North – South divide – The Great Madarasi’s

Dear Rajeev,

I decided to write after i read the article dated September 11th.

The most striking word that I came across was the word “Madarasi”. This has nothing to do with the language, accent, culture, attire, filmy dialogues….etc. Let me enlighten you as to why this word came into existence and why, and the reasons for this. Well, we have been ruled and raped by all foreign rulers from Tuglaqs and the final nail was by the British, all because we have never been united from time immemorial, thanks to our diverse culture, higher, lower, upper middle castes, Brahmins,…..etc.

During the British Raj there was no reservation of any kind, and only merit was the criteria and this suited the intellectual population of the Madras presidency and the people of a region called Pallakad (now in Kerala), to occupy all the top positions in the British Government like joint secretaries, accountant generals, cabinet secretaries etc. Since all these people were from Madras, it was easy to refer to them as ‘madarasi’. It is also generally accepted belief that “ An idiot from the Pallakad region will be at least an IAS / IPS officer”. TN Seshan former election commissioner is a native of Pallakad. This was explained to my uncle by a North Indian who was in his late ninetees in the year 1977.

You also happen to mention that “…north Indians are often considered as loud, flashy and uncultured…”. Northern region of India has taken the maximum brunt of the Moghul invasions and the people of north have faced more pain and hardship in resisting in the extreme hostile climate, which has made them more tough, bold to face life. It is also true they are highly uncultured in behavior and approach to life sometimes. One of my maternal uncle was settled in Delhi for almost 30 years, and stayed in R.K.Puram, Shahajan Road flats, and some other places, and he used to tell that North Indians will keep their house vacant and not give to rent for another North Indian, but would prefer to give to a South Indian for a lesser rent…….many such examples….no need to dwell on that.

Indian original inhabitants were Dravidians, and the Aryans are basically from the central Europe. When the Aryans came to North India, Dravidians were pushed down South. Hence most of the North Indians i.e people belonging to states like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kashmir and Jammu have very fair skin, chiseled features like Europeans. Your heading “The great North India – South India divide” can be a reality one fine day, like what happened to USSR. The pressure is building up particularly in South India among the South Indians from a long time. Tension between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. (Something like Indo – Pak). Domination of North Indian Industrialists and depriving the south Indians job opportunities in many sectors. This is a everyday story in every city in South India. So the Cooker has to Explode one day, but not in our time.

I wrote this long time back……but could not find time…

Regards Pandu

30th September 2012