Comments on: The North South Divide in India: Language, Culture, Prejudice?

By: girisopinion

girisopinion — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:25:35 +0000

To be frank, lot of us don’t know that Hindi is not our National language. Actually India does not have a National Language. Hindi is just an official communication language for the Central govt. along with English.

Each state in India have their own official language along with English which they use when communicating with the Central Govt. So we have to realise that first. There is no National Language in our country. Not many people know this.

By: Senthil

Senthil — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:03:42 +0000

I think we are taking the color prejudice a bit too far. Come to think of it, do individuals really have a choice about the way they are born? We just happen to be born into a certain community and later on find that we have particular traits. The problem is that in a relative world where even beauty is relative, people unquestioningly accept certain traits as the gold standard against which every other human trait is to be measured.Coming to the north versus south debate, I find it particularly funny that Indians as a race live on many different levels of perception.North Indians give free vent to their anti South Indian prejudices on the assumption that these are harmless and will not affect the national unity and integrity. South Indians tolerate such prejudices on the assumption that this is a passing phase and will be resolved as the nation evolves. But the problem with both these assumptions is that they are based on an incorrect reading of the human nature. One of the driving needs of modern humanity is the attainment of positive self esteem. If the north indians continue to deal with south indians with their anti south prejudices, it can lead to reactionary forces rising within south india.And the south indians will increasingly realize that these prejudices are not a passing phase but are eternal manifestations of the human nature.

By: Sri

Sri — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:34:09 +0000

This is SO true. The other thing is the ‘colour’ prejudice. I have “South Indian” written on my face, but SO MANY people have told me “You dont look ‘tamil’… you’re fair skinned”. I have also been called “Madrasi” by my cousins up north, and gotten “You are dressed like a South Indian” at functions. All this, and I live half-way across the world. What a compliment eh? I smoothen my pavadai dhaavani, bring my ‘plait’ to the front, bat my unusually long South Indian eyelashes, say thank you, and flash my big Madrasi Smile.

The ‘Western influence’ in the North always makes me laugh. They really need to get out and meet some ‘Western’ Indians.

By: Anand

Anand — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:38:39 +0000

Reminds me of a couple of abbreviations coined by a NRI Desi friend of mine for both the groups..SDRE — Small Dark and Rice-Eating for the Southies and TFTA(Tall, fair and tight-a**ed !! ) for Northies..pretty racist eh..but ironically enough tis comes from a Mallu ! The point that I am trying to make is that, if we all share the same spirit and learn to laugh at ourselves and embrace the way we are, things would become a lot easier. As we converge towards ‘one India’ its imperative that we respect an individual ethnicity and not make unfair prejudices based on background. At the same time, one must realise that its best to try and gel-into the culture of the town ur based out of. Both the groups should take a leaf of each other’s books and try and be like the other to whichever extent possible, whilst being sensitive to one’s own roots and culture. This is how we can mix & match and truly integrate.

By: Bala

Bala — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:30:08 +0000

This is the tragedy of south indians that they are living in a country with north indians. As long as a south indian doesn’t come in contact with a north indian he is a person who is self assured and confident of his abilities but the moment he comes in contact with a north indian guy he ends up with a low self esteem. An average north indian not only belives he is superior to a south indian but he also belives in giving a complex to a south indian. At least in america the blacks and whites have different national origins. The kind of racism that happens in India doesn’t happen elsewhere in the world. The implicit assumption in Deep’s post is that south indian men are ugly that is why the south indian women like the north indian guys. Well with countrymen like you we south indians don’t need enemies. At least the britishers were much better than you north indians. You people are even worse than the nazis when it comes to racism. It is high time the south indians took a decision whether they want their future generation to end up with low esteem because of the racist north indians.
For this present state of affairs the south indians themselves are responsible. Look at the pakistanis they are living in self respect unlike the humiliated pathetic condition of south indians. It is the birth right of every individual whether he is dark or fair, north or south to have a high self esteem about himself but that is not possible with the north indians around us. I would not have minded the north indians abusing us if they were from a different country but the problem is that we belong to one country. There is a south indian saying that a mongoose and a snake should not stay together in the same hole. The south indians are sentimental fools who allowed themselves to be swayed by the north indians. The north indians only want a big country from kashmir to kanyakumari to that extent they will utter this nonsense about unity in diversity. If the south indians were even as half as hot blooded as the pathans then we would have been living with our self respect intact like the pakistanis.

By: Meera

Meera — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:02:22 +0000

haha..totally understand. In my hostel block of 200 indians, Im the only one who speaks a ‘foreign’ language. Tamil!haha.. works well in my favour whenever I want to swear.:P

By: Ranjani

Ranjani — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:32:09 +0000

Interesting post,hit home quite a bit. I’m a third generation Tam Bram Delhiite, and while I didn’t quite bear the brunt of any of these so called “prejudices” I can see where your writing is coming from. Amusing that such a huge divide exists within the country, goes to show that prejudices and a lot of preconcieved notions are born at home!

Adi: Welcome, here and thanks! Well, there are exceptions. But I know many people who have faced the music.

By: Nandini

Nandini — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:26:31 +0000

Nice post da :) I totally empathise. I remember that one of my friends who is Mallu was sent a file through our internal chat messenger service and asked to translate coz it was ‘South Indian.’ However, the person who sent it thought it was Tam or Telugu ( this friend of mine worked with me in Hyd before moving to Gurgaon)

My friend saw the file and said that he could translate Mallu only and that this was neither Tam nor Telugu because on the top the document said Government of Karnataka in bold. The North Indian guy said: Toh kya hua, sab kuch ek hi tho hai: south indian.

I think I should not say what my friend said to him :D here! All this in Google where people are educated and all that. Sigh.

Adi: Haha, brilliant!

By: ஸ்ரீராம் முரளி

ஸ்ரீராம் முரளி — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:46:57 +0000

@ arti
// but i make it a point to reply only in tamil… //
techie salutes this effort :)
@Aditya
nice writeup machi. in a country with half(or does it tend to 100%) the population that insists in learning hindi (a dialect with ~200% loan words) claiming it being the “National Language” crap, such stigmatizations are too very often.

Adi: Well, practically speaking, you have to learn Hindi. It’s stupidity to not learn Hindi and expect yourself to survive when you go out of TN.

By: arethusa

arethusa — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:45:59 +0000

Yes really :)

I guess you are an exception.