u/Fair_Fold_3100crick

I’m a Konkani with a Kshatriya lineage originally from Maharashtra, and I’ve noticed that people across the Konkan belt often look quite different from one another. I’m not trying to racially profile anyone, but there do seem to be some broad regional variations in physical features.

For example, people from coastal Maharashtra and Goa often appear to have leaner facial structures, and in some communities, even lighter eyes are occasionally seen. In contrast, people from South Canara, Mangaluru, and Kerala often seem to have sharper facial features, expressive eyes, and comparatively fuller or less lean physiques.

It becomes intresting as we Kokanis are Indo-Aryan
Vast Majority of Maharashtra and Goa are Indo-Aryan states whilst Karnataka Kerala are classified as Dravidian.

I recently visited Nagpur since some of my relatives are based there, and to properly explore the city I rented a moped and spent a few days riding around. As someone from Pune, I genuinely found Nagpur to be a very pleasant, clean, and well balanced city.

The roads were good, public infrastructure felt organized, littering was less, and despite being smaller than Pune, it still had the feel of a proper big city. What stood out most was the traffic discipline people followed rules calmly and overall the crowd felt polite and relaxed.

What surprised me even more was how manageable the traffic was despite Nagpur having premier institutions, research centres, AIIMS, Symbiosis, manufacturing hubs, metro infrastructure, and the importance of being Maharashtra’s sub-capital. It made me wonder why the city still doesn’t get projected nationally the way Pune does.

Ironically, in many quality of life aspects, Nagpur actually feels better. Pune today struggles with high rents, pollution, chaotic traffic, and rapid expansion. Of course, Pune is much bigger and its education, IT, startup, and manufacturing ecosystem is on another level.
But over the years Pune has built a very strong brand identity. Punekars often carry that image proudly outside Maharashtra, which strengthens Pune’s perception as a modern and youthful powerhouse. Pune also benefits from its strong Maharashtrian cultural ecosystem, proximity to Mumbai, and the natural beauty around the Western Ghats.

Nagpur too has culture, history, institutions, and political importance, but I sometimes feel its strengths are underprojected, even by its own people. Because of that, it often gets overshadowed by Mumbai or Pune despite having immense potential.

There was a time in the 80s and 90s when Nagpur was considered on par with Pune in many ways. Then its growth slowed for a couple of decades, but now the city genuinely feels like it is evolving again with better infrastructure, logistics growth, metro expansion, and renewed investment.

Honestly, I really liked Nagpur. It has a calm confidence to it, and I’d genuinely love to see the city rise strongly again in the coming years.

Recently tried the Shabu Vada there it was decent, and the Piyush was genuinely amazing and super refreshing. But honestly, the Sabudana Vada felt like it was missing that “wow” factor people used to talk about back in the day.

Recently had Sabudana Vada at Supnekar’s near my native place in Satara, and that was absolutely incredible. The taste and texture just hit differently.