Might as well be a Mason-Dixon Line

I think that when we (or at least me and most Americans I know) think of a few things when we think of "the divide" in India. We think of Jammu and Kashmir and the border with Pakistan, or we think of the Hindu/Muslim discussion, or maybe the language divide. What I never realized was the depth of the divide between North and South India. It's not a violent type of stuggle like some of the others are, just a huge culture difference. Most of the differences stem from the fact that the people in the south are Dravidian descent, so their ancestors have been on the sub-continent much longer than the ancestors of the northern Indians. Their languages also are Dravidian and are apparently not much changed from 3000 years ago, as opposed to languages like Hindi and Urdu that come from Sanskrit. To start with the language problem- since colonial times, the working language of the country has been English. However, since independence, and since the backlash against a lot of British customs, there has been a move to develop an Indian national language. The obvious choice (to most people) is Hindi. And this is ok with most people- in the North, many people speak their regional language or dialect and then also Hindi for business etc (and English if they're educated). But, in the south, where the Dravidian languages are much older, and not at all related, they really don't like the idea of speaking Hindi. Obviously, in Tamil Nadu, the language is Tamil- all signs are in Tamil and English. and in Kerala it's Malialam (also related). So, the business language is English, and Tamils and southern Indians would prefer that English be the national language to avoid Hindi.



Then there's Bollywood vs Kollywood vs Tollywood. We all know Bollywood and how fair skinned, tall, and beautiful the actors are. Well Kollywood is the Chennai based Tamil language film industry that is quite booming as well over here, but not as big overseas. and Tollywood is in Telegu. Apparently, the southern Indian quotient doesn't like to watch movies about beautiful people. They like movies about chubby men with mustaches and well proportioned or even a little rounded women. There is always a good guy and a villan trying to get in his way. Apparently there is a big controversy about winning Kollywood movies getting remade in Bollywood or Bollywood actors coming down to make movies down here and then getting dubbed over in Tamil.

It seems like people in the south just are a little more laid back and they like to talk about how the people in the north wear so much western (read: skimpy) clothing and do things faster. Although this probably refers only to the bigger cities. So far here in this city listed at 8 million with really more like 12 million, I have not yet seen an Indian woman wearing anything above mid-shin or anything less traditional than a corti (longish traditional shirt) over a pair of jeans, though there are plenty of ads for things that are looking like swim suits. And these ads all feature north Indians.

One of my Australian friends here apparently was in Kolkatta and told one of her local friends there that she was going to do research down south. To this, the friend responded "You mean, with those Dravidians?"

Maybe there would be more tension, except that apparently, the official sentiment of Tamil is ambivilence- as in ambivilence to the issue of Tamil independence in Sri Lanka or to some of the other border/culture/ethnic skirmishes. Overall, however, one of the national mottos is Unity and Diversity, so people seem to just go about their business, as much as they make fun of people from other parts of the country.