The curse of the stereotype - The North Indian Vs South Indian Debate

Selected as Blogadda's "Spicy Saturday Pick" on July 9, 2011

The last few months have been tough on me, thanks to my god forsaken working hours. I’ve been asked to work in the morning shift which requires me to leave home at 6:30 AM EVERY SINGLE DAY. If you think it’s no big deal, then you must be a nerd or an insomniac. Interestingly, this post is on stereotypes.

The morning shift does have its share of advantages, like for instance, it has ensured that I don’t skip my breakfast anymore and it’s my favourite meal of the day. This post is the result of a conversation that transpired during one such breakfast while I was busy dipping my 106^th Dosa* in the 173^rd bowl of Sambar**.

*Dosa includes all varities of Dosas/Uthappams/Pesarattu which may or may not include Masala/Onion/Podi/Ghee.

**statistics for the period of April 1^st – June 25^th 2011

Pic1 ) Dosa - My staple diet today

My company for breakfast is usually project mates, most of them my seniors by 2-3 years and all natives of Tamil Nadu. While I was busy chomping into my Onion Podi Uthappam (my personal favourite) someone spoke in English. I stopped chewing midway, shocked at the atrocity of the event, and looked up dumbfounded to find the brave one who had the courage to break the unspoken protocol by talking in an alien language. He was talking to me; it had to be me considering that I was the only non-Tamil speaking person (amongst the all English speaking people) on that table; how stupid of me.

And the conversation went something like this,

My senior asks, “Hey, what do you do on weekends?”

Pic 2) Caught unaware

“Ummhh??!!” is all I could manage thanks to my mouth being full and also taken aback by surprise at being spoken to in English.

“On weekends; what do you do?” he says again, altering the question a bit, helping me understand the seemingly innocuous statement.

Still a little taken aback, I replied, “Hmmm well the usual weekend chilling out. Hang out with friends, movies, good food, etc; nothing specific or out of the ordinary”.

He didn’t seem too convinced; he gave me a wry smile, nodded his head and got back to his Dosa. I was getting curious here. After a pause for about 10 seconds, I finally decide to ask the golden question.

“Why?”

And the answer came almost immediately,

“Well I have often seen North Indian guys out with girls on their bikes on weekends. So was just curious”.

I did not see this coming. To keep things on the lighter side, I asked him,

“Why? What do South Indian guys do on weekends?”

He promptly replied, “We just look at them (the North Indian couples)”.

We had a nice laugh over his witty reply and got back to our dosas but I couldn’t get that statement out of my head. It wasn’t intended to be hurtful or malicious; it was plain curiosity, at least in this case it was. The senior who asked the question is genuinely a very nice person who is extremely helpful and nice to everybody around. Blame it on the stereotypes which are sometimes so strong that people mistake it for universal truth.

In my 5 years at Chennai, I’ve witnessed one of the strongest stereotypes with practical implications; the North Indian – South Indian divide. I am a Punjabi, born and brought up in Hyderabad, my mom’s family is from Bangalore and I have spent a considerable time there and of course, my stint with Chennai. So that makes me believe that I am as much a North Indian as I am South Indian and that qualifies me to talk about this highly controversial and sensitive issue with an unbiased point of view because I believe I understand both sides better than most.

This divide is by no way a new trend; it goes way back in time. The language barrier, unique customs and limited interstate migration resulted in a lack of understanding about each other which in turn was the genesis of these stereotypes. South Indians were perceived to be conservative, ugly and detached by their “countrymen” up North while the Southern “brothers” thought the “Northies” were flamboyant, immoral and were not as blessed in the grey area department.

However, at this juncture I’d like to point out that amongst the three Dravidian cities (Bangalore, Chennai & Hyderabad) I have stayed in, I’ve felt this divide the most in Chennai. Interestingly, many North Indians refer to South Indians as “Madrasi” (from Madras). So is this more of a North Indian – Tamilian issue?

Hyderabad and Bangalore have had a comparatively more cosmopolitan environment with majority of the population having no qualms speaking English or Hindi in addition to their local language. So that way, if someone from these cities went up North, they wouldn’t have a problem and the North Indians coming to these cities would also feel at home. However, Chennai was never too hospitable in welcoming a foreign language, especially Hindi, and it always treated it suspiciously(read more). 

Was the government right in imposing Hindi as a national language in spite of knowing that Hindi wasn’t spoken in many of the Indian states? Had someone in the government given a thought to the repercussion of their actions, we could have probably avoided this scenario. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

Let’s make things a little black and white and go back in time to the good old retro days, to the point in time where I “believe” these "North-South" sentiments would have first emanated.

Note: The forthcoming flashback is completely a work of fiction conjured by the hyperactive imagination of the author.

Murugan Swamy decided to spread his coconut empire up North and chose to make a trip to Delhi while Sukhwinder Singh thought it would be a good idea to give Chennai a taste of tandoori chicken. These were otherwise novel business ideas that went haywire and it was utter chaos all around; each experienced a culture shock and witnessed a life style so disparate from their own. In addition, no native individual would have been able to explain to the visitors about their culture and beliefs, thanks to the limitations of the tongue. This might have caused these gentlemen to do what each one of us loves doing, forming an opinion with hardly any substance. This handicap limited the understanding of their “strange” neighbours and their way of life and would have resulted in a highly erroneous judgement of the other.

Now Murugan anna would go to akka and Sukhwinder paaji would go back to babhi and tell them about the “strange” people they met. Since these were times well before twitter, women were the fastest mode of broadcasting information. News passed family to family and each time there was a little “tadka” (spices in hot oil) added and soon a stereotype so strong was born that even years of education, migration and breaking of the language barrier would still not be able to neutralize the impact.

H.G. Wells could not have put it better (and of my all time favourite quotes)

“Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of the organized life”.

It is understandable when people who aren’t educated and who haven’t travelled enough develop such perceptions over the years.  The disturbing fact is that a lot of educated folks also have similar beliefs, in spite of being a nation that together celebrated the World Cup victory.

A lot of it has also to do with the kind of upbringing one has; parents play a very important role in shaping the child’s thinking process. If a child is raised in a household which has strong communal and regional tendencies, more often than not, the child grows up to have similar beliefs. So it is important that one makes their judgements based on facts and not prejudice. 

Maybe the next time you make a generalization about a person, gender or community, I urge you to think twice and help bringing us closer to being a more open, tolerant and loving nation.

Jai Hind.

3) Together we make life colorful.

 Disclaimer: The opinions here are based on my experiences and there is absolutely no need for you to have to agree with me and I’d love to hear your point of view, however disparate it might be. Those of you, who do agree with me, help me out if someone who doesn’t, comes to break my head. Peace.

Photo credits:

1)        http://www.facebook.com/pages/trying-to-expain-something-to-someone-while-your-mouth-is-stuffed-with-food/341683684185

2)        http://www.redbubble.com/people/rakeshsyal/art/3644769-unity-in-diversity

3)        http://tiffography.com/?p=578

ANNA HAZARE AND THE RIPPLE EFFECT

People from different races, religions and regions exhibit idiosyncrasies which are peculiar to their group. We Indians, like the others, aren’t short of these peculiarities. In the short span of 22 years, one of the most conspicuous idiosyncrasies that I have noticed is an individual’s absolute aversion to take a lead. In school, when the teacher would ask someone to volunteer to do something, there would be a 10 second pause followed by exchange of glances that said, “You do it. I’ll join you”.

Finally, one of the relatively brave ones would raise their hand. The next second, 20 other hands would have joined him. I have witnessed this similar behaviour in high school, college and today, at work. There are of course exceptions, who have trained themselves to take a lead or are natural leaders. These individuals stand out in the crowd and the others rally around these leaders and support them all out.

1)Follow the leader

2

For years, India has been topping various lists, good and bad, in countless surveys  and has consistently featured high up in the list of the most corrupt nations in the world. However, what stands out in this list are our competitors. Most of them are extremely poor African and Asian countries, plagued with poverty, illiteracy, lack of infrastructure and have a dictator who has been plundering the nation’s resources and wealth for decades. After all the development and progress, what is India doing in that list? We have been in the “10 seconds” phase where we are looking around to find someone to do something about the situation.

In the last few months, news about corruption reached ridiculous proportions. Every single day there were reports about corrupt officials, corrupt government, corrupt cops, corrupt priests and sometimes, even a corrupt god. Corruption had become an integral part of our daily life (only next to inflation). Then out of nowhere, this Gandhian decided to rise, to give people the hope that the 10 seconds are coming to an end and that they finally have someone to rally around.

Anna Hazare

People from all walks of life came out to support this “Modern Gandhi” and his otherwise unknown Jan Lokpal Bill. Most of them don’t know what this bill does or how will it make the situation better. They have blindly decided to support the one who finally made up his mind to stand up and take charge of the situation. Like in school, college, or work, we have found that leader around whom we have decided to rally. Would this man and his famed bill, which promises to be the panacea to the problem of corruption, be able to make a difference? That is irrelevant now and only time will tell. But for now, let us celebrate that hopefully, at least the 10 seconds have completed. Hopefully! 

Picture courtesy:

1) http://connect.in.com/anna-hazare/profile-22123.html

2)http://www.therealtimscott.com/top-mlm-leaders-model/

3)http://anubhavsuvian777.blogspot.com/2011/01/when-you-doubt-your-power-you-give.html

Nationalism – Boon or Bane? Part 3

Bharath responded to my statement “small changes at the grass root level” as an oxymoron. At the look of it, it sure is. Anantha hit the nail on the head by calling it “The Butterfly Effect”. For those of you not aware of this phenomena, I shall explain it at the end of this discussion.

The concept of borders seemed very nebulous at this stage. There had to be an answer or a pattern around which borders or boundaries were made because they were such an intrinsic part of our lives. Not before long a pattern seemed to discern. I talked about what I meant by nationalism being personal and then moved onto the issue of borders.

Nationalism – Boon or Bane? Part 2

Bharath was definitely excited about the intellectually stimulating discussion seeming to emerge and came back with his response. He didn’t find Anantha’s explanation incisive enough and found the points a little incongruous. The idea that nationalism is a personal opinion didn’t seem to go down very well with him and quite understandably. Nationalism is after all about unity and oneness.

Nationalism – Boon or Bane? Part 1

A pretty heavy topic for a 22 year old, isn’t it? Never thought I would ever dwell into these dreaded waters. I always thought of politics and such issues were the topics discussed by heavy smoking retired gentlemen playing bridge in the club who believe that they could change the world if only they had the chance. But thanks to one 26 year old genius from New York called Mark Zukerberg, co-founder of this funny sounding networking site whose name I keep forgetting, got some of my mates and me brain storming on the issue of nationalism. This discussion is probably responsible for me foraying into blogging to give my voice a larger audience.

I never expected that a status message put up ingenuously would turn into a serious discussion board where even the basic principles of nationalism would be questioned. It got me thinking about issues which we are expected to take for granted. A few of you have gone through the discussion and have liked certain comments but for those of you who haven’t, I would like to put up the discussion here. The main reason behind this is to encourage further debate and different views on this topic.

Before you start reading, let me add that this is an informal discussion which took place between friends on a social networking site so please excuse the syntax and semantics of language.