In today’s globalised age, moving across countries and immersing oneself and other cultures is becoming easier. We are no longer betrothed to the country of our birth. For two Korean content creators, who have chosen India as their home, this sentiment stands more true than ever. Yechan Lee and Luna Yogini, who are of Korean heritage, grew up in Patna and Kolkata respectively. While Lee spent the first 20 years of his life growing up in Bihar, Luna Yogini developed a Bengal connection thanks to her mother’s keen interest in Bengali spirituality.
Talking to Indian Express about her mother’s inclination towards West Bengal, Luna said, “She selected Kolkata due to its significance as the birthplace of revered figures like Paramhansa Yogananda, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, and Rabindranath Tagore—individuals she deeply admired and respected."
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Lee spoke about how he naturally developed a Bihari accent and got familiarised with the Bihari way of life and said, “It was not a matter of becoming interested (in the culture), but rather a natural experience for me like all other Indians who grew up in India. It would be funny if you asked an Indian how they became interested in Indian culture."
Earlier this month, Lee participated in a YouTube challenge “6 Indians vs 1 secret Korean". In the challenge, Lee was joined by six Indian-origin people, who were blindfolded. Together all of them, including Lee, had to vote out people who they thought were impostering Indians. Surprisingly, Lee managed to win the challenge by convincing the blindfolded candidates that he was indeed an Indian.
While speaking to Indian Express Luna and Lee mentioned that Indian culture and Korean culture share some cultural similarities such as high reverence for seniors and a preference for sweet food. Lee noticed a key difference between the Bihari society and the Korean society and said, “Many people in Korea are trend-sensitive. If something is trending, such as fashion, everyone will start following the trend. In Bihar, I don’t see people caring too much about what the trend is or how others are wearing their clothes."
Today both Luna and Lee have over lakh Instagram followers. While Lee’s content is more comedic in nature, Luna focuses on dance and yoga. It will be interesting to see how Lee and Luna develop their content in the coming years.
Back in March this year, the government of India gave the first ever National Creators Award to three international content creators, Kili Paul from Tanzania, Drew Hicks from America, and Cassandra Mae Spittmann from Germany, for promoting Indian culture. Perhaps in the future, Luna and Lee might make the cut in the same category.
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