India is a multi-ethnic country with varied culture, languages, rituals, mannerisms and so much more!! Yeah, a similar line can be found in any Social Studies textbook, i know, but having had a first hand experience and having actually come across so many variety of people in last 4 years has left me wondering at the possibility and reality of all of us sharing one common name….”Indian”..I sometimes feel even the subject matter experts would find it impossible to research on how a country which is uniquely different every few thousand miles is still so united and intact..Its like a caterpillar having hundreds of legs..When the caterpillar walks, its legs move in a kind of Mexican wave fashion..if the caterpillar tries to research on each leg’s movement probably it will stop walking :)…A Balanced chaos !

Having met a variety of people from all over India(I claim to have acquaintances/friends in every state of India..Chhatisgarh, Bihar and a place called Tinsukia in Assam also included !!!! ), i have noticed a pattern of mannerisms and style in them based on where they belong to. So, I present to you those typical mannerisms through which you can identify where a person is from..

Disclaimer : The following information pertains to my observation of people from different regions in general. It may not be exactly true and it is not intended to ridicule or hurt the sentiments of people.

1. They are generally LOUD and boisterous. They like forming groups and doing get together every now and then. For them, “hall” and “hole”, “snakes” and “snacks” are pronounced in the same way. They are(if Hindus), undoubtedly, either vegetarians or Jains. They can gorge on “Fafda” “Jalebi” anytime of the day. They love food as much as they love shares and bonds. At least one of their family members is in USA. They are our garrulous Gujaratis….ahem..Your Highness is a Gujarati too !

2. They love coconuts and coconut Oil. From food delicacies to maintaining those lovely long tresses, coconut oil is used everywhere. For them, “Humble” becomes “Ummble”. Girls love wearing Half Sarees and Gajras. During marriage, you will probably not be able to see the bride properly as she would have been dressed in “GOLD” from head to toe. They love “Appam”. They are our Keralites.

3. They eat, drink and work I.T. Rice is their staple food. All they would love to order is “Curd Rice” and “Sambhar” even in the costliest Restaurants. In one course of meal, they have four different varieties of RICE. Like keralites, they love Sona. Dowry is still considered as a prestige there. No dowry means to give only one flat, a large piece of land along with lots of gold(Sigh). They love Gajras too. For them, “YES” and “S” is pronounced the same way i.e “S”. They end up the sentence with an extended “aaa” and use the word “Raa” very often.(Raa is similar to yaar in hindi)
For e.g. A: lets watch a movie Ra..
B: Movie aaa ? which one?
They are great movie buffs. They call an ‘item number song’ as a ‘mass song’ and can do their patented “Teen Maar” step on any song. They love “Chiroo” (Chiranjeevi). They are fond of spicy food, Haleems and Biryanis and even have a biryani named after one of their cities. They are our Andhrites.

4. The easiest way to spot them is the way they speak Hindi which is surprisingly sooo similar in all of them and so not so correct.
For e.g :
“Maine kiya hai” becomes “Main kiya hun” or “Main ki hun”
“Usne khaya hai” becomes “woh khaya hai” or “woh khayi hai”
“Sha” becomes “sa”..i.e. “Shaadi” becomes “Saadi”, “Shaam” becomes “saam”
“Ksha” becomes “Kha”(They dont have “Ksha” in their Alphabet)..So “Antakshari” becomes “Ontokhari” and if you are Mr. Akshay Kumar, you will get a new name there which will be “Okhay Kumar”.
They beam at the mention of Fish Fry and “Pakhal”- a food delicacy there. Their region is the origin of one of the classical dances called “Odissi”. They are our Oriyas.

5. They have a similarity with Oriyas in some aspects. They love Sea food. They generally pronounce “A” as “O”. For e.g. Monday could be pronounced the same way as it is written. Ladies are more dominant than their men. Their hindi could be one of the funniest as they tend to translate everything according to their language and.well..their language, unfortunately, lacks gender..So if you find a guy saying “Main jaa RAHI hun..” and a girl saying “main jaa RAHA hun”..you know exactly where they belong to..They are fond of sweets and Rosogulla is one of their most popular sweet. They are our sweet Bengalis.

6. They are handsome and beautiful(hehe). They love ghee, butter,lassi, parathas, makke di roti and sarson da saag. You can spot them easily by the way they speak. They do only “Balle Balle” Bhangra in any type of song. They are our vivacious Punjabis.

7. They don’t know Hindi properly. Even if they do, more often than not, they will hesitate to speak it. If they speak it at all, we have to make an effort to understand it. For them, “KHA” and “KA” are same(Seemingly, “kha” is absent in their alphabets) So “Khana Khaya” becomes “Kaana kaaya”. Like Andhrites, Rice is their staple diet too. Rajnikant is God to them. They are our Tamilians.

8. They end up their sentence with “DA” while talking to a friend. Da is similar to yaar in hindi. For e.g. A: Wassup Da ?B: Nothing much..Lots of work Da.They are our Kannadas.

9. Married ladies adorn themselves with flashy saris and suits. They will generally cover their heads with their pallu. They love Gatte ki sabji and daal baati. They have a rich and royal heritage. They are our Royal Rajasthanis.

10. They speak Hinglish very fluently. They indulge in showbaazi a great lot. They may live in a rented apt but may still possess a Mercedes. They are tip-top in their dressing. Leaving without applying lipstick, powder and other makeup(even if it is to buy vegetables) is a reprehensible act. They are our Delhites.

11. A major lot aspires to become IAS officers. They are more traditional and a little orthodox. Their hindi is also quite different. For e.g. “Kya kahat ho babua..ham ka bhi batayi do”. They are our Bihari Babus.

12. They love art in any form. Be it movies, theatre, painting etc. They love Pav-Bhaji, Vada Paav, Shrikhand. They are our Maharashtrians.

Let me know if you have any more interesting facts to add to the list 🙂

Jai Hind ! Happy 26th January !

Prakruti Joshi is young Gujarati techie who works in Hyderabad in multi-cultural environment for several years. She is also a blogger who loves to read DeshGujarat regularly