Difference between North and South Indians

Can people usually tell a North and South Indian apart? Like, just based on looks. I always just thought Indians were brown Asian people, I never really felt there was a difference between North Indians and South Indians physically but apparently there is?

Just curious

there isn't. of course some desperate deluded person will say there are like "north indians are lighter" no. I've seen North Indians. Such as in Uttar Pradesh. Dark.

North Indians tend to have lighter skin and have a more muscular build than South Indians. North Indians tend to look more similar to Pakistanis (especially Sikh Punjabis) and South Indians are more similar to Sri Lankans and Maldivians. There are however many exceptions, there are plenty of dark North Indians and some light skinned South Indians too.

Yeah. North Indians males tend to be sexually disliked by South Indian females/gays. South Indians have brown skin and slightly different face shapes. Conversely the typical Pakistani looks more Middle Eastern and/or Persian. Bangladeshis are basically like a mixture of North Indian and South Indians.

Lol are you joking, South Indians are obsessed with North Indians and their lighter skin. Fair and lovely sales are through the roof and if you look through the matrimonial section of any newspaper in tn or Kerala you’ll see parents asking for “fair skinned groom/bride for my child” they are obsessed with wanting to look like North Indians. It’s worth noting even in South Indian movies a lot of the heroic characters look pretty much like a typical North Indian. People love the North Indian look, for both men and women. It’s the north that tends to sexually dislike South Indians.

Yep that sounds f-ed up, it’s not even culture. Why should a whole society endorse activities promoting this skin tone robbing girls of self esteem....

Remnants of colonisation going strong even since the 1940s

Lol are you joking, South Indians are obsessed with North Indians and their lighter skin. Fair and lovely sales are through the roof and if you look through the matrimonial section of any newspaper in tn or Kerala you’ll see parents asking for “fair skinned groom/bride for my child” they are obsessed with wanting to look like North Indians. It’s worth noting even in South Indian movies a lot of the heroic characters look pretty much like a typical North Indian. People love the North Indian look, for both men and women. It’s the north that tends to sexually dislike South Indians.

Yep that sounds f-ed up, it’s not even culture. Why should a whole society endorse activities promoting this skin tone robbing girls of self esteem....

Remnants of colonisation going strong even since the 1940s

You're probably not Sri Lankan or South Indian then. I've yet to meet a gay or female Sri Lankan who sexually likes North Indians, even in Sri Lanka this isn't common. And even my parents don't associate light skin with Sri Lankans, most western-born don't have the concept of light skinned South Indians. The movie industry is similar to sports in western culture - aimed at men. And also, I'm talking about western-born here which I presume you are not.

Yep that sounds f-ed up, it’s not even culture. Why should a whole society endorse activities promoting this skin tone robbing girls of self esteem....

Remnants of colonisation going strong even since the 1940s

Well everyone has preferences. For example, Western girls tend to like tall, muscular guys, and in America and the UK people like slightly tanned Mediterranean-type skin, and in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, even in Korea and China people like fair skin and more Western features. It’s just a preference. In much of the Indian subcontinent guys just prefer not to marry/date girls who have very dark skin and prefer girls with lighter skin. In the past it had to do with status and other cultural things but nowadays it’s just an aesthetic thing.

I am Sri Lankan (born in the UK), and I’m a straight male although I don’t see how that would change things. Sri Lankan and South Indians are obsessed with light skin, why else do you think all the Tamil supermarkets and corner shops stock Fair and Lovely and all the skin colour treatment stuff if people don’t care about it? Maybe girls are less obsessed with lighter skin on guys (probably because guys tend to have darker skin on average) but even British-born Sri Lankan guys definitely prefer lighter skin. Nothing wrong with that, just a preference, just like people prefer different personalities and different looks.

How can you be so alienatd from Sri Lankans despite calling yourself Sri Lankan? Forget that; I live in a dorm and I tell North Indians directly about these issues and they are mostly understanding and accepting - some even want to help me fight the racism... but you're reacting mostly irate. I get the impression that you're a Pakistani pretending to be Sri Lankan.

I'm a British-born Sri Lankan. I'm gay and I've travelled across the world (including Australia, Italy, India) and I've spent months in Sri Lanka - I've met tons of gay men and straight men from across the world basically. Most female and gay South Indians don't watch Bollywood/Kollywood and don't fetish light skin, and in the West these South Indians sexually dislike North Indians. I've never met a gay South Indian who sexually likes North Indians.

Yeah. North Indians males tend to be sexually disliked by South Indian females/gays. South Indians have brown skin and slightly different face shapes. Conversely the typical Pakistani looks more Middle Eastern and/or Persian. Bangladeshis are basically like a mixture of North Indian and South Indians.

I’m not a Pakistani lol, I don’t even know any Pakistanis. I doubt they’d waste their time pretending to be Sri Lankan on the internet when Sri Lanka and Pakistan don’t really care about each other the same way that North Indians and Pakistanis are obsessed with insulting each other. I was simply stating my experience coming from talking to other British Tamils. Maybe you hang out with a different crowd but from what I’ve seen and heard the light skin obsession, at least among straight guys, is definitely real.