South India is 'trending' and North Indians are looking at them with great curiosity and disbelief. For so many decades, North Indians looked at stereotyped South Indians as professional (due to inability to decipher expressions and nuances), highly educated (since South Indians spoke more English), and unpolitical people (since Northerners did not understand South politics properly). They thought that the large crowds and anarchy were traits of the North alone and South was as clean as the sea appears from a distance.
In a series of extraordinary events, we are mesmerized with different shades of the South. Our simplistic opinions and stereotyped versions fell apart with each such event.
When Northerners saw people from South adoring Rajinikanth like a cult figure; they thought it was so because he was the biggest from the South. But then Rajinikanth is a Marathi and not a Tamil! Enough to cause confusion!
Then it came to Cauvery water dispute and we saw such angry and violent protests in Bengaluru that we could not believe our eyes. Two Southern states fighting over water? We thought it happened only near our Northern village wells and ponds!
Before and after demise of Jayalalitha the politics over her health, denial of cremation and fight over legacy baffled us. The huge crowds and madness of her supporters baffled us more - if you see her past corruption record. So people from South also love corruption? We thought corruption only happened in Kejriwal's muhalla!
And then comes the latest hash tag of Jallikattu. People from North could not believe that the well educated, civilized Southerners loved their bulls so much! I mean who cares for the bulls now? We though everyone in South was an engineer and won't have time for such things.
Such black swan events are definitely breaking the stereotypes. It is not about appearing better or worse, but it is definitely about appearing real. If Northerners are feeling that South is becoming more like North, it actually means that we are getting to know each other better.
