I come from...........

Generally, when you talk to someone the first time and if the conversation is more than just a hi or hello, There are certain things that inevitably come into the topic conversation. The ones i'm referring to here are about the place..It could be about the place where we are or the place where they come from..Now, decorum of the conversation (or an uncomfortable pause, waiting for an reciprocation from my side in that topic) states that i tell them where i come from...Or, if the person is more direct, they'll just ask you where you are from ..Though i have to agree that for most, the answer would be fairly simple..They would just say one place..In my case,,That, is usually not such a simple affair...

The question that is framed wrong actually...What do you mean by "where are you from?" or "what is your native place". I don't think they realise what you are asking..According to the dictionary
Native or native land-->
1. Originating, growing, or produced in a certain place or region.
2. Of, belonging to, or characteristic of such inhabitants.
3.Archaic Closely related, as by birth or race.
This question has too many answers...
Place of originating ->In humans, i presume that would be birth.
Place of growing->Does it mean childhood?If so, what are the limits of childhood? Does it mean where you went to school? Where you went to junior college(intermediate/11th and 12th) or college? Because i think we keep growing atleast until we are in college. What if, these were all in different places, worse still, if half of schooling done in one place and half in another...and so on...
Closely related by birth to certain inhabitants-> So even if i wasn't born in a particular place and never even went there,, by virtue of my forefathers i become native to that place?
As you can see, It is a very vague question. I personally feel, "Home(town) is where the heart is"..

Coming to all the above questions..
Place of originating-->I was born in delhi.. Legend has it, that my excitement to come into this world was so great that i was out by the time my parents reached the hospital gate! But more on that later....
Place of growing--> Delhi, till 5th class, with an years stay outside India in middle...Then rest of schooling in Hyderabad..Keeping matters simple, i did EVEN my intermediate in Hyderabad..Then the college in Jaipur..
Closely Related by birth--> Another difficult question to answer..As the norm usually states in the Indian society, I am a part of my father's family..So that way, i would say i'm from a small town in Telangana (Andhra Pradesh) called Mahabubnagar..But i never went there till i was 6..I've always been around my mother's side of the family.. My mother facing the same (family history) dilemma with her parents who were from different places in Coastal Andhra..I never asked further,,but maybe the cycle continues..

So,,Coming back to the initial question,,Its not an easy to answer..But, to save the people who are asking some confusion, I say that i'm from hyderabad(That is where my heart is.)..And if (god forbid) they ask for further details about it the long story begins..Now another problem comes if they ask me when/how i'm going home..Because if the answer was simple there wouldn't be any fun..So, to top off all the confusion, my family lives in bangalore now...

I don't remember even one interview in which i reached the HR round and they didnt ask me where i was from..And so followed the long story..Now if even that wasn't enough, i did my internships in college in Goa(YES,,supposed to be work,,in goa!!) and in Bombay (Sorry,,Mumbai, for i may get beaten up for this by some political parties..)..In each of these places i lived for a couple of months..And, my second favourite city after Hyderabad would be Bombay..The place just WORKS!!! Everything moves like clockwork! and the people are helpful, and the place is safe! Not to mention, that i like the sound of marathi...

Well, now i work in gurgaon, which is pretty much Delhi..So life has come sort of full circle! And you might be thinking that this is nothing compared to military people's kids..This whole process is much simpler for military people, they just say, "i'm from a military background" and noone asks anymore questions!!

To sum it all up, i couldn't put it better than what an interviewer said at the end of the long explanation about "where i come from?", He said,with a smile,,that i am,, A TRUE INDIAN!!