'My passport is American, but I'm a Bihari by heart': Meet Youtuber Andrew Hicks

Andrew Hicks said he learned Hindi 'organically' from his friends, hawkers and rickshaw pullers. (Image credit: @indiadrew77/Instagram)

US citizen Andrew Hicks has been creating waves on social media ever since videos of him speaking in Hindi fluently went viral. The Youtuber who documents his travels in India and US loves his samosas and like most Indians who crave the snack in the US, complains about it being sold for Rs 500 in his home country.

"Mera passport American hain par main dil se Bihari hoon (My passport is American, but I'm a Bihari by heart)," Hicks, who goes by Indiadrew77 on Youtube, told Brut India.

Speaking to the publication, Hicks said that he has been in India for 12 years. He was five when his father brought him to Varanasi for business. Two years later, Hicks and his family moved to Bihar from where he picked up the language. "I learned Bihari organically from rickshaw pullers, hawkers, and from my friends here," he said, adding that he had also picked up a quintessential Indian skill -- bargaining.

Andrew Hicks also spoke about his love for Indian food, especially "pyaara" samosas that he would buy from hawkers for Rs 2 each and the pinch he felt to buy inferior quality ones from the US for Rs 500 each. "When I go to an Indian restaurant in America, they charge Rs 500 for a samosa that doesn't even taste good," Hicks told Brut.

To showcase his Indianness, Hicks often teams up with vloggers of other nationalities who are fluent in Indian languages. One of his popular collaborators is Yachen Lee who hails from Korea and speaks Bhojpuri. Now, Hicks has begun to teach his wife Hindi while documenting the journey on social media.

Read more: 'Indian daughter of Korean parents': Influencer visiting Taj Mahal with parents wins hearts