Korean and Indian Culture in One Yard (한인 문화 한마당) event a glimpse of Mini Korea in India
NEW DELHI: The playground of a school in Vasant Vihar in New Delhi was turned into Mini Korea on November 30 when the Korean community of over 700 Korean men, women, and children living in Dew Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon swarmed to participate in the Korean Cultural & Sports Day.
This bi-annual event “Korean & Indian Culture in One Yard” (한인 문화 한마당 ) was organized by the Korean Association in India and Embassy of the Republic of Korea in India.
The participants were divided into two groups – the Gurgaon team and Delhi-NOIDA team as Gurgoan players and residents were made to sit in the “White Pavillion” and Delhi and NOIDA players and residents in “Blue Pavillion”.
The events the Korean community participated with great enthusiasm included tug of war (pulling rope), relay race, joint leg race, painting competition and many more. Then followed cultural events.
One of the major attractions was the lucky draw in which the participants won free round trips to Seoul by two different airlines – Air India and Korean Air. Air India launched non-stop flights between New Delhi and Seoul two months back.
Sang Wool Jan (Paul), General Manager, Korean Air and Deepa Daryani, Manager Sales, Air India handed over free round air tickets to the winners.
Shin bong-kil, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in India also attended the event and he went around the ground to interact with the Korean community. Jongho Choi, Minister, Korean Embassy was also present on the occasion and he gave away awards to the lucky winners.
“The event was an initiative to bring the Korean community together and wind out on the weekend. They turned up in huge numbers from Delhi and NCR towns and made the event a great success. About 5000 Koreans live in Delhi and NCR towns,” said Euy Don Park, Chairman, Korean Association in India, who himself participated in some events like tug of war and relay race. Many of the Korean games were similar to Indian games.
KIA Motors displayed Seltos, and Carnival, the 7-seater which is yet to be launched in India. This has an interesting feature of push-button slide door, and this vehicle is likely to be launched in Indian early next year.
On this occasion, the Korean Music Club of Centre for Korean Studies, JNU sang two songs.
“The first song we sang was “행복을 주는 사람” (“You make me happy”) and it’s an old Korean song which spreads happiness and is loved by many. The second song was “Arirang” which is a Korean folk song. It is the most famous Korean folk song and from kids to elderlies, everyone loves it and sings it. Many people complimented the choir and our choir conductor for Arirang.
They said they were really moved by it,” said Galavi Sharma, one of the Korean Music Club members and students of Centre for Korean Studies, JNU.
LG Electronics and Samsung sponsored the prizes for the event that included LED TVs, Air purifiers, Mobile phones, smart ovens, and many more household products.
Missy India, a group of Korean women who are into lots of philanthropic and community services, organized sales of household items they collected from the donations from the Korean community in Delhi NCR.
“We had announced a few weeks ago requesting Korean people to donate their household products. We also sold Korean snacks. We were able to collect more than Rs. 50,000 from the counter sale of snacks, handmade items and other household goods which we collected from people. Now, we will use this money for the welfare of the poor people,” said Euny-young Jung and Sungsil Park, of Missy India.
Others who participated in the event were the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) and UNICOSMOS, a school for expats as well as Indians.
