south Indian culture appreciation thread
(an educational and informative thread for desis and non desis alike because we're never represented in your desi culture appreciation threads and that's incredibly disappointing!!)

disclaimer: I'm tamilian, i know my culture the best but I've tried to be as inclusive and accurate about all the southern states' culture. please correct me if I've made mistakes. also pls understand i can't include every detail bc of thread limits

south India is the area encompassing the 5 states- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh- and 2 union territories, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands. we're bound by the Bay of Bengal (east), Arbian Sea (West), the Indian Ocean (south)

here's sth REALLY important: hindi is not a major language spoken in South India. we have our own languages. the official lang spoken in TamilNadu is tamil, in Kerala its Malayalam, in Karnataka it's Kannada and in Andhra and Telangana it's Telugu

we all use English as a common language and it's very important for North Indians to stop using hindi with us bec that means you're forcing your language down our throats. linguistic chauvinism is despicable. pls stop giving non desis the idea that we all know and speak hindi

south India is a very well developed part of India vans has always chalked better stars in terms of education, healthcare, economic growth, development index, social progress, gender equality, women's safety, environmental conservation, poverty alleviation etc than North India

major cities in South India include (not limited to) Chennai, coimbatore, puducherry, trivandrum, kochi, munnar, bengaluru, mysore, Hyderabad, Amaravati, Vishakapatnam. 5 major rivers (Kaveri, Tungabhadra, Periyar, Krishna, Godavari) and their tributaries flow through South India

the major religions in South India are Hinduism (84q),Islam (11%), Christianity (4%) and others like Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism etc make up 1% of the south Indian religious demographic

Chennai, my hometown and capital city of TamilNadu, was a very important trade and administrative city during the British colonial rule in India. here's a short article about its significance in those times https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/chennai-madras

south Indians are dark skinned!! and we're proud of it. and we're drop dead gorgeous. we can pull off any color and style and we don't need you telling us what will "suit" our skin color or what will make us "look brighter and fairer" in order to be considered "good looking"

here are some pictures of tamil Hindu brides

Tamil Christian and Muslim weddings are so beautiful, i wanna attend one too!!

malayali brides are so fucking beautiful!

telugu and kannada brides are so breathtaking, I'm gonna d word

LOOK AT SOUTH INDIAN JEWELLERY BEING ABSOLUTELY REGAL

here's one of my favorite photosets bec dark skinned women are so fucking superior it hurts

MORE DARK SKINNED APPRECIATION FTW

here's a hot take for you. South Indian food is SO MUCH tastier, richer and healthier than North Indian food but unfortunately all you nondesis know is roti, naan and butter chicken and you think you know Indian cuisine when you're literally missing out on the best part of it

we've got incredibly delicious and diverse food, vegetarian, vegan, non veg, seagood, snacks, swerts, dessert etc all made with local produce and cooked in super healthy ways that retain most of the nutrients of the components while tasting heavenly

south Indian desserts are so delectable and they can knock you out. they're truly a lot healthier than many North Indian sweets and western desserts too!

south Indians honestly don't give much of a damn b wood because our own regional film industries deliver amazing storylines with an the drama, thrill, romance we need in a language we understand and keep our cultures alive. also bollywood kinda suxx

carnatic music is a traditional Indian classical music firm that's prevalent in South India. it is unfortunately very caste based in its organization and efforts need to be made to make it a more inclusive art form

nevertheless, from a musical pov, carnatic music is incredibly beautiful and has its own deep, old history, grammar, rules and form that make it one of the toughest musical forms in the world. it's sung and played on many different instruments

every Dec-Jan, the annual five arts festival is hosted in Chennai where various traditional South Indian give art forms are celebrated and performed by professionals with great fervor. there are separate music and dance and theatre halls built for this purpose

many traditional South Indian dance forms, which, like the music forms, take decades to master and perfect are also celebrated. patrons, both professionals and commoners, don't shy away from being openly critical of you if you're not good at your practice

south India is so fucking beautiful and we all have stories, histories, identities, cultures, practices, traditions and struggles so vastly different from the north that it's criminal to not even speak a single word about us in your threads. we're a massive fucking part of India

south India is so modern, so progressive while steeped in its own culture too. and yet we never get any of the representation or praise we deserve in all your close minded linear desi culture appreciation threads that only fucking talk about north India. we're Indians too yk?