In the Rocky Mountains, Everyone Still Cares Where You are From

Recently, I went on a trip to Ladakh - Dras, Kargil and Zanskar to be specific. The three of us started from Srinagar, and while on our road trip, I was often asked: "Where are you from?" For years, this simple question has thrown me into an existential rabbit hole. "I am from Kashmir." "Oh! Where do you live in Kashmir?" "Well, we have a house in downtown. But we don't live there currently. My parents moved to Delhi during the 90s." Identity refuses courtesy. People tend to identify you and box you into a neat category. Based on where you live or how you speak, they may imagine you as a person you can barely recognize. Why do we need to call a single place our home anyway? The feeling of belongingness may be as transient as the walls that surround us. Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are uniquely cosmopolitan. You find villages and towns where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists are living together in the same neighbourhood. I definitely know that I belonged in the mountains.