My name is usually the most interesting feature that people notice about me when I introduce myself. And the next thing that they do is what we as Indians love to do. They try to trace my background and guess what part of the country I come from.
So on most accounts there's a barrage of, "Are you Bengali?" And "Oh, that face cut." So and so... and each time with expressions indicative of some sort of revelation and a feeling of "I knew!". No, I'm not Bengali just in case you were wondering. I am actually a South Indian. Did I catch you go, "But of course! I knew it" ? I don't blame you. It comes to us as naturally as breathing. Because we just know, if not by the appearance, then by the habits, the way of speaking or even by a name.
We find it so easy to trace where someone is coming from. We have our databases ready and stacked with information on the various characteristics of the from different states and accordingly look for the best match when a person turns up.
What is more interesting is our obsession with a handful of states despite having a good number of them. The South vs North debate is probably epic now. We just can't seem to get enough of it. It also doesn't help with Bollywood churning out typical roles for south Indian characters, complete with dark skin, curly hair, handlebar mustache, upturned lungi and that big black mole on the face. The uber sensitive southerners feel compelled to take to social media and vent their vengeance.
And that leaves us with the wide range of blogs, articles and viral videos trying hard to educate the apparently uninformed Indian population about the regional diversity of our country, south India in particular. The latest being this video on YouTube that was shared a million times on my Facebook page, enough to make me roll my eyes. So this video like all other pro-south Indian videos tries to teach any person that will listen, about the 4(oops! Make that 5) states and all that is to know about their people and the place.
A very novel idea indeed. The tune goes something like, "We are not Madrasis, we are padosis." Now any person with even remote south Indian appearance or name must have been faced with, "Are you a Madrasi?". The part that I don't get however is the 'padosis', if there was such harmony amongst us why would there be feuds regarding water issues, electricity issues, land issues, divisions and even warring comments underneath the video...yes! The said padosi states fighting over who is the best and who owns greater famous personalities. Hilarious actually.
Moreover with states increasingly going in for bifurcations and trifurcations and multi cations it would be simply silly of us to expect an average Indian to keep track. Picture this, a northie bumps into a Telugu speaking guy. Having gone through these educational videos, he would cluelessly address him as an Andhraite. Now should this guy turn out to be from Telangana, the former will be in deep trouble. More confused than ever he might just run away in panic.
Now on a serious note how many south Indians are as well informed about the north? How many can successfuly tell apart a Punjabi from a Bihari or a Rajasthani? My mother who has spent a good two decades in the national capital, still generally refers all north Indians as punjabis. Not that she doesn't know about the other states but a preconceived notion that punjabis are in abundance and hence every other person is one. And in the place that I come from, salwars and suits are called Punjabi dresses to this day. I honestly don't know the origin of salwars so I'm not sure if that's correct.
Is it better for us to improve stately ties or create more misunderstandings? Lesser the details the better. If someone is genuinely interested well and good, otherwise it's best to leave aside the frills. What say?
