Primer to US regions

For those in India who think the USA is one cultural, linguistic monolith, you would be mistaken. The broad regions in the US are as follows.

The Northeast has the collection of the smallest and richest states in the Union. This is the place where the Europeans first settled, and consequently, this area has some of the oldest colonial history in the US. Boston is the big city in this area.

The East Coast includes everything from New York to Philadelphia and Washington DC. This is where the money is. People in the US who want to make money in anything other than technology or movies come to this part of the country. It is like our Mumbai minus the movies.

The Midwest is quite unusual since it is not really in the west of the country. But this region occupies a very large portion of the US. The name also tells us something about the East Coast centric view of the country, which is not surprising given the fact that both the political and economic capitals of the country are to be found in the East. Chicago is the big city in this area. If you wanted a future as a farmer or as a factory worker, this was the place to be. The Midwest however has suffered greatly from manufacturing jobs leaving in droves to the Middle Kingdom. I lived in Ohio which is in the heart of the Midwest, and causes angst to all the liberals once every four years when it swings to the low bandwidth side of the political color spectrum. The Midwest is known to be America's Heartland. It is the place that is supposed to symbolize all that is great about the people of this country - simple, hard working, warm. In short, the Mannina Makkalu of America.

The South. Aah the South. This is the set of all states that are actually in the south east of the country. All these states once got so pissed at a Mr.Lincoln that they decided that they wanted nothing to do with the United States and established a country called the Confederate States of America with its capital about a 100 miles south of Washington DC in Richmond, Virginia, where I currently reside. There are only two regions of the country which are supposed to have a culture. One is the Midwest, and the other is the South. Being a Southerner in the US is in many ways similar to being a Southerner in India. There is a distinct set of cuisines, a very different accent, more communal (in both the good and the bad ways), in general, a different smell in the air.

Then there is the Southwest. Texas is the big daddy in this group of states, followed by a string of others all the way to the west until you hit California. This region is hot and dry, and all of them used to be a part of Mexico. Which is why there is a significant Hispanic population (legal, illegal and other) in this region. This is the part of the country that the then US government decided God had given it the right to rule, so went ahead and took it by force from Mexico. Culturally, the distinguishing part of this country is its similarity with Mexico, except that it is richer.

The West Coast essentially consists of California. People of ambition in technology or in glamour flock to this place in droves. San Fransisco and Los Angeles are the big cities in this region. Either way, it is populated by millionaires. The sands of the Pacific ocean can't possibly last with all the demand for silicon. This state has amazing weather and even amazing gas prices. It has some of the most beautiful beaches, mountains and valleys. It also is the fruit basket of the country. A friend of mine in Ohio said to me, "It is a land of fruits and nuts and I don't mean the kind that grow on trees". So much for the hippies.

The last main region is the Pacific Northwest, home of Boeing, Microsoft, and more importantly to Starbucks and Frasier Crane. It rains a lot there and that's about it.

The dynamic between the regions is very interesting. People in the Midwest dislike pretty much everyone else because they have deviated from the American ideal. Everybody makes fun of the Southerners for their being rural and showing it. The Southerners hate all the Northeast and East Coast liberal Godless types. The said Northwest and East Coast types have jokes about the Midwesterners because they are so simple. Everybody detests the West Coast for its vanity, while the women secretly hope their breasts looked like the ones out there. The men do too. Everybody tut-tuts at the greedy lives of the East Coast. And, everyone makes movies about the cowboys and oil billionaires of the Southwest.

Of course, all of it is not as trivial as I make it sound. But you get the picture in red, white and blue.