The differences between North India and South India doesn’t stop at cuisines and languages. There’s no doubt that we have been endorsing age-old stereotypes for a very long time, rather than letting it die down and do better. We like to club everyone together instead of embracing their unique identity.
Here are some South Indians revealing the things they want every North Indian to know. Read on!
1. “First thing first, not all South Indians are dark-skinned.”
– Utkarsha Magadum
2. “They can rock it in Bollywood or even Hollywood if given a chance. Like no one else. They can steal the show from the hero and let people fall in love with the villain also. I genuinely became Samantha Akkineni’s fan after watching The Family Man 2.“
– Prachi Pandey
3. “Idli, vada and dosa are three different dishes. Hence, they are not eaten together.”
– Utkarsha Magadum
4. “Don’t expect us to recognize or understand each others’ customs or languages. Not knowing Hindi doesn’t make us any less Indian.”
– Aarya Pia
5. “As a Keralite, I would like to say just one thing to my North Indian brothers and sisters. If you can say Haryana and not Haryan. If you can say Odisha and not Odish. If you can say Ganga and not Gang. If you can say Yamuna and not Yamun. If you can say Tripura and not Tripur. If you can say Kolkata and not Kolkat. If you can say Vada Pav and not Vad Pav. If you can say Jai Mata Di and not Jai Mat Di. And, if you can say Kamala Harris and not Kamal Harris. Then you can surely train yourselves to say Kerala, and not Keral or Karela. Karnataka, not Karnatak. And, the language they speak is Kannada, not Kannad. Please.”
– Raakhee V. Menon
6. “Not every South Indian is from Kerala. We can be from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. And, everyone does not just speak Tamil. We speak Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Telugu and other local languages too. I can speak Marathi, Hindi and English fluently without any freaking accent.”
– Utkarsha Magadum
7. “Though south Indians are assumed to be conservative, we are modern and have liberal thoughts. We love to dress casually and in simple attire. We have a range of skin tones, physiques and different cultures. If you visit South India, you don’t have to stick to idli and dosa, you can explore other dishes like thenkuzhal and pessarattu that you may not find in other parts of the country.”
– Ishwarya
8. “Temples in South India doesn’t allow outside food near god and they follow strict agama shastras. Every temple will have a kitchen where employed people prepare food for naivedya and only that food is taken near god and is offered as prasada to devotees. People can only offer flowers, bananas and coconuts. Any other kind of food or sweets is not accepted. Also, doing bhajans are not allowed inside temples here. These are followed strictly here, it should not be taken as discrimination.”
– Goutham R
9. “Dear North Indians, we don’t hate you guys. Yes, some South Indians may have a superiority complex due to higher literacy rate and some may be politically motivated, but otherwise no.”
– Sharanya Narayanan
10. “South Indian movies are good too. They are even dubbed in Hindi so you can enjoy our South Indian movies.”
– Uma Arun
11. “A lot of people make fun of Rajinikanth. What if we make fun of Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan? Won’t you feel offended? Becoming a superstar is not that easy. Understand and respect our feelings.”
– Rachel Veronica
12. “We do have fashion other than lungis. Everyone is not an engineer.”