If you want to start a lively and quickly tense discussion among Indians, have them start talking about regional differences.

Along with religion, this is a highly sensitive topic that is guaranteed to get lunch tables and chat rooms flowing with all sorts of interesting comments. Coming in as an outsider, it is important for you to build some awareness of the different regions, and what they think of each other.

There are no set boundaries for the regions of India, nor are there a set number of them. Some will say anything below Mumbai is South India and everything above it is North India. Others say there is a North, South, East, and West India.

For the sake of discussion, I will use six regions, adding Central and Northeast India to the above list.

Here are some necessary disclaimers, as this article is likely to offend someone: (#ThinSkinned)

• I’ve opted to use entire states to talk about regions (with a few exceptions), but the regions are undoubtedly more porous than that, and these regions are not universally accepted.
• I’ve added a section on *generalizations of the different regions. This is not to promote, justify, or validate the generalizations, but to inform you about what Indians think of each other.
• Indians feel passionate about these things and are comfortable talking about them with each other, but not always with foreigners, so be sensitive about bringing it up in conversation.
• I’ve spent most of my time in the south, and the comments about other regions are more anecdotal or researched.
• Keep in mind the other divisions of India (class, rural vs. urban, age) that are also at play. What is true about an urban Dehliite might not be true of the mountain people in Himachal Pradesh, even though both are in North India.
• Let’s make this a dynamic document. If you feel you have some useful (but not derogatory) insights to share about a particular area, please leave them in the comments and I will add them to the article.

[*Editor’s Note: I changed this term from “stereotypes” to better reflect the view of this article on generalizations and stereotypes]

Away we go…
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