The Korean Connect

Cinema is a very powerful medium. I will extend that to web series as well. My recent fascination with K-dramas has tickled an insatiable interest to know Korea better – it’s culture, society, food, work atmosphere, fashion and everything else. An online search revealed :

Korea has suddenly exploded on the global map

People are crazy about Korean beauty care and products which are quite expensive. Koreans just do not seem to age !!!

Korean people like to mix amongst themselves and are not very open to accepting foreigners as friends

Quite a few Koreans live in India and they like our laid back traits, jugaad culture and open arm embrace for all and sundry based on atithi devo bhava principle

Crime in Korea is low but work culture is not so good , specifically, the hweshik and pali pali systems. Also , discrimination against women and cases of sexual harrasment in offices are not uncommon

Korean working community is super competitive and in general workaholic. Working long hours beyond stipulated office time/on weekends without any incentive is normal. Those who do not subscribe to this established practice are considered not okay

K-pop culture is booming , eg , BTS Army as  K dramas and actors and they have insane fan following in Asia and outside

Korea has a rigorous training system for pop artists wherein children having potential talent are scouted and trained in isolation from family. I do not know whether this system extends to actors too

Quite a few Korean actors are also singers and are part of some band or the other. Some actors are also great philanthropists. The actors keep their personal lives away from limelight. Quite a few actors have undergone multiple cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks. That is why they look way different from one serial to the other

Korean food is predominantly non vegetarian based; vegetarians have tough time there

Koreans are not very demonstrative in public and they have to mandatorily serve in the military for a certain period

I have already written what I like about Korea. What I do not like are :

Korea’s closed community disallowing intermingling with other cultures preventing them from knowing the good and bad of other countries

Korean work culture which is not based on meritocracy but seniority making prospects of promotion difficult

Korean food like Kimchi has high spice level for which one has to develop a taste. Also, they eat anything from insects (larvae too) to octopus. Ugh!!

Notwithstanding the above, my fascination for this country grows.

Being interested in language I have picked up a few words in  Korean. Their singsong intonation has similarities with the way we speak. These are ( along with their meanings)  :

Oppa – Big Brother

Unnie: Big Sister

Noona : Big Sister

Aniyo: No

Abeoji: Father

Appa : Father

Eumeoni: Mother

Amma : Mother

Halmeoni : Grandmother

Kamsahamnida – Thank You

Chughahaeyo  : Congratulation

Chincha (pronounced as Chhinchha) – Really as in surprise

You can see some words like Appa, Amma do sound similar as they are also used in Indian languages. Abeoji sounds similar to the Hindi word babuji. We both sisters and cousin (paternal aunt’s daughter) addressed our fathers as babuji. I do not know from where we picked up this address as it is not a Bangla word and is more in use in the Hindi belt.

Though he never visited Korea but to commemorate his 150th birth centenary a bust of Nobel Laureate and the most revered poet in Asia, Rabindranath Tagore, was instituted in 2011 on one of the busy streets of Jongno District (near Marronnier Park) in Seoul. Tagore’s writings greatly inspired  South Korea  during it’s struggle for independence from Japanese colonization.

Korean legend has that two thousand years back a teenage  princess of Ayodhya sailed four thousand five hundred kilometres in a boat  to Korea to marry King Kim Suro who thereafter founded the Gaya Kingdom in the North Asian country. Princess Suriratna or Sriratna then  became Queen Heo Hwang ok. Sixty Lakh people of Korea (Karak clan) consider themselves descendants of the queen and  Ayodhya as their maternal home. Every year they visit the city to pay respect to her.

Back in present times, I watched Raj Shamani’s podcast on Korean pop singer Eric Nam’s interview. Nam had come to India to perform in Chennai. Though I do not understand pop music much I checked out his videos and found his voice sweet. In the interview he comes out as an unassuming, direct and open minded person. I guess it’s because he was born and brought up in America. You can watch the interview to know more about Korean culture.

To be very honest I never knew that I would get fixated with Korea after watching K dramas. Its funny as well as serendipitous. When I watch a Pakistani or Bangladeshi serial or film I connect easily because these countries were once parts of our subcontinent and therefore there are many similarities between our cultures etc. It’s exciting to find a link between Korea and India and that perhaps explains my fascination for everything Korean too. The viewership of K dramas in India is high and still on the rise. I think this is because we can relate to their social norms, behaviour and value system.

We do watch Western movies and series’ and try to emulate them. I feel this emulation is just blind following – trying to be someone we are not. Why don’t we emulate the respect Koreans show to elders or their parents ?  Why don’t we follow their community bonding? The way they work? I guess we will be a better society and stronger nation if we do. See how Korea is growing!!!

Just a thought!

More later….