Akul Nishawala
New Orleans, LA
This is usually the narrative of the story that answers the question, “Where are you from?” When I say I was born in Saudi Arabia, my brown skin leads people to say, “So, you’re Saudi?” No, my parents are from India. “Oh, so you’re from India.” No, I’ve never lived in India, and my parents became citizens after they immigrated to the U.S. “Oh, so….” I’m a U.S. citizen, and have been since I was born. It’s complicated, because I grew up in Saudi, but I’m not “from” there, nor do I relate to Saudi culture since I lived on on expat compound which could be compared to a military base that had a school, little league, swimming pools, and anything else a suburb would have.
