I am an Indian, a true indian as I am born to an Oriya couple in Kolkata and have lived in 28 states in the span of 30 years. Kids like us are called Army Brats for all the possible reasons.
I am from Odisha, a state in the east part of India. Even though I have never stayed in Odisha I am an Oriya from heart.
So, you may ask, where have I been? I have been all over the country.
My father was in the Army, a true olive green type, and was frequently posted to different places. I was raised all over the country as we would move as my father got transferred, mostly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, J&K, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, i.e., Northern states. I have been to 28 states and stayed in 17 of them for over a year. Wow! I think I can truly say that I am an Indian, and a well traveled one.
How did I cope with many languages? Well I have always had a pleasant way around language and I adapt to languages very easily. For me, language is always mix of hand gestures, facial expressions and sounds. I have never had any issues getting around people with different languages. A smile and a soft tone always get you the way.
My unique upbringing has taught me a lot, I can speak Hindi, English, Oriya, Bengali and Punjabi. I can understand all the north Indian languages like Marwari, Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Kuchi, and Assamese very well. Whichever place I have stayed I was taught the local dialects slangs and easy sentences to get by pleasantly and it dwelled into a habit.
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