Romance Without borders

HERE is a very distinct strain of loneliness that comes not from being alone, but from belonging everywhere and nowhere at once.

- SHIVANI ILLAKIYA

It might be the ache of airports, the comfort of multiple accents, the quiet confusion of calling three places "home" and meaning it every single time.For comedian Kaneez Surka, it is the beating heart of her new solo show, 'Foreign Return,' which she brought to Delhi recently.

"At the core of the show, this isn't really about geography," she says. "It's about what it means to belong. I've lived in three different countries, and in each one, I've been both a resident and a foreigner at the same time."

Born and raised in South Africa, shaped by the Mumbai improv scene, and now based in New York, Kaneez has spent years toggling between cultures, audiences, and identities. In India, she is "foreign return".

In South Africa, she is Indian. In America, she is both and neither.