States of India: what are they known for ?

anand1 · Post by **anand1** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:12 am

Please Read this first:
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First of all, this thread may have potential to be abused and hijacked. I just want to request all my fellow members to refrain from name calling, insult and hurtful comments attacking the individual states. Try to stick to just the positives and if you have to state the negatives (if any), state them in a most general and dignified manner. And negatives are better stated by an insider as that gives credibility and invites less flame :)

Ok now the Topic:
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We all know India is what (both good and bad) it is today due to the collective efforts of people from all the states. Just want to highlight the attributes, qualities of people in each of these states who make India what it is today. You need not confine to the people alone, it can be special features of the state, culture, arts etc.

What we get out of it:
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Just education about various states, people and cultures. I am hoping to get something more than in a wikipedia.

Example:
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(This is just my own sketch of Tamilnadu and I am not a Tamil)

Tamilnadu: Many people call Tamils the brainiest of India. This may just be stereotyping but Tamilnadu did produce some of the brightest.
E.g., Nobel Prize winner C V Raman, Mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and now the World chess champion Vishwanathan Anand. All are pure brain work. Tamils hold their language very dear to their heart. They are also very fond of Tamil Cinema.

(This is just my own sketch of Bengalis and I am not a Bengali)

Bengal: Bengalis probably share their brainiest name tag with Tamils. They share many qualities like Tamils. They have their fair share of Nobel Prize winners: Rabindranath Tagore, Jagdish Bose etal. Like Tamils they also hold their language dear to their heart. Bengalis are also famous for award winning film directors and producers. Bengalis are also known for their award winning literacy works.

Ok, I will stop here.. and add your own perceptions. Once again please be decent, constructive. Remember India is strong due to the collective strengths of all people and weak because of collective weaknesses of every one. And lets face it, some qualities are specific to certain people and thats why India is strong collectively.

anand1 · Post by **anand1** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:18 am

If this thread gets interesting, some one who is knowledgeble about America can start a similar thread for USA.

nand · Post by **nand** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:40 am

I have found it to be a mis-conception that tamils or bengalis are the brainiest - and I am a tamil and a bengali!!. In my experience I have found very smart people in iits and recs from all corners of the country. Have come across very smart gujju's and maru's and punju's and mallu's and esp. biharis. Biharis have this negative rap but I have found them to be very smart as well. No one part of the country has a monopoly on brains and when I came to the US I really thought Indians were the smartest in the world but was quicky brought down to ground by smart people at univs in the US from everywhere.

However there is one thing, classical arts and culture of the type of classical music and dance and literature is probably more evolved in tamil and bengali than perhaps in other languages and various theories put forward for it. One being that with the lands being so fertile the people did not have much work to do and so spent their time contemplating classical arts.

cnu · Post by **cnu** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:56 pm

I think and have derived that even the brainiest is a hardworker and thus achieves an intellectual ability to be smarter. My reasoning is based on some nice articles on wikipedia, the making of Spell Bee, and the "Making of genius" a program that appeared in BBC some time back.

I think its hardwork, that separates men from boys! Of course the synonyms around what am saying are -> smart work, better memory, concentration ...blah blah

Albeit sometimes I wonder Y i dont think like an European or American or Chinese, while my thought process is similar to many Desis. Could this be a mere coincidence or geography/culture do play some role in it, not thoroughly convinced though, but cannot seem to rule it out. aaaah well :rolleyes: gotta get back to work before my manager sees that am not working hard :emsmiled:

jay62728 · Post by **jay62728** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:15 pm

anand1;48989 (This is just my own sketch of Bengalis and I am not a Bengali)

Bengal: Bengalis probably share their brainiest name tag with Tamils. They share many qualities like Tamils. They have their fair share of Nobel Prize winners: Rabindranath Tagore, Jagdish Bose etal. Like Tamils they also hold their language dear to their heart. Bengalis are also famous for award winning film directors and producers. Bengalis are also known for their award winning literacy works. .[/quote]

Just a minor correction.
Jagdish Bose was not a noble laureate. You can add Amartya Sen though..:emsmile:

Desi_by_Nature · Post by **Desi_by_Nature** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:28 pm

nand;49010Biharis have this negative rap but I have found them to be very smart as well. [/quote]

I agree. Some of the most intelligent people i've met in my college days were Biharis - however their personality never showed it. On first impressions you'd hate to be around them - rowdy, rustic, ill-mannered. But you give them the toughest math problem and they'd solve it in a blink.

Bihar is the state of paradoxes.
You have India's smartest and the stupidest people living in Bihar.
It's perhaps the most rich state (natural resources wise) but also one of the poorest.

OurGen-X · Post by **OurGen-X** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 11:37 pm

OP appears to have opened the proverbial "pandora's box" with this subject . . . let the wars begin!!! :-)

babu_babu · Post by **babu_babu** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:16 am

nand;49010I have found it to be a mis-conception that tamils or bengalis are the brainiest - and I am a tamil and a bengali!!. In my experience I have found very smart people in iits and recs from all corners of the country. Have come across very smart gujju's and maru's and punju's and mallu's and esp. biharis. Biharis have this negative rap but I have found them to be very smart as well. No one part of the country has a monopoly on brains and when I came to the US I really thought Indians were the smartest in the world but was quicky brought down to ground by smart people at univs in the US from everywhere.

However there is one thing, classical arts and culture of the type of classical music and dance and literature is probably more evolved in tamil and bengali than perhaps in other languages and various theories put forward for it. One being that with the lands being so fertile the people did not have much work to do and so spent their time contemplating classical arts.[/quote]

It is not about Tamil/Telugu/Kannada! It was the Caste/community, which made the difference. If you see the indian history, more brainiest people were from this caste. That was due to their wealth, health and knowledge.

Today that equation has changed, keeping the variables (wealth, health and knowledge) constant.

The famous Kuchipudi dance is from Andhra and others like Kathakali is from Kerala.

IMO, Andhra guys are more richer and brainer. Most of the US NRIs are from Andhra, most of the SG NRIs are from Tamilnadu, most of the ME NRIs are from Kerala.

anand1 · Post by **anand1** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:57 am

Folks, many thanks for keeping it civil so far.

Ok, I am basically from Andhra so I am allowed to be little liberal to speak of people from Andhra Pradesh :). Please take it lightly.

Andhra people are the IT worker bees of the world. You just go any where in the world, if you see an Indian techie, most likely he is from Andhra. :) This is almost like a Keralite found in Gulf countries. For some reason, Andhras migrate to USA much more than other countries. Also, the fascination among the Andhra families to send their kids abroad is of insane proportions. May be the parents feel very proud to tell their friends that their son/daughter is in "States". Even if dollar reaches 10Rs, US need not worry, they can count on Andhras to fill the void on US soil (they probably will even work for free) :)

Keralites and Andhras are kind of similar in one sense, in their zeal to migrate outside. While the Keralites migrate to Gulf, Andhras mostly migrate to US. Both are educated, while the former are mostly in the administration, nursing and other skillsets, latter are into hi-tech, medical. Both are service oriented but more so with Keralites.

anand1 · Post by **anand1** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:11 am

Punjabis
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Correct me if I am wrong, my perception of Punjabis (mostly Sardars) is that they are the nation's defence keepers. They are the people on the front line. Hats off to the country's leaders for keeping the country intact so far particularly the region of Punjab. Ofcourse Punjab also produced some of the brightest economists: Manmohan Singh, Montek Ahluwalia etal. They shatter the myth that Punjabis are strong only physically.

Gujaratis
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If you can find the closest American in an Indian, you will find in Gujjus. Ofcourse I am talking about their enterpreneural spirits. For them, it is vitamin "M" all the way. :) Please take it in the right spirit. And why not ? After living in America, dont we all want to make more money ? A person with enterpreneural spirits are highly valued in Gujarat. For e.g., while a person with a graduate degree with a decent job is valued in Andhra Pradesh, in Gujarat people dont care about a person's education but his business mind is valued. They are also India's leading stock market investors (any one remembers Harshad Mehta -the big bull ?). The only place in India where you can find a "Daadi Ma" talking about stocks is in Gujarat. :)

And ofcourse hats off to this state for giving birth to the "Father of the Nation" - our beloved Mahatma.