Bengali stereotypes in IIM and post MBA workplaces
I passed out from IIM ABC last year.
I am a Bengali, born and brought up in Kolkata. Since I was 22 years old, I have worked outside Kolkata mostly - Mumbai and Gurgaon to be more specific.
Then I joined a well known institute in western India (WIMWI) for my MBA. Most top MBA colleges are dominated by folks from north and south India. Bengali people are relatively a little less represented, but not at all small either.
I used to hear the men from North India repeatedly saying that ‘Bengali women are the easiest to get’ and that ‘they are awesome for time pass but would never marry them cos they are too feminist’ and that ‘Bengali girls always try to catch non Bengali guys from Delhi and Bombay’.
For guys, the topmost comments from the northern guys as well and girls were ‘Bengali guys are not stylish, they don’t take care of their fitness, don’t care about how they dress, Bengali girls don’t respect Bengali guys cos they are less masculine’, and the funniest one - ‘Bengali guys are frugal and don’t spend on their girls’
These are real stereotypes by people studying in some of the best management schools in the country. They will be leading teams, founding companies, as well as heading companies 20 years down the line.
Post MBA also, I have come across these innuendos repeatedly in causal conversations in workplaces. It’s sad, as well as funny, at the same time, cos we as Bengalis, also hold a lot of stereotypes about folks from north and south India. Some good, some bad.
At this point, I don’t know what is right or wrong. I just come back home and spend time with my cat.