Indias By Region

If you want to start a lively and quickly tense discussion among Indians, have them start talking about regional differences.

Along with religion, this is a highly sensitive topic that is guaranteed to get lunch tables and chat rooms flowing with all sorts of interesting comments. Coming in as an outsider, it is important for you to build some awareness of the different regions, and what they think of each other.

There are no set boundaries for the regions of India, nor are there a set number of them. Some will say anything below Mumbai is South India and everything above it is North India. Others say there is a North, South, East, and West India.

For the sake of discussion, I will use six regions, adding Central and Northeast India to the above list.

Here are some necessary disclaimers, as this article is likely to offend someone: (#ThinSkinned)

• I’ve opted to use entire states to talk about regions (with a few exceptions), but the regions are undoubtedly more porous than that, and these regions are not universally accepted.
• I’ve added a section on *generalizations of the different regions. This is not to promote, justify, or validate the generalizations, but to inform you about what Indians think of each other.
• Indians feel passionate about these things and are comfortable talking about them with each other, but not always with foreigners, so be sensitive about bringing it up in conversation.
• I’ve spent most of my time in the south, and the comments about other regions are more anecdotal or researched.
• Keep in mind the other divisions of India (class, rural vs. urban, age) that are also at play. What is true about an urban Dehliite might not be true of the mountain people in Himachal Pradesh, even though both are in North India.
• Let’s make this a dynamic document. If you feel you have some useful (but not derogatory) insights to share about a particular area, please leave them in the comments and I will add them to the article.

[*Editor’s Note: I changed this term from “stereotypes” to better reflect the view of this article on generalizations and stereotypes]

Away we go…

Main regions of India:

States: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan (southern part might be considered West), Uttar Pradesh (southern part might be considered Central), Uttarakhand

Major Cities: Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kanpur

Major Languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Haryanvi, Urdu

Famous for:

• Pilgrimage sites like Varanasi, Ayodhya, or the Sikh Golden Temple
• Mughal historical sites like the Taj Mahal
• Punjabi Food
• Kashmir
• The Himalayas and many hill stations like Leh
• Historical places in Delhi like Red Fort

Generalizations:

• Entrepreneurs, prefer to work on their own than work for someone
• More flashy in displaying status, everyone is dressed well all the time
• Highly Ambitious
• Good at sales
• Good at partying
• Not afraid to bend the rules
• Very active and influential in Indian politics

States: Goa, Gujarat, Maharasthra, Southern Rajasthan, some parts of Madhya Pradesh

Major Cities: Mumbai, Ahmedebad, Pune, Goa, Surat, Nagpur, Aurangabad

Major Languages: Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, Konkani

Famous for:

• Bollywood
• Cricketers
• Chaat street food (originally north Indian, but extremely popular in this region)
• Generating 24% of the GDP (with 10% of the population)

Generalizations:

• Astute business people
• Control most of India’s money
• Highly ambitious, entrepreneurs, people are dedicated to their work
• Very fast-paced life, but highly organized
• Less emphasis on education
• Self-motivated, will leave a job if there is a better opportunity

States: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana

Major Cities: Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Coimbatore, Kochi

Major Languages: Tamil, Kananda, Telugu, Malyalam

Famous for:

• South Indian Food: Dosais and idly, biriyani
• Spices like cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, tamarind
• Numerous Hindu Temples and pilgrimage sites
• Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam Dance
• Mixing movie stars and politicians

Generalizations:

• Simple people who don’t like to show off
• Lower ambition, prefer to work for someone else
• Very loyal, good at keeping secrets
• Great at logic and mathematics; form the backbone of the software industry and supply most of north India with its accountants
• Intense vegetarianism (some people will still today avoid a street that has a butcher shop on it)
• Orthodox and conservative to a fault
• Highly educated and literate
• Culturally snobbish
• Movie crazy
• Highly sensitive

States: Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkand

Major Cities: Kolkata, Patna, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar

Major Languages: Bengali, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Oriya

Famous for:

• Nobel Laureates Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekanada
• Strong Football and Cricket culture
• Fish dishes
• Historical places related to India’s Independence
• Bengali sweets made from milk, called rosgula and mishti doi

Generalizations:

• Low ambition, not industrious, very relaxed environment
• Heavily focused on the arts (literature, painting, dance)
• Highly educated, good at writing, communication, and science
• Very sensitive and eager for a fight
• Often are teachers
• Heavily influenced by communism

 

States: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Southern Uttar Pradesh

Major Cities: Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur

Major Language: Hindi

Famous for:

• Tiger Reserves
• Khajuraho Temples
• Diamond mines and other mineral reserves
• Producing a large amount of electricity
• Forests

Generalizations:

• People who love their food
• An underdeveloped part of India
• Big Naxalite problems

  

States: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim,  Tripura

Major Cities: Guwahati, Agartala, Dimapur, Shillong, Aizawl, Imphal

Major Languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Garo, Manipuri, Nagamese, Nepali, Sikkimese

Famous for:

• Meat dishes (beef, fish, and pork)
• Martial Arts
• Bamboo Handicrafts
• Scenic Beauty
• Darjeeling
• Football

Generalizations:

• Sometimes not considered part of India by others
• Some states are majority Christian
• Some other Indians assume they are southeast Asians or migrants from Nepal
• Hardworking migrants

For a deeper look into how Indians look at other regions, take an hour to read through all the comments of this post. If you can make sense of it, it will help build your India understanding!