Friday, May 18, 2007

Hometown:Confused

"so where are you from?"
"oh, i am a mumbai-ite, totally...lived here my entire life"
"aren't u like south indian?"(read alien from idli-sambar land)..
"yeah,telugu"
"oh ok,so ur hometown is hyderabad"
"uhh..no, i'm telugu but actually from chennai"
"uh huh"(listener bored)
i however take 'uh huh' as an invitation to explain.."well, my parents were born and brought up there...all our relatives etc"
"okkkk so u are chennai telugu born-n-brought up in b'bay"
"actually i was born in pune.."
"and my brother in tirunelveli"
(listener's eyes glaze over).."well at least u r indian,right?"
"you know,my ancestors were from burma..migrated to india..in fact my mom's family is from kerala..."
(listener wondering what the original question was..why can't this girl give direct answers)

and so it went on..i always feel it necessary to explain clearly and in great detail about where i am from..but don't ask me why!
i get irritated by the pre-conceived notions that people have about south indians...i get stunned looks when i say that i don't like idlis.."buutt u r south indian, na??!!
and then why i don't have a surname blah blah, and that just because i am a s.i. doesnt mean i understand alll southern languages,"..buut u r...?"

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