A blogger writes on being a South Indian in Delhi (or Dalli as its 'pronounced') and got a deluge of response, with some comments even acting out the role 'maintaining unity, identifying yourself as Indian first' etc etc, and others accusing her of creating North Vs South divide. It is curious how this post went viral, got exchanged over Twitter and soon became a sensation...with even a local newspaper carrying an article on her.
I am adding my two bit abt the divide-
I find Delhi types better dressed, more talkative, gregarious, upfront (who gives a damn if some them are cursing me inside for some imaginary slight I may have caused them). Many years ago I landed up in Delhi for my journalism internship and found it quite pleasant as to how Delhiites lived it up. Such was the love for being dressed up just nice influence me that within a week I went hunting for new clothes at Sarojini market. I also took some satisfaction from comments from folks back home in my Pune Institute.
What I found depressing was the disconnect I found between the urban educated and the others doing more mundane chores. It was not the two classes were at war but that there was an unspoken divide with more entitled choosing to maintain some 'distance' in relations with 'others'. There was a palpable sense of divide. Back in Pune, my being friendly with the say watchman or office peon would be done on an equal level. There was no sense that either was attempting a put down during the intercourse. But generally this looked liked to be frowned upon in Delhi.
Was it my status as an outsider that, I realised that in general it is easy to strike up a conversation up with the man on the street. But the subjects better be mundane or else too adding dollops of insights and facts may well switch him/her off.
For example if I am talking abt the delays in traffic due to Metro rail construction in Delhi, the taxi wala would be certain to add his bit about the jam, loss of revenue, et al and be helpful with additional info that you can only say ‘aha yes’ to .
On the other side, if I land at Hyderabad, his counterpart would be chary of making small talk and be instead more agreeable to add a haan ji to your insights. It is not that he is less inclined to share but he rather prefers to subordinate his thoughts to that of his customer and ensure there is not much dissent on the thoughts on the ride back into town.
So what does one make out from the attitudes?
At the outset, anybody who nervously lands up in a new city would rather prefer the small talk that one strikes up in Delhi than what seems like a plain unspoken ‘rejectionist’ attitude of (many) South Indians who want to be seen as more conforming then dissenting. So they chose to minimise chances of small talk. But then the latter is a rather more honest approach and comes from a feeling that if you don’t know about the issue in some depth, then you better not indulge in it.’The Delhi taxi wala would rather find the attitude strange with his propensity for gregariousness but over here it may be looked as more of 'sober' attitude.
I am adding my two bit abt the divide-
I find Delhi types better dressed, more talkative, gregarious, upfront (who gives a damn if some them are cursing me inside for some imaginary slight I may have caused them). Many years ago I landed up in Delhi for my journalism internship and found it quite pleasant as to how Delhiites lived it up. Such was the love for being dressed up just nice influence me that within a week I went hunting for new clothes at Sarojini market. I also took some satisfaction from comments from folks back home in my Pune Institute.
What I found depressing was the disconnect I found between the urban educated and the others doing more mundane chores. It was not the two classes were at war but that there was an unspoken divide with more entitled choosing to maintain some 'distance' in relations with 'others'. There was a palpable sense of divide. Back in Pune, my being friendly with the say watchman or office peon would be done on an equal level. There was no sense that either was attempting a put down during the intercourse. But generally this looked liked to be frowned upon in Delhi.
Was it my status as an outsider that, I realised that in general it is easy to strike up a conversation up with the man on the street. But the subjects better be mundane or else too adding dollops of insights and facts may well switch him/her off.
For example if I am talking abt the delays in traffic due to Metro rail construction in Delhi, the taxi wala would be certain to add his bit about the jam, loss of revenue, et al and be helpful with additional info that you can only say ‘aha yes’ to .
On the other side, if I land at Hyderabad, his counterpart would be chary of making small talk and be instead more agreeable to add a haan ji to your insights. It is not that he is less inclined to share but he rather prefers to subordinate his thoughts to that of his customer and ensure there is not much dissent on the thoughts on the ride back into town.
So what does one make out from the attitudes?
At the outset, anybody who nervously lands up in a new city would rather prefer the small talk that one strikes up in Delhi than what seems like a plain unspoken ‘rejectionist’ attitude of (many) South Indians who want to be seen as more conforming then dissenting. So they chose to minimise chances of small talk. But then the latter is a rather more honest approach and comes from a feeling that if you don’t know about the issue in some depth, then you better not indulge in it.’The Delhi taxi wala would rather find the attitude strange with his propensity for gregariousness but over here it may be looked as more of 'sober' attitude.
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