My travels to Seoul have become infrequent, but the quirky incidents while there are never in low numbers. Recently, I witnessed something so abhorred (and discomforting) that I just can't stop thinking about it.
Birthday celebrations in India with peers mean getting drenched in cake cream, and getting kicked around in the name of celebrations. But some people think they can carry that agenda elsewhere without problems. My colleague Pradip (name altered) is one of those brats who just can't get enough of bashing other people on their birthdays. Ass.hole nearly drowned me into a tub where we were celebrating it on my day. He recently started travelling to Seoul with us and is hugely unfamiliar with the formalities and cultural differences.
So recently it was John's birthday (name altered), a Korean teen who is under a sort of "vocational" training with our clients there. It's a small client base, so typically all of us are invited for nearly everything they celebrate. The chap is a bit reserved, but not the uptight and egotist types....just a bit quiet.
Mr. Pradip was having severe difficulties with the calm and composed proceedings, with a birthday song playing, some minor confetti in the air. He was dying to put the Indian masala into it, and I think he had had enough of those cutie sweetie type of celebrations, and then the inevitable happened. He suggested (loudly) that we give him birthday bumps and wash him with the cake, having picked up some cream on his fingers. Everything nearly came to a halt, and I was shitting bricks.
I'm putting down the dialogue that followed, mostly unaltered. (I've also translated the bits & pieces of Korean that I understand): (Jan is John's girlfriend, also an intern)
John: Why would you do that?
Me: (Tensed) Wait John, he was just kidding.
John: Please, I didn't ask you. Well?
Pradip: (Shitting boulders) I......
Jan: Is that how you celebrate back in your country?
Pradip: (Like a fcuking idiot) Yes, that's why......
Jan: (Fuming and out of control) Shut up and wash your hands. We're educated, and we don't wipe our asses with our hands. Our parents taught us not to cause discomfort to others for our amusement, get it you black mamba?
This was probably the most humiliating moment of my life, and there I was, taking it cool-ly because we were the instigators, and we could not afford to lose business.......Our company would shove a ton of cake up our asses if we did.
The shocking part was, not a single person from their end decided that what she said (or how she tackled the whole thing) was wrong. It was communal support at its best. Everyone's face reflected the same disgust which her statements did. Finally one of the senior folks decided that we should cut the cake, but then Jan decided to dispose it, and get a fresh one from across the street.
That was all the humiliation I could take. I wished John a happy birthday, and decided to walk off. As shocking as this may sound, Mr. Pradip was pretty darned unmoved by ths whole incident. When leaving, with a grin he said in a typical south indian style: "what a b.tich da....nearly spoiled the whole evening!". I was at a loss of words.
ROFL.
(P.S.: Pradip is undegoing cultural sensitivities training now, lol).
Birthday celebrations in India with peers mean getting drenched in cake cream, and getting kicked around in the name of celebrations. But some people think they can carry that agenda elsewhere without problems. My colleague Pradip (name altered) is one of those brats who just can't get enough of bashing other people on their birthdays. Ass.hole nearly drowned me into a tub where we were celebrating it on my day. He recently started travelling to Seoul with us and is hugely unfamiliar with the formalities and cultural differences.
So recently it was John's birthday (name altered), a Korean teen who is under a sort of "vocational" training with our clients there. It's a small client base, so typically all of us are invited for nearly everything they celebrate. The chap is a bit reserved, but not the uptight and egotist types....just a bit quiet.
Mr. Pradip was having severe difficulties with the calm and composed proceedings, with a birthday song playing, some minor confetti in the air. He was dying to put the Indian masala into it, and I think he had had enough of those cutie sweetie type of celebrations, and then the inevitable happened. He suggested (loudly) that we give him birthday bumps and wash him with the cake, having picked up some cream on his fingers. Everything nearly came to a halt, and I was shitting bricks.
I'm putting down the dialogue that followed, mostly unaltered. (I've also translated the bits & pieces of Korean that I understand): (Jan is John's girlfriend, also an intern)
John: Why would you do that?
Me: (Tensed) Wait John, he was just kidding.
John: Please, I didn't ask you. Well?
Pradip: (Shitting boulders) I......
Jan: Is that how you celebrate back in your country?
Pradip: (Like a fcuking idiot) Yes, that's why......
Jan: (Fuming and out of control) Shut up and wash your hands. We're educated, and we don't wipe our asses with our hands. Our parents taught us not to cause discomfort to others for our amusement, get it you black mamba?
This was probably the most humiliating moment of my life, and there I was, taking it cool-ly because we were the instigators, and we could not afford to lose business.......Our company would shove a ton of cake up our asses if we did.
The shocking part was, not a single person from their end decided that what she said (or how she tackled the whole thing) was wrong. It was communal support at its best. Everyone's face reflected the same disgust which her statements did. Finally one of the senior folks decided that we should cut the cake, but then Jan decided to dispose it, and get a fresh one from across the street.
That was all the humiliation I could take. I wished John a happy birthday, and decided to walk off. As shocking as this may sound, Mr. Pradip was pretty darned unmoved by ths whole incident. When leaving, with a grin he said in a typical south indian style: "what a b.tich da....nearly spoiled the whole evening!". I was at a loss of words.
ROFL.
(P.S.: Pradip is undegoing cultural sensitivities training now, lol).
but i REALLY dont like this hitting tradition.even in fun why should you kick him. 
hospitalized coz of bumps
never heard something like dat
d guys hu gave him bumps must b hulk or something
but whn its our time to get bumps its really hard to sleep after d party coz of d pain 
