Korean Cultural Centre India staff, students celebrate Holi, learn to make Indian sweet Gujiya
New Delhi: On 20th March, as part of the ‘Holi Celebration’ event, under the guidance of two trained chefs, Umesh Chaudhary and Kishan, the Korean and Indian staff members and students of Korean Cultural Centre India learnt to make the Indian sweet ‘gujiya’ to get a better understanding of Indian culture.
Prior to the preparation of ‘gujiya’, the staff members and the students of Korean Cultural Centre India also participated in the festivities by applying the vibrant colours of Holi amongst each other. There was a palpable sense of excitement as several Korean citizens were playing Holi for the very first time. The festive mood was upbeat as everyone danced to popular Holi songs such as “Rang Barse” and “Balam Pichkari”. To add a Korean twist to the celebrations, songs such as “Gangnam Style” by Psy and “That That” by artists Psy and Suga were also played and danced upon.
A group of 25 students, all of them enrolled in the Korean language class that is taught at the Korean Cultural Centre India, participated in the event. The joyous occasion also saw 6 Korean language lecturers, 5 Korean staff members and 8 Indian staff members of the Korean Cultural Centre celebrate the festival of colours with a lot of fervour.
Once everyone was soaked in the colours of Holi, the staff and the students of Korean Cultural Centre India were divided into eight groups and each group got into action mode to make the Indian sweet ‘gujiya’. The participants were first explained about the significance of the festival of Holi and were told about the traditional practice of making ‘gujiya’ during the Holi festivities. This was to give them a chance to understand Indian culture better. After that, the in-house chefs did a live demonstration for the participants and explained the significance of each ingredient that goes into making the ‘gujiya’.
Soon after, everyone involved themselves in preparing the dough and filling it with the ‘gujiya’ mixture. A little while later, the Dalgrak Café was filled with the air of frying of the Indian sweet. A total of 300 ‘gujiyas’ were prepared during the event and the Korean and Indian staff enjoyed their piping hot ‘gujiyas’ and celebrated the wonderful occasion of Holi.
Hwang Il Yong, Director of Korean Cultural Centre India said, “Holi is a very vibrant festival and this can be seen by looking at the colourful faces of all the students and staff here at the Korean Cultural Centre India today.
“Gujiya is a very essential element of the festivities of Holi and therefore the Korean Cultural Centre India decided to prepare the Indian sweet. By celebrating Holi, we want to show our deep respect to India and learn about Indian culture,” Mr Hwang added.
Video Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MlodQjDr6_pASfrRJvtsWWx7itB2YirP
