Monday, June 30, 2008

Chennai welcomes you...

Well, recently I debated with my north Indian colleague. He was going on telling about how bad Chennai is compared to Bangalore, how cold people are, how people here are unfriendly, how the food here is so bad, how there are only 2 malls in such a big city, how the beaches are dirty and so on...

I couldn't help but show him that I totally disagree. I myself am NOT a native of Chennai, (I am from Coimbatore) but I think I am considered "a local" because I speak the tongue. So, I had to give out replies to each of his questions, but since I was angry because he was blaming MY city (I think I could call Chennai mine too), I was a little harsh towards him in my reply.

First, he said the people here don't even wanna learn hindi (He expects everyone in the country to learn hindi because it is our rashtra bhaasha), where as those in B'lore or Hyd speak hindi... I am a great lover of tamil and I somehow couldn't stand it when he told tamil is just another regional language. I told him that it was he who has come to Chennai and if anything. it is he who should learn the local language. Would anyone in Delhi learn tamil just because I went there?

Then he was talking about the food habits of the people here. As if Bangalore people have north Indian food all the time. In fact, as much as I know B'lore food, it was way too sweet. Even sambhar tasted sweet. I replied saying food habits are something you shouldn't expect us to change. In north India, you people put aaloo in everything possible (I wonder if they have invented aaloo juice!!!)

He then told about how unfriendly people are, specially the autowalahs of the city. They take advantage of the north Indians' lack of knowledge of the language and charge extra money and if a north Indian goes and even enquires directions to a place, they don't help. I told, Chennai people are considered the warmest of people. You would probably have sounded snobbish. When you are asking for help, you are suspposed to be humble. You approach someone with a smile and a humble tone, none of them would take advantage of you...

I don't understand what problem these people have with being here. They call their relocation to Chennai a disaster. Chennai is such a nice place... Warm people, nice beaches, decent places to hang out, good food...

8 comments:

  1. Me too have experienced similar encouners ,whenver i am in train., Now I give up arguing.
    As a travelling professional ,traveling across india , I can say Chennai is the best . ( I am not a native of chennai , still i dont want leave from here)
    When taking about north indians , they dont have any geographical knowledge.. lack of professioanl manners and never understnds other's problems..

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  2. north indians r totally thick headed...for god's sake, all south indians r not madrasi's....and yeah,they expect all of us to speak their language when it them who've migrated to d south....but d problem is also wit us...v give dem d opportunity to dominate us easily...v give in for their demands....dis shud be changed...v need to stand up for ourselves n show them who's d boss!!

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  3. C'mon..
    Chennai ppl r friendlier than bengallorians....
    Thats a known fact.....

    Ive had a same kinda debate wit ma frnds too...
    We win it always....hehe..

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  4. Ppl talkin abt north Indian being bosses and crap like tht....see at the end of the day wht matters is the kind ofppl u meet..eevry single creature on earth is different man..hence at the end its only the ppl wht matters...i must have come across wrong :Chennaites" and u must have come accross wrong"North Indians"..And if some one calls them madrasis its not their fault boss...thts the only thing which is commonly spread...how can any stingy person be related to a marwadi (though all marwadis are not stingy)..why all chinkis are called as chinese?we dont have answers for such ques..but thts wht been commonly used ins chools and other places..i have been to Chennai..i have met good and bad auto wala's too..i roamed around the city...i did ot like the malls..i did not like the all the beaches..i also dont like Mumbai beaches...but tht all relates to the kind of person i am...i dont want to debate on geographical knowledge, professional manners of North Indians...arguments dont depend on actual situations but on the ppl who area rguing...well good work sandy..dinesh had sent me ur blog URL...i liked it...but i cannot end without saying tht i have totally diff views on some topics..

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  5. Ppl talkin abt north Indian being bosses and crap like tht....see at the end of the day wht matters is the kind ofppl u meet..eevry single creature on earth is different man..hence at the end its only the ppl wht matters...i must have come across wrong :Chennaites" and u must have come accross wrong"North Indians"..And if some one calls them madrasis its not their fault boss...thts the only thing which is commonly spread...how can any stingy person be related to a marwadi (though all marwadis are not stingy)..why all chinkis are called as chinese?we dont have answers for such ques..but thts wht been commonly used ins chools and other places..i have been to Chennai..i have met good and bad auto wala's too..i roamed around the city...i did ot like the malls..i did not like the all the beaches..i also dont like Mumbai beaches...but tht all relates to the kind of person i am...i dont want to debate on geographical knowledge, professional manners of North Indians...arguments dont depend on actual situations but on the ppl who area rguing...well good work sandy..dinesh had sent me ur blog URL...i liked it...but i cannot end without saying tht i have totally diff views on some topics..

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  6. My post on this topic was an answer to the "wrong north indians" I came across at my workplace. Good for you if you are not one among them, Pooja...
    And it wasn't my intention to pint my fingers (I've got only 10) at the millions of north Indians. Just that few of them expect too much from the so-called "madrasis" and come off as a lil' too snobbish and bossy!!!

    Again, for the record, I'm not blaming all of you north indians (I have quite a few really awesome friends who hail from the north).

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  7. sandy is playing it safe there... ;)

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  8. I dare you to post comments with your ID and not as anonymous, Dinesh Diwakar...
    Moreover, I haven't lashed out at all North Indians in my post either. I have absolutely NO reason to play safe... :-P

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What do you think?