Really? Did S Korea ban Indians?

The YouTuber tells you in a reasonable sincere voice about Raj an Indian who went clubbing in South Korea one evening and was stopped at the gate The notice on the board read mdash PAKISTANI AND INDIA MANrsquoS sic DONrsquoT FOLLOW THE RULES OFTEN CANrsquoT ENTER OUR STOREThe YouTuber who goes by Nikita Thakur is all fired up that Indians are so openly discriminated against Reverse colonialism she cries The British did it first in their whitesonly clubs where dogs and Indians were not allowed How dare a piddling disco in a minicountry with a negligible population and an obsession with plastic surgery bar one of the worldrsquos most luminous cultures led by a man chosen by God himselfThakur has the ears of 128 million subscribers and her brand of poorlyresearched vitriol is popular The rest of the video trashes South Korea as a country obsessed with ldquolookismrdquo and superficialities We are shown a notice where she claims South Korearsquos Ministry of Labour specifies the looks and bodily features an applicant should bring including cup size in order to qualifyA shot shows a van with an inflammatory board saying ldquoISLAM ndash HINDUS mdash OUTrdquo and she beats up South Korea some moreIf you didnrsquot believe her suggested Nikita Thakur you should google Koreans Hate Indians and see what turned upBeing me I googled Koreans Love Indians instead and got a quite different flood of videos Several of them slammed Nikita Thakur for trying to incite anger among YouTube viewers with lies factual errors and sensationalismRaj the man shown clubbing in her podcast released an irate video on his YouTube channel Subtle Crazy Korea calling out Nikita Thakur for lying and misrepresenting him He accused her of perpetuating myths and inciting divisive misconceptions about a largely peaceful country Married to a South Korean he has lived in that country for the best part of a decade In his video he systematically takes apart her podcastrsquos flaws and errorsFirstly the Korean club keeps out Indians not because of their citizenship race or skin colour but as the board says clearly because they ldquodonrsquot follow the rules oftenrdquoThe Ministry of Labour notice written in Korean does not specify any physical or facial requirements to qualify for a job in Korea Instead it states that no amount of plastic surgery or facial contouring can give a person a kind gentle lookThe response to Rajrsquos video also revealed that far from hating Muslims and Hindus South Koreans knew next to nothing about both religions and even thought they were similar Many began apologising profusely when enlightened about this and many others began asking questions to learn more Doesnrsquot sound very different from Hindu fundamentalists who have never read the Upanishads or the Ramayana but will happily butcher a Muslim for eating the same meat that Hindu sages of yore used to consumeAbhiraj Rajadhyaksha and Niyati Mavinkurve a thoughtful and inspiring married couple with their own YouTube channel 6m subscribers also took apart Thakurrsquos subversive diatribe They neither agreed nor disagreed with her but intelligently pointed to the many obnoxious failings of Indians on their own home turfmdashtheir harassment of foreigners the reprehensible public hygiene the lack of civility in public life the readiness to brawl on the slightest pretexts and the growing nationalist vanity that being Indian alone bestows greatness and superiorityYou cannot expect to be respected by others they say when you donrsquot respect yourself A pedestrian is shown emitting a stream of paanstained spit on a crowded footpathThey speak of how nationalism racism and discrimination are treated as interchangeable in illiterate online conversations that consist of brief abusive exchanges between easily offended strangers with no time to think things throughLoy Machedo another YouTuber regularly argues that the uncouth cavalier Indian who makes people run for cover is the one the world sees the most not the quiet thoughtful kindly and enlightened one An Indian resident in Thailand Machedo is an outspoken blunt nopunchespulled critic of boorish behaviour by Indians In his eponymous YouTube channel 636k subscribers he records his podcasts walking through rural Thailand barechested and tattooed from skull to toe holding nothing back about cringeworthy Indian behaviour abroadMachedo says Indians shout when they talk bargain for the sake of it are poor tippers always look for ways to sidestep rules and regulations offer bribes to get their way talk rudely andmdashunforgivable in Thailandmdashhave body odour Irsquom yet to meet a foreigner or welltravelled Indian who disagreesHave I encountered any of this More than once There was the aggrieved Indian man who whined about online dating profiles these dates that state MUSLIMS AND INDIANS SWIPE LEFT PLEASEThe travel agent I deal with normally charges 25k for securing a longterm resident visa but said up front that it would be 35k for me Why That was the special Indian rate Itrsquos just how it is Indians pay moreThis year when another Indian friend wanted her visa service she said they no longer served IndiansWhyldquoYoursquore a good client sirrdquo she said diplomatically ldquobut Indians aremdashtoo IndianrdquoYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper