Where is

These days, a simple question throws my responding skills out of gear. Actually there was/is another such simple question that brought on the same result, but these days it doesn't bother me much (and it's another blog post altogether).

This current not so simple question is this. "Where do you live?"
When friends call, when folks call, when in-laws call, when bro calls - the question after Hello is "Where are you?".
Not that I mind. Of course it must be confusing - "Mysore office", "Surabhi", "Ammana mane", "aa mane alla - illi", "illa - Pavan maneli", "at Office. In Mysore", "Bangalore". "Nammane"...
I'm here and there.

" Should I drop you home, you're headed to Jayanagar right?" my boss asks me after a workshop in Bangalore. He knows my aunt lives there. "No, I'm heading to Rajajinagar", I say. "Oh gandana mane now! Right!" " My mane too" , I respond.

I walked to office today. And wanted to take the morning off to go sleep off my cramps. I asked a colleague to drop me home and he said "Yeah sure. I anyway haven't seen where your Atte mane is". "Actually, you need to drop me to my ammana mane," I tell him.

A friend called " Hey, are you busy? Working? Bangalore?" "Yup" "Ah good, so shall we meet up in Jayanagar in the evening?" "Hmmm... I'm working from home, not from office. Rajajinagar. But I can come to Jayanagar".

I was to deliver my friend's mum's notes to her in Mysore. My friend in Bangalore, knowing well that I travel to Mysore often, passed it on to me to give to his mum. She called to ask "Are you at your maavana mane today evening? It is closer for me to come pick up the notes". "Uhh.. the notes are at my ammana mane, aunty. I'll pick it up and come drop it off", I say. "Oh ok. So when did you come to Mysore" "Yesterday, aunty." "Going back after Pavan is back in Bangalore, is it?" "Yes, aunty".

Yesterday I was at home (Ammana mane- Home) and watching Jhansi ki rani with ma. Ajji asks me "idene, atte maneg hogalva?" and Amma says " adu "atte mane" alla, "nimmane" anni" and Ajji 'corrects' herself "hu, nimmane". I don't respond. I was caught up figuring out which one of the two's statements I should fly at, if I should be offended. Actually I didn't really care.

Everyone must be figuring out how to address my many homes now. Fact is, I feel quite at home at all of them. So the names are merely convinience. Between Pavan and I, we've got secret names for all three homes (names that don't indicate it belongs to atte/maava/amma/ ganda etc etc). And that's how I see it. I'm part of this, and part of that and part of yet another :-)

And that leads me to another oft asked (simple) question. "Must be tiring/ stressful, all this travel". Well, sometimes yes. But overall, not so much!

I like being in Mysore. I love passing by lava-kusha park on the way to work. I like walking to office in Mysore, when I do. It's awesome that I continue to be in the field. I'm learning and thinking and questioning and training and writing. I'd miss it if I gave it up. I like my room at uh my Atte mane (my mane too). I'm more focused writing my reports there than at Surabhi. Mostly coz I don't get to wander off and watch CSI in between, heh heh. It feels nice and warm that Anna (= maava) makes sure there is constant supply of oranges, all for me like Banna did/ does. I watch Mukta Mukta with in-laws. I like. It's nice to be in Mysore and see ma-na almost everyday too. And when I'm at Ammana mane, that feels more cosy than before. As if I was never anywhere else :-) In Bangalore at Pachi though, its truly home. Home that he and I set up. Where we are we, where the sun shines and the rain throws in little hailstones through the window while I sip black tea. Where he cooks for me, and I for him and we for each other. Where love is.

It's for this love that I sometimes think I should give up the rest and move. To our little nest. And it's the work in Mysore and the city itself (and all in it) that feed my soul too, that keeps me. For now, I'd like to believe I'm having my cake and eating it too. One version of it, that is. Till I find another cake that I can eat. Somewhere else, perhaps.