"So when are you coming back to India?"

In the year 1994 AD, ...uhmm sorry, too much of Dominique Lapierre/History Channel, etc etc...

Anyways, in 1994, my family shifted from Delhi to Hyderabad, and hence away from some childhood friends as well. With Internet having real low awareness scores in North India, I was not aware of the phenomenon called E-mail, and hence used to write hand written letters to my friends in Delhi. The fact that at the time this was actually encouraged by my family ( I wrote to all my extended family as well ) is redundant now, for my handwriting never improved. Well, during one of the responses from my friends back in Delhi, he asked me a very peculiar question: " So when are you returning to India?".

India...wait a minute... I was very much in India..so what did my friend mean by asking such a silly question?

Now at that time i laughed it off. In fact over the next few years, this tale actually turned into a good dinner time joke to be shared with people especially from Delhi. But today, the innocent question is no longer just a faux paus but is actually made me think of my life ahead.

Today I got my location for joining Airtel. It is Jaipur, the city I was born in. Well, as soon as I got to know about, there was rejoicing by many of my relatives who are in Jaipur. My parents were actually sad that I have to go back to the city they had in a sense escaped from. The fact of the matter was that I was a guy who had always lived in Metropolitan cities, and they were duly worried about me adjusting to a place like Jaipur. On my part, I am quite OK with it, for I can't wait to start work. But, I am digressing here..( blame it on bhasadi skills).

Well amidst the plethora of emotions and the advise which I was getting from everyone, my brother actually asked me with a smirk on his face ," So when will you come back to India?". Now his intention was very much to turn the joke on me, but it got me thinking of how true the statement actually was for many of my Delhi friends, and even to a certain extent for me. For Delhi has always stood for most of my friends as the symbol of India. Even when I came back from a trip abroad or from another city in India, my heart always felt lighter and at home once I was in Delhi. And maybe this is the feeling which we all relate with our country as well. Hence, it is but so simple to equate India and Delhi.

I have been to many cities in India, and I can say that for me there is no other city like Delhi. I do realise that it may be very early in my life for me to form such a judgement, but somehow, I have always visualised myself staying on here, if anywhere in India. I could put it down to the fact that wherever I have gone i have been always characterised as a Delhi-ite ( talk of re-enforcement techniques). But just imagine, how true this must have been for friends, such as my childhood friend, whose family and ancestors have always been in Delhi ? For for them, the world outside Delhi would be an alien environment. Maybe that actually explained the reluctance of many of my fellow B School students in moving out of Delhi!!!

But in the end, as I start out in the next chapter of my life, even I wonder if even after having travelled extensively, would I always equate India and Delhi as one. I am en route to Jaipur by the month end, and who knows where all I will travel, but one question which is sure to keep coming back to my mind would be..." So when are you coming back to India?"