Origin-al Fire!

The region of my origin has been a source of wide speculation for quite a few people I know. Although I find it quite strange, I must confess that it has been very entertaining, at times! Here are few incidents.

Scene I

Somebody once told me that I look like a farmer, hailing from Rajasthan! When I stared back at him, totally puzzled – he gave me some sort of a weird explanation about my shoulders and waist, that makes little sense to me – even now! Anyhow, at that time I had a crush on this cute Rajasthani chick, and I had thought that I looking like a farmer dude would help my cause! But thinking about it now, I guess there are no farms, or for that matter, farmers in Rajasthan! And damn, maybe that guy was gay! And in case you are really interested – that chick is long gone!

Scene II

A girl, who had won herself a holiday in Egypt, returned and told me that I look so much like an Egyptian. The reason for her comment, I figured, was my untrimmed goatee. So I asked her is it because Egyptian men kept goatees similar to mine? She replied in the negative and said that it was because my goatee kind of resembled the one on the Sphinx! I trimmed my goatee short that very evening! And if I remember right, at least a couple more guys have branded me as an Egyptian, all thanks to my goatee! And no – I do not trim my goatee short every time I get to hear this comment now!

Scene III

I had this friend from Pakistan, who was manning this telephone booth, in Italy. I used to spend quite sometime speaking with him, and a few of his customers – who came from various parts of the world. A lot of people from the sub-continent used to visit his shop, and I used to converse with them in Hindi. (Yes people, I do know Hindi! I just do not feel the necessity to speak in it though!) Anyhow, one fine day at the telephone booth, I met this guy and he seemed like he was a guy from Delhi.

Me: Are you from Delhi?

He: No, I am from Lahore.

Me: Oh? You look and speak like you are from Delhi, so I thought you are from there. (And this is coming from me – who has never visited Delhi!)

He: Okay, so where are you from?

Me: Bangalore.

He: Oh? And I thought you were from Pakistan! You look so much like a Pakistani!

Scene IV

I do not know if it is just me, but have you ever noticed that your photograph on the visa looks so different, from the photograph you submitted in the application for it? I wonder what those guys do with it! Anyway, a couple of my friends who got to see one such photograph told me that I looked like an Arab! Well, I hope you get the point! And I blame it on the wicked looking goatee again!

Scene V

Once while I was discussing about this very thing with a group of friends, one of them told me that I actually looked like a Mauritian! Ha! I guess, well over half the Mauritian population is Indian, so maybe this dude got a little confused!

Scene VI

I got to learn that a few people in office used to call me an Iranian, but I guess it was more a sort of a nickname than anything else. The one thing that I want to point out here is – I never felt offended about all this. Except for this one time when a bunch of colleagues came by my seat and started wishing me for Onam!