Pointing out that Aakar Patel has an a%$hole was a%%holish. Its ok to have opinions, ain't it? If one goes down this route, soon rival journalists will be saying my opinion is better than yours, my AH is better than hers, and my opinion is better than that a&%^hole's AH, you get the drift. Then the independent bloggers/journos can let loose their own verbal diarrhea on trivilaities, and bond with each other, sharing their bodily likes and dislikes.

With English language and western culture sweeping across the country,all the differences between the North and South will be obliterated in a couple of generations.

 BTW the Riposte, though bit loquacious was brilliant and deserving too. Kudos to the writer. Now aakar, stick to your core competence , to improve your career. Learn from likes of Saba Naqvi, Neelabh Mishra or venerable Vinod Mehta

 Aakar Patel,

Started reading your article with interest.. and stopped the moment I found that it is not about South Vs North. It is about your intense dislike for your state (Gujarat). So leaving aside the most nonsensical stereotyping of 250 million South Indians into one group, you are simply ill qualified to write this. Please stick to writing articles like saying why  Narendra Modi will cause World War 3, why SoniaAmma deserves Nobel Prize etc.

BTW, the people in South India whom you prefer to eulogise - the likes of UR Ananthamurthy are representative of even their own castes (Kannada Brahmins), leave alone their state or region and infact most people even among the 4 or 5% South Indians who would be Brahmins by caste would have almost nothing to agree with the likes of URAnanthamurthy who is one piece of pure, unadulterated Indian Leftist BS.

 It's not "sardars", it is "sordars" :)

The defferece beween a South Indian & the North Indian is fundamental. The south Indian would top up his whisky with soda & most certainly with a sprinkling of holi water of the  Kaveri. If Kaveri water is not available Water of the Ganges will do. The North Indian prefer their whisky nit.

One minor difference. The Tam Brahm would not eat his chicken tandoori at home ; they prefer behind the back of  their wives outdoors. The Paaji would gorge on it wherever they can lay their hand on it.

The similiarities however are many. One similarity I  heard of is that both the sardars & the imlies pee the same way. There is not enough data to  build models to find out  which is more forceful or whether such forces could be used to generate electricity. Now that the issue has surfaced one hopes the Planning Commssion would  commission a Central Power Research Institute at Bangalore or Bhopal ( no north south monkey business here please)  to study the problem.

And Karnataki / Hindustani music & such like matters  are non siquitur.

I will say, it is a right debate by wrong people.
But any debate is good anyways.

North and south itself is a categorization which defeats the very purpose. North is not a homogenous category, neither is the south.

I remember as a young boy a Bihari friend told me that the rates of dowry in Bihar are fixed, from few thousands for chaprasi to 50 lacs to IAS officer. That was unbelievable to me (the menace was near absent in the hills of Uttarakhand back then). Later I came to know that the rates in Andra was touching crores during same period. Not a very happy picture I guess.

A Delhite going to Mumbai and finding people queuing to ride the BEST bus is as unbelievable as Bangalorian buying 75 paise tea in Kolkota.

There are cultures and sub-cultures and sub-sub-cultures and .......
or what some wise man said:
kosh kosh par badle pani, char kosh par vani.
( water changes at every mile and the language every forth ).

But one has to admit, there are inherited short-comings in some aspects of every sub-culture. That must be debated and must be improved for better.

Zafar,

Have you been to Chennai railway station? I don't know now, but at least a few years ago, the story was quite different.

Amit - there are lovely people all over the country and the world - but in this case I admire the South for ensuring that Bangalore railway station is (relatively) clean and hygeinic - and not an open air toilet.  Acknowledging that doesn't mean that Puneris or Delhiwallahs are unpleasant - only that we are behind the South wrt publish health and sanitation.

The above two articles can be summarised thus :

Classical music and the responses it generates

I can confidently say that 90% of the popuilation of Tamilnadu (and most likely in the other southern states) do not know either Carnatic music or Hindustani music. So to talk that an average southerner can assess a performance of classical music is a false assertion.

High culture has little influence of islam

There are pockets of urban Muslim aristocracy like the Hyderabad Nawabs and the Arcot Nawabs, but generally Southern Muslims are from the lower rungs of society. 

Southern tolerance for non veg

It is funny, when the majority of population (a "Hindu" survey taken a few years back) that is around 80-90% of the folks living in the south are non-vegetarians, I don't think you can use the term of "tolerance". People should claim the other way. "It is good to see "tolerance" for pure vegetarians in the south". 

Intellectual - "Gujaratis are not intellectual whereas Brahmins are intellectual"

This is the stupidest part and needs no response. Totally relies on the stereotypes. 

Multi-lingual

I think almost all of us now are multi-lingual if you add English as another language.  

Zafar,

 If you took a train in the backwaters of the US, you will find people who are even more polite and have considerable civic sense too. Not only that, if anyone sees you kicking your pet, a cop will promptly knock on your door. One can, therefore, conclude that the US is more civilized than South India, no? I think it's a lot to do with personal choices too. There is absolutely no doubt that the South is more polite, but so is Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal, and Uttarakhand, and MP. Even in the badlands of UP and Bihar, you will come across unfailing humility with a dash of humor. Personally, I found Bangalore horribly dull and boring but I loved Hyderabad and Pune and Chennai. Recently, when I read the news about a crowd almost lynching a suspected 'North Indian', I could hardly believe my eyes. What Aakar Patel and third rate writers do is to lower the benchmark of a debate. I don't remember discussing such cliched rubbish since my 1st year in college during ragging. I am almost stunned that such ideas find a ready audience (and publishers).

all a bit amusing.  but I think that the South IS more civilised than the North (speaking as a North Indian who grew up in The Heart Of Darkness aka Delhi, and has lived in Bangalore.)

Proof: take a train from Pune (not deep North, but still) to Bangalore.  What your nose tells you in Pune is different from what your nose tells you in Bangalore. (And if you take a train to Mysore, my goodness, the railway station is so charming and spotless that one is tempted to move there permanently, no joke).

I read both, I'm not sure which one is more stupid. 

Aakar Patel is a classified jackass. This idiot comes out with such nonsensical theories that it beggars belief as to why publications take him seriously. Just a fortnight ago, he came out with a theory of how Gujarat functions, on basis of caste. Needless to say, it had more holes than a slice of swiss cheese.

The riposte is typical tambrahm nonsense; needlessly argumentative, nitpicking, graceless, jingoistic, self-important bullshit. I say this as a tambrahm myself.

 Aakar Patel,

Started reading your article with interest.. and stopped the moment I found that it is not about South Vs North. It is about your intense dislike for your state (Gujarat). So leaving aside the most nonsensical stereotyping of 250 million South Indians into one group, you are simply ill qualified to write this. Please stick to writing articles like saying why  Narendra Modi will cause World War 3, why SoniaAmma deserves Nobel Prize etc.

BTW, the people in South India whom you prefer to eulogise - the likes of UR Ananthamurthy are representative of even their own castes (Kannada Brahmins), leave alone their state or region and infact most people even among the 4 or 5% South Indians who would be Brahmins by caste would have almost nothing to agree with the likes of URAnanthamurthy who is one piece of pure, unadulterated Indian Leftist BS.

Zafar,

 If you took a train in the backwaters of the US, you will find people who are even more polite and have considerable civic sense too. Not only that, if anyone sees you kicking your pet, a cop will promptly knock on your door. One can, therefore, conclude that the US is more civilized than South India, no? I think it's a lot to do with personal choices too. There is absolutely no doubt that the South is more polite, but so is Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal, and Uttarakhand, and MP. Even in the badlands of UP and Bihar, you will come across unfailing humility with a dash of humor. Personally, I found Bangalore horribly dull and boring but I loved Hyderabad and Pune and Chennai. Recently, when I read the news about a crowd almost lynching a suspected 'North Indian', I could hardly believe my eyes. What Aakar Patel and third rate writers do is to lower the benchmark of a debate. I don't remember discussing such cliched rubbish since my 1st year in college during ragging. I am almost stunned that such ideas find a ready audience (and publishers).

Aakar Patel is a classified jackass. This idiot comes out with such nonsensical theories that it beggars belief as to why publications take him seriously. Just a fortnight ago, he came out with a theory of how Gujarat functions, on basis of caste. Needless to say, it had more holes than a slice of swiss cheese.

The riposte is typical tambrahm nonsense; needlessly argumentative, nitpicking, graceless, jingoistic, self-important bullshit. I say this as a tambrahm myself.

The defferece beween a South Indian & the North Indian is fundamental. The south Indian would top up his whisky with soda & most certainly with a sprinkling of holi water of the  Kaveri. If Kaveri water is not available Water of the Ganges will do. The North Indian prefer their whisky nit.

One minor difference. The Tam Brahm would not eat his chicken tandoori at home ; they prefer behind the back of  their wives outdoors. The Paaji would gorge on it wherever they can lay their hand on it.

The similiarities however are many. One similarity I  heard of is that both the sardars & the imlies pee the same way. There is not enough data to  build models to find out  which is more forceful or whether such forces could be used to generate electricity. Now that the issue has surfaced one hopes the Planning Commssion would  commission a Central Power Research Institute at Bangalore or Bhopal ( no north south monkey business here please)  to study the problem.

And Karnataki / Hindustani music & such like matters  are non siquitur.

The above two articles can be summarised thus :

Classical music and the responses it generates

I can confidently say that 90% of the popuilation of Tamilnadu (and most likely in the other southern states) do not know either Carnatic music or Hindustani music. So to talk that an average southerner can assess a performance of classical music is a false assertion.

High culture has little influence of islam

There are pockets of urban Muslim aristocracy like the Hyderabad Nawabs and the Arcot Nawabs, but generally Southern Muslims are from the lower rungs of society. 

Southern tolerance for non veg

It is funny, when the majority of population (a "Hindu" survey taken a few years back) that is around 80-90% of the folks living in the south are non-vegetarians, I don't think you can use the term of "tolerance". People should claim the other way. "It is good to see "tolerance" for pure vegetarians in the south". 

Intellectual - "Gujaratis are not intellectual whereas Brahmins are intellectual"

This is the stupidest part and needs no response. Totally relies on the stereotypes. 

Multi-lingual

I think almost all of us now are multi-lingual if you add English as another language.  

all a bit amusing.  but I think that the South IS more civilised than the North (speaking as a North Indian who grew up in The Heart Of Darkness aka Delhi, and has lived in Bangalore.)

Proof: take a train from Pune (not deep North, but still) to Bangalore.  What your nose tells you in Pune is different from what your nose tells you in Bangalore. (And if you take a train to Mysore, my goodness, the railway station is so charming and spotless that one is tempted to move there permanently, no joke).

With English language and western culture sweeping across the country,all the differences between the North and South will be obliterated in a couple of generations.

I will say, it is a right debate by wrong people.
But any debate is good anyways.

North and south itself is a categorization which defeats the very purpose. North is not a homogenous category, neither is the south.

I remember as a young boy a Bihari friend told me that the rates of dowry in Bihar are fixed, from few thousands for chaprasi to 50 lacs to IAS officer. That was unbelievable to me (the menace was near absent in the hills of Uttarakhand back then). Later I came to know that the rates in Andra was touching crores during same period. Not a very happy picture I guess.

A Delhite going to Mumbai and finding people queuing to ride the BEST bus is as unbelievable as Bangalorian buying 75 paise tea in Kolkota.

There are cultures and sub-cultures and sub-sub-cultures and .......
or what some wise man said:
kosh kosh par badle pani, char kosh par vani.
( water changes at every mile and the language every forth ).

But one has to admit, there are inherited short-comings in some aspects of every sub-culture. That must be debated and must be improved for better.

Amit - there are lovely people all over the country and the world - but in this case I admire the South for ensuring that Bangalore railway station is (relatively) clean and hygeinic - and not an open air toilet.  Acknowledging that doesn't mean that Puneris or Delhiwallahs are unpleasant - only that we are behind the South wrt publish health and sanitation.

I read both, I'm not sure which one is more stupid. 

 BTW the Riposte, though bit loquacious was brilliant and deserving too. Kudos to the writer. Now aakar, stick to your core competence , to improve your career. Learn from likes of Saba Naqvi, Neelabh Mishra or venerable Vinod Mehta

Zafar,

Have you been to Chennai railway station? I don't know now, but at least a few years ago, the story was quite different.

The defferece beween a South Indian & the North Indian is fundamental. The south Indian would top up his whisky with soda & most certainly with a sprinkling of holi water of the  Kaveri. If Kaveri water is not available Water of the Ganges will do. The North Indian prefer their whisky nit.

One minor difference. The Tam Brahm would not eat his chicken tandoori at home ; they prefer behind the back of  their wives outdoors. The Paaji would gorge on it wherever they can lay their hand on it.

The similiarities however are many. One similarity I  heard of is that both the sardars & the imlies pee the same way. There is not enough data to  build models to find out  which is more forceful or whether such forces could be used to generate electricity. Now that the issue has surfaced one hopes the Planning Commssion would  commission a Central Power Research Institute at Bangalore or Bhopal ( no north south monkey business here please)  to study the problem.

And Karnataki / Hindustani music & such like matters  are non siquitur.

With English language and western culture sweeping across the country,all the differences between the North and South will be obliterated in a couple of generations.

Zafar,

 If you took a train in the backwaters of the US, you will find people who are even more polite and have considerable civic sense too. Not only that, if anyone sees you kicking your pet, a cop will promptly knock on your door. One can, therefore, conclude that the US is more civilized than South India, no? I think it's a lot to do with personal choices too. There is absolutely no doubt that the South is more polite, but so is Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal, and Uttarakhand, and MP. Even in the badlands of UP and Bihar, you will come across unfailing humility with a dash of humor. Personally, I found Bangalore horribly dull and boring but I loved Hyderabad and Pune and Chennai. Recently, when I read the news about a crowd almost lynching a suspected 'North Indian', I could hardly believe my eyes. What Aakar Patel and third rate writers do is to lower the benchmark of a debate. I don't remember discussing such cliched rubbish since my 1st year in college during ragging. I am almost stunned that such ideas find a ready audience (and publishers).

The riposte is typical tambrahm nonsense; needlessly argumentative, nitpicking, graceless, jingoistic, self-important bullshit. I say this as a tambrahm myself.

Amit - there are lovely people all over the country and the world - but in this case I admire the South for ensuring that Bangalore railway station is (relatively) clean and hygeinic - and not an open air toilet.  Acknowledging that doesn't mean that Puneris or Delhiwallahs are unpleasant - only that we are behind the South wrt publish health and sanitation.

all a bit amusing.  but I think that the South IS more civilised than the North (speaking as a North Indian who grew up in The Heart Of Darkness aka Delhi, and has lived in Bangalore.)

Proof: take a train from Pune (not deep North, but still) to Bangalore.  What your nose tells you in Pune is different from what your nose tells you in Bangalore. (And if you take a train to Mysore, my goodness, the railway station is so charming and spotless that one is tempted to move there permanently, no joke).

I read both, I'm not sure which one is more stupid.