At home among strangers

Delhi8217;s growing South Korean community has an internal support system that helps them adapt in an alien land

In a dark corner of a bustling lounge in the plush Defence Colony market, you catch a group of youngsters chatting incessantly in an undecipherable language that sounds almost musical to the ears. They seem so much at home that you might easily mistake them for Indians, but that is before they tell you they are from South Korea. Some time back they were all strangers to each other in the city, but their shared roots brought them together. Tonight these chirpy Koreans are playing good Samaritans by helping a newcomer couple feel at home in the crowded Capital.

India with its booming economy is a hot destination for new business ventures and this is reason enough for many of these young Koreans to cash in on the opportunity. Richard, 32, means business when he is not letting his hair down at a salsa class. 8220;I want to start a trading company and I8217;ve been researching the market for two years now,8221; he says. You can8217;t help but ask him how he got his name. 8220;Our English teachers in Korea, who mostly come from US or Canada, have trouble remembering our names. They therefore ask us to give ourselves alternate names,8221; he replies. So Un Jin No has become Richard and his friend Song Hyun Jung, Sally.

Twenty-two-year-old Sally visited India last summer with her mother and immediately fell in love with the country, especially the ghats of Benaras. 8220;India made a great impression on me and that is why I came here again to study English and travel. I will be visiting Darjeeling soon after my course ends at the British Council,8221; she says excitedly. Her neighbour Jin, a PhD student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, also finds herself drawn to the city with its numerous art galleries. 8220;I am fascinated by Indian culture. It is so colourful.8221;

But Rich or Paik Sung Hoon, a 27-year-old marketing professional, finds it difficult to identify with the traditions and lifestyle of Indians. He can8217;t understand what makes Indian parents impose late-night curfews and why discotheques can8217;t have stag entries. He has a legitimate question: 8220;Only couples are allowed at discs here. In Korea we go dancing to meet new girls. How is a guy supposed to find a partner if he is not even allowed to go alone?8221;

If Rich frets about the nightlife, there are others who can8217;t get used to the poor infrastructure and frequent power cuts in the sweltering heat. But then these remain small issues that are almost always easily overlooked. And that explains the growing number of South Koreans in the National Capital Region. According to embassy data, there are approximately 3,000 South Koreans in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida alone. Most of them are here either for work or education.

Electronic and automobile giants like Hyundai, Samsung and LG have shown the way to the Indian market and small and medium-sized companies are following suit. And giving them a fillip are government undertakings like the Korea Business Development Centre and the Korea Trade Centre, which are encouraging them to set shop in India. Pil Gu Kang, the India marketing director for Korea-based Ideal System, a rice milling machine manufacturing company, says, 8220;Many Korean enterprises are trying to expand their base in India. But since they don8217;t have adequate resources and experience to begin operations on their own, the government is extending them support.8221;

But what about life beyond work? Though Delhi is now home for them, even if a temporary one, it is rarely that you8217;ll see them mixing with the crowd here. You may notice them neck-deep in work at office or strolling around in Vasant Vihar, Anand Niketan and West End colonies, where many of them stay, but almost never in the company of Indians. Is the isolation intentional? 8220;We feel comfortable with Koreans. Speaking in English is a huge problem,8221; says Young Hee Choi, a 41-year-old lady.

Story continues below this ad

So how do the women spend their time in India? 8220;Most of us are housewives as we are here on dependent visas,8221; says Yun Hui Lee, who is also the secretary of the New Delhi Korean Buddhist Association. Meant only for the women, the association has rented an apartment in the SDA residential complex, where they hold prayer meetings every Thursday. Religion not only binds them in the foreign city, but also gives them a reason to socialise.

Simon Y.S. Shim, principal advisor, LG Life Sciences India, who has been in India for 15 years now, has another logic for the stark segregation. 8220;Ours is a very self-contained culture. We prefer to remain on our own,8221; says Shim, 55. He first came to India in 1989 from Seoul, but went back in 1992 only to return three years later. He has never shifted loyalties and has spent his entire life working for LG. He has done well for himself, sent his three children to New York to study but life in this foreign city has remained almost the same for him. Even after all these years, home for him is still the paddy field and the little farmhouse in a small village of Bosung in the south west of Korea, where his 94-year-old mother lives.

8220;I don8217;t feel awkward anymore in India but I still don8217;t think I belong here. I would like to go back one day,8221; he says staring blankly at the countless picture frames in his living room. Even as his mind conjures up pictures of the misty mountains and the sakura blossoms that bathe the countryside in hues of pink, he smiles, shaking the nostalgic thoughts away. By now homesickness is something he8217;s learnt to deal with.