“Where are you from?”

We frequently get asked this question. At the outset, our answer is “We’re from San Francisco and we’re on a road trip to Toronto”. This is almost always met with a “Wow!” and typically an interesting follow-up conversation about traveling, roadtrips, etc.

But the more I think about this, I realize this simple question is so hard to answer. Where are we really from? 

Is it where I was born, where I went to school, where I have most material assets, most memories, where my parents live, or where I have more friends, or the place I can most relate to, or is it something else, or is it all of these?  

Every place we’ve lived in has had an impact on our lives. Both Anki and I were born & raised in Mumbai, India and have lived, studied and worked in Mumbai & Chennai, in India and in Dallas & San Francisco in the US. We’ve spent most of our adult life in the US and almost our entire careers exclusively in the US (barring a year in India at the start of our careers). Our friends are all over the world with the highest concentration in the Bay Area. Our close family are mostly in the US and in India. And we are currently moving to Canada for a couple of years. 

So, where are we really from? In fact, where is one every from in this day and age? Where do we belong?

When people mostly lived in one place for most of their lives and that’s where their friends and family and lives were, this was their home.

By that definition, our home would be San Francisco. It’s the one place, I’m most comfortable, most familiar with and can most relate to at this time.

But the question always reminds me of Johnny Cash’s - “I’ve been everywhere man”