But tell me, other than the nicknames and fun poked at you by classmates what kind of discrimination have you faced? Some girl refused to go out with you because you are from the south? Were you refused a job because you had dark skin? Did a north Indian hotel owner tell you to sit in a corner because you spoilt the decor? I guess not. We are a democratic country after all.

I have faced a lot more shit at the age of 10 for being from a lower caste. Trust me.

But don’t think I am cornering you in any way. My own people are pretty ignorant in a lot of matters. They too, like you, live inside a shell where they know everyone, speak the language everyone speaks, eat the same damn food day in and day out, and curse “outsiders” for spoiling their culture. Bull shit to the core!

Culture is something you define as a people. If you have the balls then stand up, be counted and claim the land in an unobtrusive way. If everyone liked the belligerent way of grabbing at things to call them one’s own, then people would have walked out on the streets and joined in with the extremists.

But the thinking man would never do that. He sees far more progress, prosperity and propriety in symbiosis. I guess symbiosis is a completely Utopian thought so far as the north-south divide goes. I just feel bad that my ancestors fought the Britishers for such an unworthy lot.

but to a large extent, being a south indian from chennai, i feel there is a lot of discrimination towards south indians, compared to the other way round. yes, there is some regionalism and favoratism shown to our own kind, but i do feel there is a a lot of unsaid suppression of south indians.

i personally have faced discrimination because i am dark skinned , and my room mate faces a heck lot more being from the north east. he talks about the racist things north indians say to him when he was studying in pune and the gentler approach by people down here. its not only us, there are a lot more people with horror stories.

yes we are different, there is no denying that. i would personally relate much more to a tamil, telugu, kannada or malayalam person, than a hindi or bengali or marathi person.. its just the way we grew up…

the grass is always uglier on the other side, but people living in glass houses mustnt throw stones.

The problem is we have lost all respect for our country and culture. Only the common one. Not the state-wise culture that tells us that people from other states are poor, ugly and uncouth.

Suddenly Sam feels closer than Sameer. We would much rather embrace an American hobo than offer a lift to one of our own. Paranoia about our own people and complete faith in foreigners has become a wont these days. The Indianness inside us is almost extinct.

I just had a few of my friends snubbed by a local pub in favour of some firangs. We have boycotted the pub ourselves and have also persuaded others not to go there. We will not stop till we drive them out of business.

I think it’s time we stood up and got ourselves counted as Indians.