2011 India, North/South difference

We had an interesting guy on the train from Kovalam to Allepy, who was a journalist from Kelcutta who'd been in Kerala to cover the local elections happening at the time.

We spoke for most of the journey about the social class systems and why there is such a marked difference between northern an southern  India. 

(We were on honeymoon to 'Golden Triangle' part of India back in 2002 and it was real hard work to deal with touts all the time, though attractions were wonderful to visit.)

He put this down to the fact most of northern India had been invaded several times, whereas the south hadn't, and had also been a major international trading area with China, Middle East, Africa and later Europe.

Seemed sensible to me, but as always with India there's probably more to it than that.

I think the environment must play a part in it as it's less harsh and there's a lot more food from fruit and vegetables to seafood available more easily compared to the north.