I think this will strike chords with a lot of people.
Whenever you meet someone new, what's the first question that they ask after your name? It's usually "Where are you from?".
Very simple question. Well, not to me.
Because to answer this simple question, I would have to tell the person half my life history.
How, you may ask?
First, let's examine the question. "Where are you from?" It is taken as "Literal: In which country or region were you born or raised?."
So first dilema: Do I say the country I was born in, which is India or where I was raised, which is Singapore?
If I answer India, then everyone wonders how I can speak Singlish so well and know so much about Singapore. Answer otherwise, and I get questions on how my Tamil is so authentic. -.-'' Trust me, I have tried.
Deeper than just country, try asking me where exactly I am from in India.
I am natively from Nagercoil, a town in Kayakumari in Tamil Nadu. But my family lives in Chennai and I was born in Trivandrum, Kerala. Nagercoil lies on the borders of Kerala and had been constantly transferred back and forth between the 2 states in the past. Hence, the language and culture is a mix of Tamil and Malayalam. We love puttu as much as we love our thosais. So am I a Tamil or a Malayalee? Guess identity crisis has already been etched in my genes.
For a long time, I thought I was the only one going through such a 'crisis'. But I recently found out that there are many like me, who really can't give a real definition of where they are from. It's especially prominent in people who have migrated from their native or who have mixed backgrounds.
We have this everlasting conflict going on in our hearts and minds as to which country our loyalty lies in. We love our native for our heritage and at the same time love the country we live in because we have somehow learnt to fit in as a part of this puzzle of a community which has given us employment or educational oppourtunities better than what we could have gotten in our natives.
So in the end, where do we belong?
I can never give in to either. So my answer: say everything as above.
Why stick to one when you can have the good of both? Variety is the spice of life, isn't it?
It's the spice and the headache of life.
With so much of diversity and so much of variants, when posed with an option to choose just one, how can I?
It is impossible.
If my generation is facing so much of crisis trying to find an identity, a sense of belonging; just imagine, what my future generation would have to face?
I can only pray and hope that they embrace their diversity as much as I do.
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