Indians Do Not Like Each Other

Maybe so, but who wrote the following then? The following is what got me to this site:

Indians Do Not Like Each Other: Ideas & Identities of India Pakistan
``who disagrees with me....the ONLY people who LOVE pakis are indians. Meera,
NAFK, Imran.. the list goes on.`` yeah, just ask their other neighbours, ...
www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00005247& channel=chaathouse&threshold=1&layout=0&order... - 68k - Cached - Similar pages


If someone could please tell me where to find the above thread here I would appreciate it. Also, what is the big deal about the word ``paki``? Why are so many offended, when it is just an abbreviation of the full name pakistan? The British still refer to people from there as pakis, and so did we when we grew up in Canada. Point of reference - I am partly Polish, so pole or polack is perfectly understandable, and I am not offended, so what is up with all these touchy people these days?

You actually read my thoughts. I have been thinking and observing this ``phenomenon`` for quite some time now. When we see other in the market place or theather or anyplace as a matter of fact, We Indians glance at each other with a feeling of `` Hmmm....so you are also here? well, another DESI``
Its a matter not only to ponder about but maybe something we all should try and rectify. We hesitate to help and hesitate to take a stand for our fellow indians. There is a feeling of regionalism, if there is any word like that.
As a student, I have seen groups formed according to city that you stayed in . One group of Gujraties would hate all southies and group of nothy`s would hate gujaraties and this circle goes on.
And this is the reason why we don`t feel happy when we see another Indian buying the stuff that we are buying, watching the same movie that we are watching .

I think its time that we all should leave all these false supreme feelings aside and stand united as ONE and help each at the time of need.

Re: # 142

that means you believe more in what some disgrunted NRIs are saying here.
They left India(including myself)because of some frusrations or whatever India could not offer them.
Diaspora usually shows two extreme reactions--either they become hyper-patriotic or they start finding faults with everything and anything related to the country of origin........first reaction is called over-compensation(for the guilt of having left the country),the second one is pure projection.

Your travelogues give much better and objective assessment.I would rather believe an objective observer compared to a biased and purely sujective account of a frustrated person.

...unity in diversity...thank you for showing me the hollowness of the indian propaganda...;)

re:#133 by dullabhatti
Dullabhatti ji,
Thanks for your post.
You are probably not aware but i am a third generation Delhite who now resides in US. What this means is that my grandfather and my father both permanently resided in Delhi all their lives. My grandpa has seen Delhi before Punjabees invaded that city soon after partition!
You can guess that i am very fluent in Hindi and can understand (though not speak fluently) Punjabee. I grew up in Karolbagh, literally surrounded by Punjabees.
I was only making my unbiased observation about the biases that a ``madrassi`` faced in North (my opinions were based on what i saw growing up in Delhi). I hope i have not offended anyone.
Sridhar

Prejudice may be a strong word but my generation did have a strong stereotype of `Madrasis`. Part of the reason for the stereotype was that we came in contact only with a certain kind of South Indian - lower, middle and upper level civil servants who served in the Central Government in Delhi. Later on, at colleges we met children of the same and some faculty. Almost all of them were TamBrahms, alongwith a few Reddies, Menons and Pillais. They wore dhotis except when at work and ate strictly vegetarian food. The same was true of the South Indian restaurants in Delhi which serve only vegetarian foods and still do.

When I stayed at the faculty hostel (Sarswati?) at IIT, Adyar, during late 1960s I was surprised to see that the level of ignorance in the South about North was equally-mind boggling. When I told people I was a Punjabi, they would almost invariably ask me where my turban was. To them, Punjabi meant a Sikh and Sikh meant a Punjabi.

Thankfully, the new generation is a lot better informed. I have a niece married to a TamBram. The irony is that he is a voracious meat eater while she is almost a vegetarian.

Re: # 131
Kaalchakra: Good to know once again about your changed opinion.

I my self would love to spend some time in NI during my next trip

Raja

re:#135 by Maharana
``Most of my Tam brahm friends are beef eating, thread wearing individuals who`ve never performd s...``
Sorry for the belated reply. I thought this thread was dead.
You are right. Many Tam Brahms think it elitist to give up their culture and do things that might shock their elders. I can tell u they are not in the majority. May be u are in the wrong company!
But then cultural expectations have changed. I myself do not do ``sandhya`` even though i am spiritual and meditate a lot. I can`t comment on beef-eating. That again is a personal choice. Considering the pitable state cows are in (in India), it is probably a good thing! (Just kidding).
Sridhar

Re: # 123

cayenne,

I appreciate your balanced approach. I also know that Chennai has changed a lot and in a different way from Bombay/Bangalore have. Both ways have their merit.

What I do take offence to is rsridhar`s incredibly naive assumption that every migrant into Bangalore necessarily moonlights as a cultural invader; his hostility towards North Indian seems to me some sort of lampoon act from a 60s movie than actual informed opinion.

Dullabhatti,

Nice observation. I`ve lived in Andhra too for good number of years. It surprises me that some southerners get upset when identified by a northener to be just a madrasi. Actually the reverse is equally true. I have been identified as a punjabi or delhiwalla by name or face. But I think I`ve always given discount to indians` ignorance of their diversity in terms of languages and cultures. The worst victims in this case are people from North East. They are even confused with chinese or other nationals by everyone.

Sridhar (various),

I believed for a long time that southern indians have preserved there culture better than their northern counterparts. But my perception is changing now. Most of my Tam brahm friends are beef eating, thread wearing individuals who`ve never performd sandhya since their upanayan. Their sons and daughters are growing up without a clue of Tamil langauge or any other part of indian spiritual tradition. But they still would like to believe that as compared to northeners, they`ve preserved their culture. I can count on my fingers those few southern brahmins who actually continue to practice sanatan dharma.

Adios

dullabhatti

Well put.

The last thing most north Indians have on mind is to hurt the sensibilities of any person from the south. Most of us simply do not KNOW about the rich diversity of India. We are constantly `surprised` at the depth and variety of south India since we assume that the whole world looks (or should look) either like Delhi or like Bombay :)

From what I have seen, our generation (people between 30 and 40) was the last one to be so hopelessly afflicted with this foolishness as to be a lost cause. Newer kids, at least in the cities, are miles ahead of us in their awareness, and probably, wisdom.

Sdhar: regarding Northies talking to you in Hindi in USA...here is the situation...I don`t know how people from say UP talk to Southies...but most Punjabis from Punjab who have never traveled to south when meet a Southie, they think..Ok..so this guy does not know Punjabi, let me talk to him in Hindi....believe me I used to do it all the times....I appreciate lot of things about southies and knew Hindi is not very popular there but it did not click me until one day our IT guy when came in to check something on my PC saw this document on my screen in Punjabii(Gurmukhi script) and said..what is that? Hindi?....I was surprised...what you mean, you don`t know how Hindi looks like?..his answer was no..I don`t know Hindi at all. Now I never talk to southies in Hindi.
we in Punjab (also in Harayana, Rajsthan) has been fed up so much propaganda about Hindi being our national language that we really started believing that everyone in India speaks Hindi except us.

Next time a sardarji talks to you in Hindi consider it a polite thing..it is not his language either but he is trying to be nice to you:-) (although he does not know the end result)

Ref kannaraja #128

[Wasn`t Nehru a Kashmiri Pundit and he is from Kashmir?]

Nope. Nehru, by his own admission, was the last Englishman to rule India.

He and his descendants would not get elected dogcatcher in Jammu. If you have any doubts, ask the Kashmiri Pandits driven out of their homes and who are living in the slums of New Delhi.

The North Indians who have long ago traded their brains for renting out their butts to foreigners consider even Sonia Gandhi to be from UP.

Kannaraja

(Notwithstanding the natural diversity of our opinions) both you and burpinder are valuable new additions to chowk. So, welcome.

Even the best of textbooks can teach only to those who are willing to learn. But then caring for textbooks would have been very unlike me in those days.

Ignorance, my friend, ignorance combined with the self-centeredness. Nothing to be proud of, or excused, except the thought that I did not know better.

Today I keenly miss my idli, vada, sambhar, coffee breakfast. Does my family undestand that? NO! All of us must taste life for ourselves before we can appreciate what it is.

Re: # 122

Burpinder: I know some Panjabi families settled in HYD who speak telugu very fluently, they like and appreciate SI tiffins particularly, vada/idly/dosa

Raja

Re: # 120

Kaalchakra: Thanks

``Beyond the Vindhyas lay one indistinguishable mass of humanity, known as South India.

These people ate simple food, had strange, unrefined manners, wore unsphisticated clothes.

They did not know Hindi. This amazed me: How could an Indian NOT know Hindi?!! My feeling was akin to, ``How can fish not know water?``

And South Indians did not like people from the North. I was going to have a lot of problems keeping myself alive and sane there.``

Can you share your reasons why you thought the way you did? I am sure this is not what is taught in school/colleges - history in NI, why do many NI`s have this feeling? NO offense intended :)

It`s good to know that you have changed your impressions about SI`s

Raja