Citizen Of The World?

My father was the only one among nine siblings from his family to have moved out of Chennai to make a living in the northern city of Dehradun, then in Uttar Pradesh, now in Uttaranchal, soon to be in Uttarakhand. As he reaches the culmination of his successful career, he has tracked back to Chennai. Needless to say, he has taken to life there like a fish to water, including attending a classical concert each evening at a venue that is no more than a stone's throw away from home.

Mom, on the other hand, breathes and dreams Bangalore. Having spent all her pre-marriage years in Bangalore, she never runs out of stories detailing the magic of Bangalooru, its people, the gardens, etc. There is that distinct glow in her eyes and an unbound enthusiasm whenever she makes plans to visit Bangalore. She often laments the fact that she does not derive the level of satisfaction when bargaining with the Marathi thelewallah as compared to the Kannada vegetable vendor!

My sister has been all over the country, setting up her house wherever she went. But even as she moved from place to place, she finally found her calling in Pune, where she now raises her children and runs her clinic. She, too, has soaked the Puneri culture and rattles off instructions to her patients in Marathi as if that were her first language. She doesn't consider herself an outsider no more.

Then, consider my aunt in Manhattan, who thinks there could be no other city that even comes close to NYC in terms of livability, all this inspite of incidents like the WTC crash and the forever orange alert. She savors the independence and comfort NYC offers and trashes even the faintest idea of living anywhere else. I hate her audacity but love her panache thats so typical of a Manhattaner. Secretly (not any more), I envy her easy access to the Central Park, the world-famous museums and the Broadway theater.

So where do I belong to? I wish I could say Dehradun or Pune, places where I spent almost a decade of my life each. Or perhaps Madison, that I have begun to love and feel one with during the last three years. I have at some point of time or the other, always sensed each of these cities to be my own, so much so that setting feet on its soil brought forth a unique sense of security. But each time, I move on laden with pleasant memories of a warm past relationship. 'Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?' A favorite interview question: I wish I knew...