The other day I was searching something on google and stumbled upon this treasure hunt of sorts on our collective impressions about people from other Indian states. I typed in some words and allowed google to auto complete. The results are here. Some are funny while others are ridiculous. But one thing is common though, people from each state think that people from other states are racist :).
Obviously I am taking all these auto completes with a truckload of salt, because surely we can't be so negative in our assumptions about others (or is it some western conspiracy to divide and rule us :P ).
Starting with Maharashtrians. I somehow think the first entry is suggested not because this is what other people thinking, but perhaps this is what Maharashtrians themselves are searching for. Other suggestion of whether we are Dravidians is perhaps a known curiosity. Some people can take the suggestion of us being ghatis a bit negatively though. Other adjectives assigned to us are useless, racist, cheap and rude, which I have absolutely no reason to doubt that they are stemmed from the stereotypical Bollywood portrayal of Maharashtrians. We may well be lazy too, as I don't see any reason to doubt this suggestion :).
Gujratis come next. So some people think even Gujratis are the best, while others think they are cheap and only think about money. Some people even think they are cowards, and it makes me wonder on what basis people make these assumptions. And based on my experiences with gujjus so far, I don't believe in the last suggestion of them being racist at all.
Coming to the South, people generally seem to agree that south India is more developed, but don't share positive views about south Indians in general. So Tamils are viewed as bastards, arrogant and what not. Telugu people are both stupid and smart. Keralites are considered cunning (a trait I don't identify with at all), selfish, and of course intelligent. Similarly, Kannadigas are viewed as lazy and idiots. I fail to understand how on earth can someone think that way?
Moving towards North, Biharis do have this bad reputation.
I had thought Punjabis have the best perception among other people, owing to their easy going nature and jovial attitude. But no. People think they racist, cunning and non-Indian ! Of course some do think they are the best ;).
Towards the eastern side, Bengalis do invoke rather strong reaction too.
Oriyas are perceived as lazy, for god knows what reason :).
Obviously I am taking all these auto completes with a truckload of salt, because surely we can't be so negative in our assumptions about others (or is it some western conspiracy to divide and rule us :P ).
Starting with Maharashtrians. I somehow think the first entry is suggested not because this is what other people thinking, but perhaps this is what Maharashtrians themselves are searching for. Other suggestion of whether we are Dravidians is perhaps a known curiosity. Some people can take the suggestion of us being ghatis a bit negatively though. Other adjectives assigned to us are useless, racist, cheap and rude, which I have absolutely no reason to doubt that they are stemmed from the stereotypical Bollywood portrayal of Maharashtrians. We may well be lazy too, as I don't see any reason to doubt this suggestion :).
Gujratis come next. So some people think even Gujratis are the best, while others think they are cheap and only think about money. Some people even think they are cowards, and it makes me wonder on what basis people make these assumptions. And based on my experiences with gujjus so far, I don't believe in the last suggestion of them being racist at all.
Coming to the South, people generally seem to agree that south India is more developed, but don't share positive views about south Indians in general. So Tamils are viewed as bastards, arrogant and what not. Telugu people are both stupid and smart. Keralites are considered cunning (a trait I don't identify with at all), selfish, and of course intelligent. Similarly, Kannadigas are viewed as lazy and idiots. I fail to understand how on earth can someone think that way?
Moving towards North, Biharis do have this bad reputation.
Talking about Delhiites, people think they are not just lazy, they are terribly lazy :). And of course their rudeness is a commonly known perception all over India anyway.
Kashmiris are somehow the only lot to be the exception to this negative stereotype. People generally seem to think overall positive things about them, if you ignore the first suggestion here.
There is more or less same perception of Marwaris and Sindhis - cheap and rich. But they do think Sindhis are good looking :).
I had thought Punjabis have the best perception among other people, owing to their easy going nature and jovial attitude. But no. People think they racist, cunning and non-Indian ! Of course some do think they are the best ;).
Towards the eastern side, Bengalis do invoke rather strong reaction too.
Oriyas are perceived as lazy, for god knows what reason :).
Even Goans are perceived as lazy and racist. What's even more ridiculous is that people seem to be questioning their nationality !
So crux of the matter remains that people generally think other states breed predominantly racist, cheap and lazy people. What a great united country we are ;).
Disclaimer : These auto complete suggestions keep changing over time. So what was suggested 6 months back may not be suggested today. Moreover I think the auto complete may also be dependent on where these searches are carried out from. So if I am searching from Maharashtra, then auto complete may be showing our perception of the other people. If I had searched from Delhi then it would have shown a delhiite's perception of other states. But I have no proof obviously, so just forget all the negative things shown about your state :).
Quora link : https://www.quora.com/India-What-do-Indians-think-about-Indians/answer/Swapnil-Bhandarkar?srid=pcO5
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