#3
After finishing my MA course at University of Hyderabad, I have now moved to Mumbai. My previous experiences of people saying, "You don't look like a South Indian" have continued here. In the first couple of days of my new job, a girl asked me if I was Pubjabi. My name is Amrit, so not a giant leap of imagination. I proceeded to say that I wasn't. She then asked me where I was from and I replied that I was from Telangana. "But you don't look like you're from South," she said. What's worse, she didn't know what is spoken Telangana. "Tamil?" she asked.
When people who don't even know what language is spoken in Telangana tell me that I don't look like I am from Telangana, on what basis are they making this statement? My guess is Bollywood stereotypes.
#4
My roommates and I were just getting to know each other. After I had mentioned to them that I was from Hyderabad, they wanted to know if I spoke Hyderabadi Hindi. The discussion then slowly turned towards different accents and slang. One guy was of the opinion that the Delhi slang was quite similar to Mumbai slang. The other guy replied that it was the case only in Kurla. "Haan, that's mini Pakistan," said the first guy. The other one nodded in agreement and said that Moharram was around the corner. (It isn't. But Eid is.) In case you are incredibly naive, mini Pakistan is how people refer to areas where there is a high Muslim population.
After finishing my MA course at University of Hyderabad, I have now moved to Mumbai. My previous experiences of people saying, "You don't look like a South Indian" have continued here. In the first couple of days of my new job, a girl asked me if I was Pubjabi. My name is Amrit, so not a giant leap of imagination. I proceeded to say that I wasn't. She then asked me where I was from and I replied that I was from Telangana. "But you don't look like you're from South," she said. What's worse, she didn't know what is spoken Telangana. "Tamil?" she asked.
When people who don't even know what language is spoken in Telangana tell me that I don't look like I am from Telangana, on what basis are they making this statement? My guess is Bollywood stereotypes.
#4
My roommates and I were just getting to know each other. After I had mentioned to them that I was from Hyderabad, they wanted to know if I spoke Hyderabadi Hindi. The discussion then slowly turned towards different accents and slang. One guy was of the opinion that the Delhi slang was quite similar to Mumbai slang. The other guy replied that it was the case only in Kurla. "Haan, that's mini Pakistan," said the first guy. The other one nodded in agreement and said that Moharram was around the corner. (It isn't. But Eid is.) In case you are incredibly naive, mini Pakistan is how people refer to areas where there is a high Muslim population.
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