National Integration

Having never been domiciled outside Bangalore in my entire life, joining a National Law School resulted in a severe culture shock. The people i ended up meeting were very different and most of the time who or what they were was a reflection of where they came from. There are many exceptions to this. For example, a person born in Bihar, yet who lived and studied elsewhere would no identity as no community would probably want her. I am only generalising from what i have seen. It is purely my opinion. I have grouped this either geographically, by culture or by language (limited to Indians nationals only).

1. Choms: Choms are hindi speaking people. They are generally those people who are above the Vindhyas. It is mainly Delhi and the region surrounding it. They can be further divided by the place they originate from.

a) Delhi - The self proclaimed "cool" people. Most of the people i have seen have been well to do (extremely so). The normal conversation runs along these lines. "You know, my uncle bought a Jaguar (god knows where he plans on driving it considering Indian roads) yesterday". "Ya? My dad's buying me Bihar for my birthday".

b) Noida - Normally "intriguing" people, but tend to be boisterous, self centred and irritating at times.

c) Lucknow - hmmmmm......

d) Bihar: Generally nice people, can be crude at times though.

2. Bongs - Bengali speaking people. Normally from West Bengal, but there are some migrants here and there. In the words of one of my learned friends, "Bongs are bongs". Pretty much sums it up actually. Hardly any exceptions.

3. Chinks - Nomenclauture due to the Chinese looking eyes, chinks originate from the NE part of India. I really should not comment on them for love of life and limb.

4. Bombayites - Lets just say "casual", shall we?

Coming to South Indians now,

5. Mallus - Ah Coconut oil. What else can i say? Very cunning, but nice people to hang out with. Being from an all Malyali college, lets just say "i have learnt - the hard way".

6. Gults - Telugu speaking people, normally from Andhra Pradesh. Associated with ulcers.

7. Tams - Tamilians. Normally dont gel with Choms very well. They're still bitter about the whole national language issue. Other than that, proud of their culture and secure in their surroundings.

8. Kannadigas - Last, but not least, we reach the cream of society. The pinnacle of evolution. Okay, you guessed right, i am a kannadiga and a proud one at that (hence the bias). Very laid back, relaxed (almost docile). But if irked, they can turn into violent beasts who have let their base instincts control them. This is seen frequently in Kannada movies. There is a great deal of pride involved in living in extremes.