Sambalpur: A 35-year-old from Babupali in Sambalpur district’s Jujumura block in Odisha has become the inspiration from a daily wage earner to a rising name.
Isak Munda used to be a daily wage laborer, created a new path for himself after watching a few YouTube videos on his friend’s cell phone during the lockdown in 2020. Inspired by some vloggers, he went on to create his own channel.
And to make a self video, he took a loan of Rs 3000 to record himself eating a full plate of boiled rice without enough curry. The video became a hit on the platform and got about thousands of views, comments, nearly all appreciative, and it kept growing to over half a million views till date.
The confidence kicked in as this video of his kept soaring and the popularity encouraged him to upload one video after another on his YouTube channel, ‘Isak Munda Eating’, garnering plenty of views. Within months, Isak Munda started earning lakhs of rupees from his YouTube videos and stopped to look for daily wage work.
“My first video has been viewed by more than 4.99 lakh people. I make videos about life in my poor household and village, showing what and how we eat. I am happy my videos are received so well by many. I am making a decent income now,” said Isak Munda.
“I’ve studied only up to the seventh standard. So, I thought I could make videos on my own community, culture and lifestyle in my village. I also show how we collect wild mushrooms and eat bamboo shoots so that people in India and abroad get to know of the simple life we live,” said Munda.
The YouTuber is clear that simply making money out of his videos online is not his actual goal. “I want to create awareness among people about our local traditions and also the negative influences it is battling. I am also very happy to be no longer seeking daily-wage work as a laborer,” he said.
Since March 2020, Munda has uploaded nearly 256 videos all about the serene village life and the food habits of the poverty-stricken people living there. His YouTube channel currently has more than 7.29 lakh subscribers.