It never ceases to amaze me, the kind of things and people that become viral on the internet. It can happen that someone eating chicken leg pieces each day attracts followers who wait to watch this particular phenomenon each day. Or that someone makes videos of himself – wait for it – farting and has over one lakh followers. So why not Isak Munda – a labourer who lost his job and savings because of COVID but is now a YouTube sensation?
Isak Munda Eating is the name of his channel – a direct and unvarnished fact. This is the first video available on his channel, made in March of last year. This guy seems to have a talent for being able to eat enormously large mouthfuls really fast. Oh, and there are a couple of very satisfied sounding belches towards the end. The video has nearly 7 lakh views.
In this video, this Isak explains why he couldn’t make a video the previous day because of heavy rain and power outage. He then explains how he is able to buy fish from the income generated by this YouTube channel and how he bought a phone. It is easy to see how the completely natural setting of a typical village dwelling appeals to viewers. His four kids are interested in what is going on, but not particularly bothered by it. In the end, the family sits on the ground on mats and digs in to their meal. The video has over a million views.
This channel gives us glimpses into a modest rural home. Much has been written about Isak Munda who lost his job as a labourer and then his savings because of the pandemic and how he is able to make decent money from YouTube now. He proudly shows us his new house in this video. It gives a viewer so much satisfaction that a story like this can emerge out of Odisha, one of India's poorest states. Here is a nondescript-seeming individual, that has caught the imagination of viewers precisely because his ordinariness is so identifiable, so familiar to us.
It is quite delightful that this simple man and his family have seen an upturn of fortunes even in these difficult times. With 751K subscribers and hundreds of videos with 1 to 2 lakh views each, he now makes good money from YouTube. The man is careful to tell people that he isn't showing off, just sharing this good fortune. Now there are lots of videos about his videos on YouTube as well.
This is one of the more recent videos – here we see a proper house with tiled floor, plastered and painted walls, furniture including a proper glass dining table with chairs. Isak’s wife is now cooking on a glass stove and we also see the kids with their books. Isak’s toothy smile, in the end, his kids saying ‘hi’ wearing their shiny, oversized, obviously new clothes…it is all just tremendously happy-making.
There are indigenous recipes often made from wild local produce, scenes from an ordinary village, sporting events, visits to relatives, the first time Isak sits on a horse and more in there. In this video, media persons are going to visit the family at the house of Isak’s in-laws. We see the sort of work his father in law does, making mats by hand and then everyone sitting on those mats and eating. It is a tremendously uplifting story – it is really no wonder Isak Munda Eating is so viral.
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