Background:
This place is filled with Andhrites and Begalis. Every second person is one and third person is the other. And somehow, south Indians any place to the north of south are a novelty. They end up attracting a lot of curiosity and attention.

Excerpts from an actual conversation with Someone (very definitely an Indian):

Someone: All these poeple, they all speak Telugu ?
Me: Yes
S: So many of them ! Hey, you are a South Indian too right? So, you must speak Telugu too
Me: No, i speak Tamil
(that i'm supposed to is closer to the truth, but i didn't elaborate)
S: Tamil? Not Telugu ??
(takes some time to digest this fact)
S: So, there are two South Indian languages.
Me: No, actually there are four .... Kannada and Malayalam
S: Malayalam ? Malayalam ??
(I didn't ask. By this time i was so filled with disbelief, i could believe anything. Maybe she thought Malayalam was just a silly palindrome)

Almost justifies all that "We won't learn Hindi" yelling you hear down South, don't you think?