?<\/p>\n

In the US, sometimes this question is understandable \u2013 I ask it, and I couldn\u2019t care about the language you spoke at home, as long as we can communicate somehow. You try to get a feel for the person you just met \u2013 where did you go to school ? Non-vegetarian ? You try to form links and connections \u2013 do you know so-and-so etc. But I\u2019ve noticed that there are also other reasons people ask this \u2013 you can see their minds work. Reasons such as the reason to classify me as a Northie, or a Southie, to find out my caste and my Gotra, to find out if I am one of them.<\/p>\n

To those people I give the whole schpiel :<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father is from so-and-so, and my grand-father was from so-and-so village. My mother\u2019s side is from this city, but that was because my grand-father moved \u2026 And then of-course we never actually lived in my \u201chome-town(s)\u201d, so I don\u2019t if I actually belong there. And then we moved again . . . to the US. Let me tell you where all I\u2019ve lived here . . \u201c
<\/em>
At this point, people\u2019s eyes are glazing over. If I notice, I stop. But, sometimes, I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The question of \u201cbelonging\u201d has always gotten me \u2013 what really is the correct answer ? Do you belong to the land of your ancestors ? You may or may not have been brought up there, so how do you profess links ? Do you belong to your Dad\u2019s \u201cplace\u201d or your Mom\u2019s ? Or both ? What if they are really far apart ? I have lived all over India, and least of all in the states to which my parents\/grand-parents profess attachment. If I live anywhere for more than 5 years, can I say I belong there ? When I learn a language which is not my mother-tongue, can I say I belong ? If I move to another country, and consider it home, do I belong ?<\/p>\n

Who decides if I belong ? Just like who decides if I\u2019m a patriot, a Hindu, or fit to live and speak my mind ? Who, really ?<\/p>\n

Cross-posted at <\/em>Desicritics<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current controversy \u2013 that of the Maharashtrian, brings to mind the question of belonging. I have no \u201caccent\u201d so to speak, no Haryanvi influence, no UP-ite drawl, no Punjabi ruggedness, no American accent. I am often asked where I am from , now in the US, and many, many times in India. I often […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"The current controversy \u2013 that of the Maharashtrian, brings to mind the question of belonging. I have no \u201caccent\u201d so to speak, no Haryanvi influence, no UP-ite drawl, no Punjabi ruggedness, no American accent. I am often asked where I am from , now in the US, and many, many times in India. I often…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":843,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}