Rivalries In India

I'd like to know about rivalries in India - you know the type. In Ireland we have a sort of Dublin vrs. The Rest of the Country rivalry, as well as having a healthy one with our English friends across the sea, though they may consider Scotland their biggest rivalry.
Anyway, be it North vrs. South, Delhi vrs. Mumbai, be they inspired by history, sport, or snobbiness, I'd really like to hear about them.
It always helps to know these things when engaging with the locals!

THE rivalry is India/Pakistan--and best left unmentioned by you.

Better topic of conversation would be Madhuri vs. Aishwarya, Preity vs. Rani, Salman vs. Shah Rukh. This will not likely lead to blows.

there's only one- India Vs Pakistan in Cricket!

There are local tensions, and they're VERY dofferent from, say Bos-NY or SFO-LA. There's never been a slaughter of thousands of Newyorkers in Boston, capiche? I wouldn't worry about it. No one resents Westerners very much, oddly enuff . . . Pls behave and keep it that way!

Traditionally yes, but not anymore. The last time I went to Dublin, there was an Irish guy with ginger hair ranting to us about the English, and he didn't even realise we were English because he was so drunk

Anyhow, I don't think that the British have nukes pointed at their immediate neighbours, so I can only imagine the extent of India and Pakistan having a 'mutual dislike' for one another.

[QUOTE=Ruprecht]The last time I went to Dublin, there was an Irish guy with ginger hair ranting to us about the English, and he didn't even realise we were English because he was so drunk QUOTE]

You don't have to live with it! I had one of these pricks on the bus beside me last night, going on about 800 years, and so on.....

Anyway, I was thinking more along the lines of local rivalries, rather than the obvious international one with Pakistan. You know, the type where you get pleasure from your rivals misfortune, I suppose I'm thinking Manchester/Liverpool, Celtic/Rangers and so on.....

Any of our Indian friends care to contribute?

The india-pakistan rivalry is limited to cricket.. that does not mean that indian are united on everything else... rather they tend to be come united only when india is playing against pakistan.

most indian don't care about the nuke's etc. as the military rivalry is politically motivated. .However, as rule of thumb, in india more than any country, avoid discussing religion and politics. people are quite passionate about their position on these topics, and may not be open to discussion. most of th india-pakistan revalry stems from religion and a fair number of muslims in india support the pakistani cricket team .. merchant had some great suggestions -- that are lighthearted..

In sports there is a healthy rivalry between Delhi and Mumbai in domestic cricket; and between Mohan Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting in football.

Going down to the grassroots level in Mumbai cricket, there has always been a great rivalry between Shivaji Park and Dadar Union, two cricket clubs which play in the Kanga League.

You can write a thesis on the rivalry between Mohan Bagan and Muhammaden Sporting! I will pass this time and let sadhuji write about it. maybe even put in some info about "bangaal" and "ghoti". (east Bengal and West Bengal!) Come on, Somnath, lets hear it.

I never realised untill I moved south that everyone has an opinion on each others cultures. indians about themselves, that is. for example, kannadigas can't stand tamilians and tamilians won't have anything to do with kannadigas, and kannadigas and tamilians both think mallyali's are crooks! no body knows what mallyali's think. Sudheer, maybe you can tell us. They probably think everyone else is a fool! anyway this "silsila" goes on! panjabi's and a lot of other people think bengali's are petty, miserly and think no end of themselves, bengali's think panjabi's are superficial. everyone else thinks sardar's are dumb! (I know everyone from India is gonna hate me after this post!) North Indian's think South Indians are manipulative, South Indians think North Indians are pompous and aggressive! And lets not even get into the hindu muslim bit, while christians go quietly abut their work getting funds from all over the world!! But in all this I haven't found any serious bitterness or hatred. I think it just comes out of so many sub cultures living together under the same umbrella! And all of us realise that most of it doesn't have any remote connection with reality. (just trying to salvage my reputation here!) And so Indians will be Indians and inspite of all bickerings over rivers and mountains, we will invariably come together against the rest of the world, starting with Pakistan, of course!

natasha. I was going to post something similar but you made a better post of it. Add to it, the contemptous dismissal of each other's cooking/culture.
Does no-one ever know how to make rasam or sambar properly? or for pete's sake, idlis? How difficult can that be? Yet, the way the rest of the country with the exception of tamilnadu make it, it's rocket science to them! What's with this bengali notion of smothering everything with sugar/sugar syrup when it comes to sweets. Doesn't anyone do anything in moderation?
Or pickles? Don't they know what hot is? I forgot, for a crowd which smothers every food dish in oil, what tastebuds would they have, huh?

Now,take carnatic music, what do the northies know of music; their music sounds as if one of them had been kicked in the shins every 2 minutes! Or dance, the exquisite bharatnatyam versus the proverbial bull inthe china shop routines of the crowds up north. Or English, can't they make the effort to learn it properly & why for God's sake do they think Hindi is the national language? It's not and to u'stand that they'll have to read the constitution which I daresay they've just perused.

Or the horrors of movies! Can't the bombay crowd think of any good movie plots originally? Why is it that they have to copy from the south? A dearth of imagination and a lack of talent, I'd say. Or dresses, the understated elegance of a Kanchipuram silk versus the dead weight of gold with bits of cloth in between to masquarade as a saree. The simple elegance of a nose ring and bangles versus the chain mail of ornaments to make cleopatra look cheap. Let them get a bit of culture before they even deign to make comparisions!

There! I've stirred up things a bit by tarring whole loads of people! :-)

--
p.s this is just for fun, as I've just done southie stereotyping of the north. I don't ....er..umm..hmm...harbour any of them. except the idli bit and oh the sweets and the language bit...and...and...

& now for the flame mail.

Come on Natasha,
natasha is just trying to bring my ‘bangal’ soul out of the shell. Let me tell you friends, the rivalry is actually between East Bengal and Mohonbagan club. When Bengal had been divided into two parts (http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/P_0100.HTM ;
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/wb/history.htm) West Bengal and Bangladesh (actually East Pakisthan) a huge no of Hindu came down to West Bengal; similarly, Muslims preferred to go to Bangladesh. This migrated people in Bengal are called “Bangal” and other Bengalis (those are basically form West Bengal) are called “Ghoti”. And as the name suggests East Bengal club is the sentiment of Bangals and Ghotis try to push them behind by backing up the Mohonbagan club.

Once upon a time the rivalry between these two football clubs was a myth. Now, the craze is over but when these two teams come to Saltlake stadium, Kolkata; even today, believe me, it is a war like situation. If anyone of you gets a chance, do not miss this 90 mints. play in the ground and emotion of life time.

There are definetly local rivalries
Listen to the local Himachis speak about the Punjabis
Loud obnoxious self centred bores i think is what I've been told by many a local Himachi

There is a culture rivalry between Calcutta & Bombay ...Bombay being the glitz Calcutta the cultural ..>Delhi is the fussy old aunt stuck in her ways hahaha ...I know you Delhi-ites will shoot me down for that one

There is a fair amount of rivalry between the Darker dravidian Inidans and the lighter Aryan nothern Indians ...

Not sayingthese rivalries are hostile but they do exist and some are more lip service joking ie like Glasgow and Edinburgh rivalry up here ...such as you have more fun at a Glasgow funeral than you have at an Edinburgh wedding ...(Edinbugh folk are very dour mouthed and don't know how to enjoy themselves hee hee)

Bryan

But compared to the European Union with 450 million, India is one country with 1100 million people.

Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of stuff I was looking for. Now to rattle a few cages.....

You want rivalries -- look up the idli vs. dosa debate that a recent thread rose to. I am still not done fighting that battle -- idli forever!
Seriously Conor, why so eager to rattle "cages"?

i am still sitting on the fence on that one!!! idli one day, dosa next!