Trump promises "big big...trade deal with India"...in early stages though

[Thamizh Puli]

I see. An honest mistake. Can happen to anyone.

So where is your hometown in India?

atleast you admit the mistake.
small town TN

 

[El Sidd]

atleast you admit the mistake.
small town TN

Any reports of communal violence in your small town in Tamil Nadu?

 

[Thamizh Puli]

Any reports of communal violence in your small town in Tamil Nadu?

jeez, eevverybody is an info collector now ? anyway, don't know 1st hand but heard (rather, read of) protest in Kerala border. there was also one in one of the chennai colleges. TN is funny that way - you have bunch that is 100% Modi & BJP but will vote for movie stars, a bunch that's for Modi but won't vote bjp. The biggest bunch is against anything non-Tamil but votes for non-Tamils settled in TN over a century. a very mixed up lot. In general they care VERY little about religious affiliations. The bigger battle of wits and ideas is between atheists and Hindus. Muslims & Christians (except for a handful of crackpots) switch between the two atheist majority parties depending on time of the day, unless some charismatic cine actor is in the picture in which he gets all the votes. The two atheist parties themselves blame each other's leaders for praying in some temple or darga or some shrine, until they themselves switch parties. Like I said it is also very fluid and fun.

The thing outsiders do not understand is, TN is rich (by Indian standards). They are used to have things available. They grow, produce, trade. And watch a looooot of movies - about 190 a year. That's all they care about - that and being able to pay 2 to 3 lakhs to get their kid admitted to some engg college

 

[El Sidd]

jeez, eevverybody is an info collector now ? anyway, don't know 1st hand but heard (rather, read of) protest in Kerala border. there was also one in one of the chennai colleges. TN is funny that way - you have bunch that is 100% Modi & BJP but will vote for movie stars, a bunch that's for Modi but won't vote bjp. The biggest bunch is against anything non-Tamil but votes for non-Tamils settled in TN over a century. a very mixed up lot. In general they care VERY little about religious affiliations. The bigger battle of wits and ideas is between atheists and Hindus. Muslims & Christians (except for a handful of crackpots) switch between the two atheist majority parties depending on time of the day, unless some charismatic cine actor is in the picture in which he gets all the votes. The two atheist parties themselves blame each other's leaders for praying in some temple or darga or some shrine, until they themselves switch parties. Like I said it is also very fluid and fun.

The thing outsiders do not understand is, TN is rich (by Indian standards). They are used to have things available. They grow, produce, trade. And watch a looooot of movies - about 190 a year. That's all they care about - that and being able to pay 2 to 3 lakhs to get their kid admitted to some engg college

So South Indians do not care if North India is burnt to ashes since South Indians are rich in coconut curry and tamil movies?

Despite the north and south divide, both depend on each other and instability in the North will have an impact on the South and vice versa.

 

[Wood]

jeez, eevverybody is an info collector now ? anyway, don't know 1st hand but heard (rather, read of) protest in Kerala border. there was also one in one of the chennai colleges. TN is funny that way - you have bunch that is 100% Modi & BJP but will vote for movie stars, a bunch that's for Modi but won't vote bjp. The biggest bunch is against anything non-Tamil but votes for non-Tamils settled in TN over a century. a very mixed up lot. In general they care VERY little about religious affiliations. The bigger battle of wits and ideas is between atheists and Hindus. Muslims & Christians (except for a handful of crackpots) switch between the two atheist majority parties depending on time of the day, unless some charismatic cine actor is in the picture in which he gets all the votes. The two atheist parties themselves blame each other's leaders for praying in some temple or darga or some shrine, until they themselves switch parties. Like I said it is also very fluid and fun.

The thing outsiders do not understand is, TN is rich (by Indian standards). They are used to have things available. They grow, produce, trade. And watch a looooot of movies - about 190 a year. That's all they care about - that and being able to pay 2 to 3 lakhs to get their kid admitted to some engg college

You forgot to add caste politics.

So South Indians do not care if North India is burnt to ashes since South Indians are rich in coconut curry and tamil movies?
Despite the north and south divide, both depend on each other and instability in the North will have an impact on the South and vice versa.

I think southern states would prefer a federation over a union. Central gov. policies and decisions will have a credible impact, but it has not influenced regional politics significantly.

 

[Thamizh Puli]

So South Indians do not care if North India is burnt to ashes since South Indians are rich in coconut curry and tamil movies?

Despite the north and south divide, both depend on each other and instability in the North will have an impact on the South and vice versa.

not care is gross overstatement but true & true that the Hindi & non-Hindi belts are very different in many respects but united by of all the things by god, cricket and movies. but I wouldn't classify as South & North India. Within South, Karnataka is lot like Maharashtra and in general are with the national stream of likes and dislikes. Andhra & TN are movie mad. Kerala is in its own universe, perhaps with some congruence to W.Bengal (communism) but also a very marked variance from W.Bengal (anti Hindu)!.

consider this: each 'linguistic state' is chock full of people very proud of their origins and localness. yet the Bombay businesses are owned bu Gujarathis, Bangalore is full of Tamilians, TN mid-size businesses are owned by Telugu speakers, Delhi is full of Panjabis....

Nothing describes this shakespearean comedy better than this: before BJP & Modi swept in, the all powerful Congress party to form a government allied with the next biggest non-BJP party in the country (by number of elected reps). That happened to be the DMK (one of the two large atheist parties from TN) whose battle cry until a few decades ago was an autonomous TN. For while they had the old guard of DMK shouting for autonomy even while their own sons where ministers in Delhi in the union govt of Congress.

Man Indians are crazy

 

[El Sidd]

I think southern states would prefer a federation over a union. Central gov. policies and decisions will have a credible impact, but it has not influenced regional politics significantly.

Man Indians are crazy

All i have to say is India is a mob masquerading as a Nation.

 

[Wood]

All i have to say is India is a mob masquerading as a Nation.

I've always thought of India as a continent masquerading as a country. Economist seems to agree:

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2015/05/21/how-to-run-a-continent

 

[Thamizh Puli]

You forgot to add caste politics.


I think southern states would prefer a federation over a union. Central gov. policies and decisions will have a credible impact, but it has not influenced regional politics significantly.

yes caste politics plays a vital role in the SOuth, you are right. But a lot of people confuse between the untouchability caste politics of the past (and some still in the North) vs the other pragmatic kind in the South.

But as to regional politics being influenced by national streams, what you say is true with some exceptions - great ones such as Indira Gandhi & Modi are able to puncture through that membrane somewhat, albeit with local help

All i have to say is India is a mob masquerading as a Nation.

may be; but think about this: LINGUISTIC STATES. that means different languages so people need English in many cases to even converse. So it gets chaotic. But then, don't forget god, movies and cricket either.

I'd imagine Pakistan will have had similar issues but to a muted degree given the headstrong punjabi, sindhi, etc but then at some point someone pushed urdu as a unifier? also the scale & size of diversity probably make a qualitative difference. So may be you guys get to say you are a bit less crazy now than before

 

[El Sidd]

So may be you guys get to say you are a bit less crazy now than before

You are underestimating us again.

 

[Thamizh Puli]

You are underestimating us again.

well let's hope unity for love and peace rather than unity for hatred.

Just occurred to me I could have avoided all that verbosity with just this one real case: The then TN govt (DMK, while being part of the Congress govt at the center) wanted to execute a massive shipping channel project in the waters that divide TN and Sri Lanka. This meant cutting through the Rama Sethu (lka Adam's Bridge). All hell broke through in the north while in TN itself where this area is located, there were very muted murmurs and that too about DMK people making money on dredging contracts. If you figure this one out, may be you can explain India to me