I was traveling to Pune and this guy next to me in the bus got chatty... and suddenly he asked me
He: "Are you a Maharastrian?"
Me: "No, Im a Tamilian"
His eyes grew as huge as saucers and he had this expression as if an alien had descended in our bus, and is sitting on my head..
Me: " What? why this expression?"
Him: "you don't have the typical Madhrasi looks"
Me: "and what exactly is a typical (emphasizing on the word) MADHRASI looks?"
People have so many preconceived notions, like for people is Maharashtra and above..like north and eastern parts..any states below the belt of Madhya Pradesh is Madhras (Madras a.k.a Chennai)
For now lets just separate, Northies and Southies
Northies = All and sundry above Karnataka
Southies = All and sundry below Karnataka, including Karnataka
Him: "You are a Tamilian, so you speak Tulu, right?"
Me: "I'm a Tamilian, and I speak Tamil"
Him: "Tamil and Tulu mei difference hi kya hai?" (Not much difference between Tamil and Tulu right)
Me: "Utna hi jitna Hindi and Gujarati mei hota hai" (Not much, its only as different as Hindi and Gujarati)
Him: "But, you dont have that accent, neither do you look so"
Me: "Reality Check mister, most of my people do not have accents and really what do you expect, me to sport a 9 yard saree?"
For the Northies, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu is one,
Tulu + Kannada + Telugu + Tamil + Malayalam = Anda Gundu
For the Southies,
Marathi + Gujarati + Hindi + Bihari + Haryanvi + Every other language = Hindi (Indhi to be accurate)
Like, now you...yea you...the one reading this post...
close your eyes and imagine a South Indian Man and a South Indian woman..
Typically, the man is wearing a lungi, folded on this knees and tied to his waist, 3 lines of vibhuti (holy ash) on his forehead, having big bushy mustache, and saying "Yenna Rascala"
The woman, clad in kanchiveeram saree, jasmine garden on her head, lots of gold on her, a huge nose ring, 1 line of vibhuti on her forehead, just above the huge round red bindi and saying "aiiyyooooo vanakaam"
Now tell me, how many real life South Indians do you know who sport this look in their daily life? No one right...
Lets just go state wise for people's general notions about other states,
Kerala = Nariyal (coconut), Back waters and 80% men working in Gulf
Tamilnadu = Rajnikaant
Karnataka + Andra Pradesh = merges into one and becomes Bangalore and Hyderabad = IT city and Biryani
Maharashtra = Mumbai = Bollywood and Local trains
Goa = Beach, Babes and Beer
Madhya Pradesh = IAS officers
Rajasthan = Palace
Gujarat = Dhanda, bijness (business), rokda, paisa (money), ghatiya, dhokla, dandiya
West Bengal = Red and white saree, fish, Durga pooja and Roshogolla (bengali sweets)
Uttar Pradesh + Bihar + Haryana = Gangsters and Desi Guns
Punjab = Paneer, bhangra and Trucks
Mizoram + Sikkim + Meghalaya + Tripura + Nagaland + Arunachal Pradesh = Far Far Far East (These are like exotic states)
Jammu & Kashmir = Army and Terrorists
I think that's about it, about the general notions of people across our country. I mean there is so much more than just these insane notions...
What do I say.. We love the way we are..We love India the way it is..We crib..We rant..but still we stand united during crisis..We love our flag..We love our military...We love our cricket team...
We love to chant BHARAT MATA KI JAI .... JAI HIND!!!!!
Image courtesy: www.mapsofindia.com
He: "Are you a Maharastrian?"
Me: "No, Im a Tamilian"
His eyes grew as huge as saucers and he had this expression as if an alien had descended in our bus, and is sitting on my head..
Me: " What? why this expression?"
Him: "you don't have the typical Madhrasi looks"
Me: "and what exactly is a typical (emphasizing on the word) MADHRASI looks?"
People have so many preconceived notions, like for people is Maharashtra and above..like north and eastern parts..any states below the belt of Madhya Pradesh is Madhras (Madras a.k.a Chennai)
For now lets just separate, Northies and Southies
Northies = All and sundry above Karnataka
Southies = All and sundry below Karnataka, including Karnataka
Him: "You are a Tamilian, so you speak Tulu, right?"
Me: "I'm a Tamilian, and I speak Tamil"
Him: "Tamil and Tulu mei difference hi kya hai?" (Not much difference between Tamil and Tulu right)
Me: "Utna hi jitna Hindi and Gujarati mei hota hai" (Not much, its only as different as Hindi and Gujarati)
Him: "But, you dont have that accent, neither do you look so"
Me: "Reality Check mister, most of my people do not have accents and really what do you expect, me to sport a 9 yard saree?"
For the Northies, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu is one,Tulu + Kannada + Telugu + Tamil + Malayalam = Anda Gundu
For the Southies,
Marathi + Gujarati + Hindi + Bihari + Haryanvi + Every other language = Hindi (Indhi to be accurate)
Like, now you...yea you...the one reading this post...
close your eyes and imagine a South Indian Man and a South Indian woman..
Typically, the man is wearing a lungi, folded on this knees and tied to his waist, 3 lines of vibhuti (holy ash) on his forehead, having big bushy mustache, and saying "Yenna Rascala"
The woman, clad in kanchiveeram saree, jasmine garden on her head, lots of gold on her, a huge nose ring, 1 line of vibhuti on her forehead, just above the huge round red bindi and saying "aiiyyooooo vanakaam"
Now tell me, how many real life South Indians do you know who sport this look in their daily life? No one right...
Lets just go state wise for people's general notions about other states,
Kerala = Nariyal (coconut), Back waters and 80% men working in Gulf
Tamilnadu = Rajnikaant
Karnataka + Andra Pradesh = merges into one and becomes Bangalore and Hyderabad = IT city and Biryani
Maharashtra = Mumbai = Bollywood and Local trains
Goa = Beach, Babes and Beer
Madhya Pradesh = IAS officers
Rajasthan = Palace
Gujarat = Dhanda, bijness (business), rokda, paisa (money), ghatiya, dhokla, dandiya
West Bengal = Red and white saree, fish, Durga pooja and Roshogolla (bengali sweets)
Uttar Pradesh + Bihar + Haryana = Gangsters and Desi Guns
Punjab = Paneer, bhangra and Trucks
Mizoram + Sikkim + Meghalaya + Tripura + Nagaland + Arunachal Pradesh = Far Far Far East (These are like exotic states)
Jammu & Kashmir = Army and Terrorists
I think that's about it, about the general notions of people across our country. I mean there is so much more than just these insane notions...
What do I say.. We love the way we are..We love India the way it is..We crib..We rant..but still we stand united during crisis..We love our flag..We love our military...We love our cricket team...
We love to chant BHARAT MATA KI JAI .... JAI HIND!!!!!
Image courtesy: www.mapsofindia.com
Ah! The mystique of stereotypes :) Faced this in Delhi - "Aap Madrasi hain? Itne gore kaise hain?" :)
ReplyDeleteLol.. I dunno what is this thing of Madrasi being this Black guy only..maybe its the way movies portray them then influences people
Deletei stayed in bangalore for more than 7 years, another 7 years in delhi, almost 2 years in calcutta and never felt like an alien in any of these places even though i am from one of those far far east, exotic states.
ReplyDeleteenjoyed the read!
Lucky you debajyoti....I have got that OMG YOU ARE SOUTHY...HOW? kinda looks many times...and many people have the notions
Deleteand Hats off to the far far east beautiful states...and people are super duper lovely
Your story was funny! You have a very good style of catching expressions and conversations. I also never knew there were so many distinctions between Indians. Good to know, I will make sure I try and remember them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lanell
DeleteIts just like people from the states, like Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamilnadu....Big country, a million people, 31 states......its sumthng like South American, Jamaican, Mexican..that kinds :-)
Thanks again that you liked it...
what abt odisha??
ReplyDeleteI havent really heard much about Orissa..except that Odiya n Bengali both sound same..dunno how true is that
Deletevery few ppl know that the dravidian race encompasses the people from erstwhile saurashtra(present day gujarat and maharashtra),kannada(present day karnataka), telangana(AP), madras & travancore (TN n kerala)...
ReplyDeleteso basically the mrathi manoos calling southies madrasis is himself a madrasi unbeknownst to him.. :D
Ohh..even i didnt know this...
DeleteThanks for this knowledge ya
ohh yea..its never intentional..and people even look visibly embarrassed..but its a general notion ya
ReplyDelete