South asian geography

[Kuchana]

Originally Posted by Sulman

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Yea, tapestrybabe, I am pakistani, that's awesome that you picked that up! I've been kinda lack in my participation here because of my sister's wedding. (South Asian weddings take place over a period of three days traditionally) She actually got married today! It's almost 5 in the morn and we got back home a few hours ago. Hope everyone's doing arite, and I'll catch you guys around the forums. And Tao, thanks for the kind intro bro....I said the same thing about you at brownworld.org....( )

Bienvenidos! :)

Random question but since you're from Pakistan why are you then classified as a South Asian if Pakistan is west from the rest of Asia?

But welcome!:) By the way, I'm trying to access the brownworld.org but it's not showing up??:( Is that the exact url or not?

[tapestrybabe]

Originally Posted by Kuchana

Bienvenidos! :)

Random question but since you're from Pakistan why are you then classified as a South Asian if Pakistan is west from the rest of Asia?

Uh-oh...
is someone trying to correct my own ignorance...
geography... isnt my forte...
but good question...

[Kuchana]

Originally Posted by tapestrybabe

Uh-oh...
is someone trying to correct my own ignorance...
geography... isnt my forte...
but good question...

Not at all. Even Sulman called himself a South Asian so I was just wondering.

[Tao]

i think it's because west asians are middle eastern people.....so he's not middle eastern...at least that's how i interpret it.

as for brown world, yeah i don't know the website of that...sulman was just kidding about "putting in a good word for me" at brownworld...since this is the only web forum i participate in.

[kuilong]

The Indian subcontinent is generally referred to as "South Asia" (take a South Asian Studies class at any uni and you'll see). It's not really that far west of the rest of Asia, unless you only consider Asia to be East Asia and Southeast Asia, just slightly west of the centre line. See http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalenet/images/asia.gif.

In the UK, most people think "South Asian" when they hear "Asian" and in the US/Aus/NZ they think "East Asian". Probably because the South Asians were first in the UK, and still a lot more numerous (c.f. the fact that "Asian Radio" on the BBC is in Hindi and other South Asian languages).

How many of you actually tried to find this 'brownworld.org' like me? :P

[Edit: Oh. I almost forgot. Hi, Sulman.]

[tapestrybabe]

hey,
thanks for the education ppl... :)
didnt know a good title for this...
but yeah...

split and moved from sulman's intro thread...
http://forums.yellowworld.org/showth...7&page=2&pp=15

[Mr.Lum]

South Asia is India, Pakistan, SriLanka, Bangledesh, Nepal, Bhutan and some other small countries on the Indian subcontinent. least thats how I was tought it. then there central Asia, West Asia/Middle East and East Asia and South East Asia.

[Kuchana]

Originally Posted by kuilong

The Indian subcontinent is generally referred to as "South Asia" (take a South Asian Studies class at any uni and you'll see). It's not really that far west of the rest of Asia, unless you only consider Asia to be East Asia and Southeast Asia, just slightly west of the centre line. See http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalenet/images/asia.gif.

In the UK, most people think "South Asian" when they hear "Asian" and in the US/Aus/NZ they think "East Asian". Probably because the South Asians were first in the UK, and still a lot more numerous (c.f. the fact that "Asian Radio" on the BBC is in Hindi and other South Asian languages).

How many of you actually tried to find this 'brownworld.org' like me? :P

[Edit: Oh. I almost forgot. Hi, Sulman.]

Ok that may be so but as I'm looking at the map right now, Pakistan is on the west from the rest of Asia, including India, so why is it classified as part of South Asia? It should be West Asia or Western Asia instead.

[Mr.Lum]

no cause thats not how they made it. it was part of India during the colonial period, as was the whole of the subcontineint which makes up south asia.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by kuilong

How many of you actually tried to find this 'brownworld.org' like me? :P

Maybe you should have tried looking for "desi world" ?

[Kuchana]

Originally Posted by Mr.Lum

no cause thats not how they made it. it was part of India during the colonial period, as was the whole of the subcontineint which makes up south asia.

yes i'm aware of that. it just doesn't make sense to me why pakistan is considered part of south asia when it's not in the south but oh well.

[Mr.Lum]

it is in the south. its south west and south east of several places.

[Kuchana]

Originally Posted by Mr.Lum

it is in the south. its south west and south east of several places.

http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/scalenet/images/asia.gif

That is left open to a person's interpretation I suppose. *shrug*

[Mr.Lum]

its south of West asia. and its south west of China, as is India. looks south asian to me.

[kuilong]

Originally Posted by Mr.Lum

South Asia is India, Pakistan, SriLanka, Bangledesh, Nepal, Bhutan and some other small countries on the Indian subcontinent. least thats how I was tought it. then there central Asia, West Asia/Middle East and East Asia and South East Asia.

Don't forget the Maldives (fine, it's a small country, but it's not exactly on the continent). :-) Some people also include Afghanistan, since back in the day Afghanistan was part of the 'greater Indian world' (Some events in the Mahabharata probably took place in Afghanistan: Gandhara was probably modern day Qandahar). West Asia is a mostly British term for the Middle East.

Originally Posted by Kuchana

Ok that may be so but as I'm looking at the map right now, Pakistan is on the west from the rest of Asia, including India, so why is it classified as part of South Asia? It should be West Asia or Western Asia instead.

South Asia is defined more by history than by geography. Generally, the area that's now Pakistan and Bangladesh was part of the greater scheme of Indian history, and its nationhood today is a bit artificial, since most Pakistanis aren't that different from North Indian Muslims. And that map I pasted isn't that great, since it leaves out parts of Saudi Arabia, the Sinai penninsula, and other parts of Asia, and that makes Pakistan seem more westerly than the rest of Asia.

South Asia itself has three major racial groups (though this is disputed by some Indian nationalists, it's supported by virtually every historian and linguist): Indo-Europeans (who speak Indic languages, which are distantly related to English and other European languages, and more closely to Farsi), Dravidians (mostly in southern India, with a few Brahui speakers in Pakistan) and "Mongoloids" (Tibetans in the north in Ladakh and Sikkim, and southeast asians in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and a few others).

South Asia does have some similarities with East Asia: for instance, Sri Lanka practices the same Theravada Buddhism practiced in Southeast Asia, and in the past, Indian Buddhist monks brought a lot of texts to China. One of the more famous is Bodhidharma (菩提達摩), who's reported to have brought Zen and Shaolin kung-fu to China (thought the latter is contentious). Buddhism is also experiencing something of a revival among Hindu untouchables, though for most of the past millenia Buddha was looked down on as a Brahmin-hater and vilified a bit in the Puranas (the Jains too).

There's also a few other modern similarities amongst immigrants (probably due to chance), from stronger family ties and an emphasis on education to minor stuff like taking shoes off before entering the house.