Get-together of Kannadigas in Korea and the Cricket Match.

Get-together of Kannadigas in Korea:

Well one of my Indian colleague added my name to “Indians In Korea” community in facebook. With that introduction I found many Indian friends of whom many were from our state. With the help of new Kannadiga friends I got introduced to one more community called “Korea Kannada Koota”. As the name indicates it is a small group of Kannada speaking people who are living in South Korea. The members of this community are from different parts of the Karnataka with different dialects of Kannada Language. I was invited for the get-together hosted from Korea Kannada Koota on 2^nd of July 2011 with a purpose of meeting and interacting. So far we knew each other only through internet, never met with anybody face to face. So it was decided by the organizers to bring all the people under one roof and have lunch together. The meeting followed by buffet lunch is decided at an Indian hotel called “Chakra”. The buffet was specially ordered to include some of our South Indian dishes. The rate of the lunch was fixed at KWR 20,000. I and friend Karthik decided to attend the event.

On 2^nd July we left our place at around 10.30, took subway transportation and head towards the Chakra. We reached the meeting place (Hannam station) around 12.10 pm. few people were already reached that place and were waiting for others to join them. We made introduction of ourselves. After 10 minutes of waiting few more people joined us. It was raining badly outside, but we decided to walk down to the restaurant in the rain. The restaurant was at 10 minutes walking distance from the station. We reached the place at 12.30. Few more Kannadigas who came by their own vehicles were already seated inside the restaurant. We said hello to everyone and seated. The lunch was ready and kept it in respective tables. Before starting the lunch the organizer announced since most of us are meeting for the first time, it is better everyone to get self-introduction. Starting from Organizer himself everyone made their introduction (of course in Kanglish). Totally there were 24 people in the party. The people represented real Karnataka mean to say, from different parts of the State from all most all regions like Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Bellary,  Chikmagalur, North Kenara, Hassan, Davangere, Shimoga, Tumkur, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mandya, Mysore etc…  The senior most guy (in terms of staying in Korea) is in Korea from last 10 years. He knows more about the local culture, the language and he said he is comfortable working in here. Many others are also staying here from 3~4 years. Many people who are doing Ph.D or post-doctoral research in various universities of Korea. Few guys are working for Samsung Electronics in Suwon, Korea. Myself and Karthik are working for Hyundai Engineering. One female is working for pharmaceutical research institute. Like this people working at different fields got introduced. Amongst all me and Karthik are the new comers to Korea (just staying from last 4 months).  Although many of them are here from quite long time, never met each other. Everyone felt happy that at-least now the Kannadigas are come under one roof and meeting each other. Following the introduction, we started having the lunch. The menu was specially ordered for this occasion. Usually Chakra at Hannam doesn’t keep buffet lunch, but on this special occasion he agreed. There were samosas, pakodas and vegetable soup as starters. Followed by 3~4 different types of currys, vegetable pulav, salad, raita, rotis/naans, jamoons, ice-cream.  The food though not excellent was good. More than food meeting kannadigas and having food together was excellent.  After the lunch gets over, the original plan was to go together to Korean History museum. But since still it was raining, we dropped that plan. Instead decided to go to the bowling nearby the Chakra, everyone agreed. Since totally we were 22 people, got divided into 5 groups, 2 groups with 5 people and 3 groups with 4 people each. It was really fun, after nearly 1 year I played bowling. Initially felt difficult but picked it up. Our group finished fast while other groups are still half way through. So decided to go for another round of game, was a great fun. By 5 pm we finished two rounds of bowling. We decided to disperse. Before dispersing had a group photo session to mark the event. We also decided to meet regularly at least once in a month kind at different places. Everyone agreed for the same and few suggested that instead of just meeting to do some activities. After the disperse I walked down to nearby subway station, took a train and reached my place. At the end of the day I really felt happy meeting many people and having time together.

Group photo at the end of the party

Cricket Match:

Cricket is an international game played mostly in the countries which were once ruled by British. It is the most popular game in the countries where it is played. As of now there are only 10 permanent cricket playing nations in the world. ICC is promoting cricket game in almost all the countries. There are now many countries which are members of the ICC. Korea is one among them. Cricket was introduced to Korea by Australian soldiers. The soldiers who were here as a part of peace keeping force, played cricket during their free time as back as in 1970s. With many ex-pats living in Korea various teams were formed and over years      cricket games were played. Ex-pat teams of Indian community and Australians played the first international match in Korea in the early 1990s. Then on regular competition were held by the newly formed Korea Cricket Club (KCC) the first organized cricket club in Korea. In 1999 KCC was reorganized as Korea Cricket Association (KCA) and Korea was recognized as a ‘new territory’ by ICC. From then on every year KCA is organizing cricket tournament within Korea. Initially 50 over matches were played off. With the event of 20-20 match, from 2008 KCA is organizing 20-20 tournament. There are currently 11 teams, two groups are formed with group-1 having 6 teams and group-2 has 5 teams. There are group round robin matches played first. The two teams which get more points will enter the semifinals and then finals. The games are held from May till October. The matches held only on Sundays.

I am a member of ‘IndiansInKorea’ community in Facebook. The moderator of the community posted an event in FB telling mark your calendars on 17^th of July to attend the match between Indians in Korea team and Australia Newzealand teams. The invitation was basically wanted the community members to register for the event and cheer the Indian team. I did accept the invitation and confirmed my name in the attendees list. I also browsed through Indian in Korea website. In the website there was note that those who are interested in playing for the team can register their names. I just registered my name giving the details of the self without even expecting I will be called for the match!, but just 3 days before the match the Team captain Mr. Maidul Islam called to my mobile and checked with me if I am interested to play for the team. They were in need of the players.  I immediately said ok. Then he took my details and sent me a detailed mail regarding the event schedule. The same day during the coffee break when I discussed this with my colleague Prashanth that I got a call from IIK team captain, he told even he got a call and he is also going to attend. On Sunday 17^th july, I phoned up Maidul and get confirmation regarding the match. Self and Prashanth left our place around 10 in the morning. The match ground is located in another province which is around 2 hrs journey from the place where we are living. We took the bus and reached a place called Yeongpyong-gu and from there we took subway line to reach the place. When we were going from subway station to the stadium we met few more Indians who were also on the way to the stadium. When we reached the stadium already a morning session match between two other teams was going on. We assembled at a practice nets to have a practice session. Maidul joined us after 10 minutes. There were people who had come from different parts of the Korea to play in this match. Maidul briefed us about the event. There were actually 4 spots left in the team which is going to be filled based on the performance of us in the practice session. At this point I am confirmed that I will not be selected to the team because I had not played a single ball in last 2 years, moreover after a full one decade I was holding a leather ball! But I took part in the practice session for just fun. The practice session went on for full 2 hrs. I did bowling in the beginning. The very first ball which I bowled surprisingly was perfect in line and length. With this confidence I bowled the second ball, but it was shocking. I just bowled a very big no ball. The next ball I changed the pace and was perfect again, but was very slow and the batsman belt it badly. The next few balls were a mixture of wides, no balls, good balls, slow pace, tried bowling off spin but no, not at all promising performance. 4 out of 10 balls were extras (either no ball or wide) and the balls which were perfect in line and length were very easy ones and batsman belts badly! The captain was not happy with my bowling. After the bowling practice he gave me a chance for batting. First time in my life I wore pads, gloves and abdomen guard. I was not feeling comfort. I faced the first ball. Straight bowled. No surprise in that, as expected. Totally I faced around 8 balls out of which only twice I could able to touch the ball. 2 times I got bowled and the remaining 4 balls didn’t even touch the ball. I give up the practice and gave chance to other in the line before captain’s instruction! I returned to pavilion and waited till the practice gets over. After the practice got over, self, prashanth and another guy went around the university campus. Prashanth had brought lunch for himself which he shared with us. After that we returned to the stadium, the morning session match was over and our match was happening soon. Captain announced the team. I was not in the team which was known to me, but Prashanth got selected. Well I decided to watch the match. Supporters started coming to the stadium to cheer for IIK team. Around 40 people were assembled to cheer for IIK.  The opponent team won the toss and decided to bat. The ANZIK (Australia Newzealand) team comprised mostly of veteran squad. I thought IIK can beat them very easily. Until 2 overs gets completed there were no wicket loss meantime runs also was not very much. At the 3^rd over IIK got the break through. 4^th and 5^th overs were good for ANZIK in which they were able to hit some boundaries. In the next few overs IIK got 3 wickets. I did not keep a track ball by ball. But at the end of 15^th over, ANZIK scored just 70 runs with the loss of 7 wickets. Everyone was cheering for IIK. I think at this point IIK were over confident and bowled some loose overs. Finally at the end of 20 overs ANZIK were able to score a promising score of 122 runs with a loss of 8 wickets. The target of 123 runs I thought IIK will chase it quickly. My assumption was totally wrong which I come to know later. Me and my friend took a break and went outside for light refreshments. When we returned to watch the match, already IIK had lost important 2 wickets for just 10 runs. The 3^rd wicket partnership played very cautiously without even attempt to hit shots. Somehow the score reached 40 runs in 8 overs. At the ninth over Captain got run out. It was clearly visible to us that the bowler who removes the stumps was not holding the ball at the time of removal, but even then umpire mistakenly gave the out decision. What to do, there are no appeal for that. This decision was devastating for IIK. The middle order was not at all good. At the end of 14^th over IIK were 65 runs with the loss of important 7 wickets. We were sure that IIK will lose the match. Suddenly a twist happened. Two consecutive boundaries gave hope to the team. Slowly runs started coming. At the end of 18 overs IIK were 101 runs with the loss of 8 wickets. In 19^th over 1 more wicket fell down. In the last over IIK needed 12 runs, but failed to reach the target. Finally IIK lost the match by 10 runs and the veterans won with pride.  But the real thing is not over. One Mr. Hasmukji who is an Indian running a cosmetic business in Korea had come to the match. I later thought he had come to the match to promote his business. He gave some gift coupons to all the team players. For the audience there was a lucky draw. 10 gift coupons for the audience. I am lucky enough to receive one. It is worth $100. But it is useless for me because it is free facial coupon. What am I do with that? But I received the coupon; now have to find someone whom I can spare it. That’s it, match got over and we returned to my place. Overall it was a nice fun day for me. 

The IIK team.

IIK supporters watching the match

Group photo of IIK team and supporters after the match

Indian and Korean Cultures- A few Similarities Observed!

I am living in Seoul, South Korea from last 4 months. Before that also I had lived in Korea for more than 6 months. I have travelled to a number of different places within Korea. During my visits I do interact with many local people and talk about various things. The topics include about knowing their society, culture, religion, life style, food habits, family structure, games, the current politics and many more. During these interactions I observed many similarities between our Indian culture and theirs. No wonder in it as most of the cultures in Asian countries are related to one another, but I will light upon a few things I observed which are worth sharing.

The relationship between India and Korea dates back to mythological age. Not many Indians are aware of this sort of a story (including self before coming to Korea). According to a well know story cordial relationship between the two countries extends back to 48AD, when Queen Suro, or Princess Heo Hwang-ok, travelled from the kingdom of Ayodhya in North India to Korea. According to the Samguk Yusa (folktales relating to three kingdoms of Korea), the princess had a dream about a heavenly king who was awaiting heaven's anointed ride. After Princess Heo had the dream, she asked her parents, the king and queen, for permission to set out and seek the man, which the king and queen urged with the belief that god orchestrated the whole fate. Upon approval, she set out on a boat, carrying gold, silver, a tea plant, and a stone which calmed the waters. Archeologists discovered a stone with two fish kissing each other, a symbol of the Gaya kingdom that is unique to the Mishra royal family in Ayodhya, India. This royal link provides further evidence that there was an active commercial engagement between India and Korea since the queen's arrival to Korea.

The other relationship between India and Korea is by the Buddhism. Before the introduction of Buddhism to Korea, Shamanism was the indigenous practice in the peninsula. Buddhism was originally introduced in Korea in early 3^rd CE by Chinese monks. As Buddhism was not seen to conflict with the rites of nature worship, it was allowed to blend in with Shamanism. Thus, the mountains that were believed to be the residence of spirits in pre-Buddhist times became the sites of Buddhist temples. Korean Buddhism accepted and absorbed three spirits namely the Mountain Spirit, the Recluse and the Spirit of the Seven Stars, the Big Dipper. Even today, special shrines are set aside for them in many temples. The Mountain Spirit receives particular recognition in an attempt to appease the local mountain spirits, on whose land the temple stands. This blend of Buddhism and Shamanism became known as Korean Buddhism, although the fundamental teachings of the Buddha remained. So Buddhism was widely accepted by the people and start adopting as their religion. The Buddhism becomes state religion during three kingdom period. Until recently it enjoyed a relatively good recognition. Currently Korean Buddhism is in a state of slow transition. With the increase in number of churches and domination of missionaries the faith in Buddhism is gradually decreasing amongst the Koreans!

The traditional Korean calendar was based on Lunisolar calendar. Dates are calculated from Korea's meridian, and observances and festivals are rooted in Korean culture. The Korean lunar calendar is divided into 24 turning points, each lasting about 15 days. The lunar calendar was the timetable for the agrarian society in the past. All the festivals of Korea are as per their lunar calendar dates. Older generations still celebrate their birthdays according to the lunar calendar. This is in exactly same way like our Indian Hindu Calendar. Our calendar observes 12 lunar months called “MASA” and each masa is divided into two halves, Krishna paksha for the dark half and Shukla Paksha for the light half lasting 15 days each. All our festivals and traditional activities are as per this calendar. I did not research deep into this topic. I just came to know about Korean calendar structure and just compared with ours to the extent I know. I found these similarities. One more observation is that the lunar calendar of Koreans has 60 years with different names. 60 years marks the completion of one full zodiac cycle. In the olden days many people did not live old age. At that time if a person completes 60 years, it was observed as a special event because he has seen the full Zodiac cycle. It was compulsory for children to celebrate his birthday with a large feast and merrymaking. Many relatives and friends were invited to extend congratulations to the parents. This is exactly similar to our Indian tradition. Even our lunar calendar has 60 ‘Samvatsaras’ with distinct name to each samvatsara. Even in India the 60^th birthday of a man is celebrated with special significance similar to Korean tradition!

 Who knows if someone do a deep study and comparisons between these two calendars we will find many more similarities!

I visited Korean Folk museum, where I happened to see many pictures, texts related to Korean culture. I noticed few similarities between ours and Korean way of daily routines. Regarding Korean traditional marriage, the explanation was as follows: “In ancient times, weddings were held in the bride's yard or house. The groom traveled by horse to the bride's house and after the wedding ceremony took his wife in a palanquin (sedan chair) to his parents' house to live. The bride and groom wore formal court costumes for the wedding ceremony. Ordinary people were permitted to wear the luxurious clothes only on their wedding day. Hand lanterns are used for lighting the way from the groom's home to the bride's home on the night before the wedding. Traditionally, the groom's family would carry a wedding chest filled with gifts for the bride's family”.  This is exactly similar to India way of wedding. Even in our custom usually the marriage will take place at the brides place. On the day before the marriage, groom travelled to brides place in a procession. After the marriage ceremony got over groom returns back to his place along with bride in a similar palanquin. So much common. Though these days this tradition is almost no more exists in Korea, in India still exists with some modification!

One more interesting fact is about the family names in Korea. The name of every individual consists of three syllable. First is the family name followed by two syllable of given name.  Everyone has a family name. The famous family names found in Korea are Kim, Lee, Park, Kang, Choi, Yu etc… The very interesting fact of this tradition is that in the past it was generally considered a taboo for a man and a woman to marry if they both have the same family name from the same ancestor. This tradition is still been followed my majority of Koreans though there may be some exception. Again this is in a very similar way to our Indian tradition. The family name in Korean can be compared to ‘Gotra’ of an Indian equivalent. In our tradition also boy and girl belong to the same Gotra are not supposed to marry each other as they are from the same blood line and are of the same family. What a coincidence!

A few days back I had been to Busan, second largest city of South Korea. In Busan I visited famous Beomusa Temple of Buddha which is more than 800 years old. At the temple information centre I met two Korean middle aged women. They were very kind enough and told me the story of that famous temple, its importance, its tradition and so on. After this we casually talk about the Indian and Korean culture, in particular about the family structure. In olden days even in Korea the family structure was nuclear. Every member of the family used to live under the same roof. Father is the head of the family and he is the supreme authority. It is mandatory for him to look after his aged parents. He is the earning member of the family. Wife usually takes care of inner administration of the house. Usually in olden days there used to be many children in every house and in those day’s first daughter used to look after her young siblings. She used to be like a mother to her young siblings, even though a real mother is alive. A close bonding used to exist. Korean society teaches how to give respect to elders and other people to their children. Even today the custom is very much followed. Historically, the Korean family has been patrilineal. The most important concern for the family group was producing a male heir to carry on the family line and to perform ancestor rituals in the household and at the family gravesite. The first son customarily assumed leadership of the family after his father's death and inherited his father's house and a greater portion of land than his younger brothers. This inheritance enabled him to carry out the ritually prescribed obligations to his ancestors. The family structure is so much developed that the relationships are well defined. Unlike in the Western culture where irrespective of whether your fathers elder brother or younger brother he is called just as an uncle, in Korean society every relationship has a particular name. All these are just equivalent to Indian society and family structure. Even in India it was everyone dream to have at least one son even though he may have number of daughters.  We also do have a well defined nomenclature for relationships within the family. Even in our culture we teach how to behave and give respect to others to our children from a very young age. These are a very few things which I got to know from them and compared later. A more detailed study will reveal many more similarities!

Korean Language is having a history of more than 3000 years. The Korean language is not grouped under any particular language classification; in fact it cannot be grouped with any other language and termed as “Language Isolation”. Korean words for mother is “Amma” and that of father is”Appa”. What a strange, these are the same words for father and mother in my mother tongue “Kannada”. Korea and Karnataka are separated by a distance of more than 6000 km, yet the very basic words which probably are the first words spell out of mouth are the same in both languages! There are many more words which are common in both the languages. Also the grammar structure of Indian languages and Korean Language is quite similar!

In the past Korean society was mainly agrarian. The main crop they used to grow was rice. Rice was and still is their staple food. Even in South India rice is the staple food. The agricultural practice was similar to that of ours. In the sowing season, farmers used to help each other to planting the rice paddies. The plowing or sowing was carried out singing traditional songs, telling folktales etc… The same thing would be repeated even during the harvesting time. After the crop is harvested, before consuming that farmers used to offer the crop to the divine nature and gods, pray for the good crop and then used to consume it. This is in close relation to ours. Even our farmers help each other in cultivation, pray god once the crop is harvested and then consume it. Many of our agricultural tools and that of Koreans are similar in structure.

Finally to end the biggest co-incidence is in the Independence Day. India got Independence from Great Britain on august 15^th 1947. Similarly Korea got liberated from Japans colonial rule on 15^th august 1945. Both the countries celebrate their Independence day every year on August 15^th!

The above mentioned are a few observations I made between these two countries and their cultures. My understanding is that there must be much more similarities between them.

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why I am starting this blog?

As you would already know about me I am an Engineer by education and profession, but unfortunately with a very little interest in it. For my livelihood I have to continue in this profession !

I am starting this blog because I want to share following:

From the last 5 years I am travelling a lot. I happened to visit / live in more than 5 countries. I am meeting people with different language, culture, ethnicity, religion and so on. Since I am interested in history when I meet these people I usually discuss with them about their culture, the history of their motherland, their society, their family structure, their foods, their festivals, their religion and so on and on.... It is really interesting to know that. I would like to share them in this blog.

I love history and geography, in particular the ancient and medieval history of India. India is our motherland which is inhabited by people from the time unknown. There are different versions about the history of India. I am more convinced that what the history we studied in school are mostly wrong facts or modified from British before 1947 and by so called intellectuals after the independence. We need to know the correct history. I would like to share some of the facts that I come across which I believe are the correct ones. If found wrong viewers can comment and correct me.

I love mythology in particular Hindu mythology. I think history and mythology are two faces of the same coin. I would like to discuss about them through this blog.

I love science in particular physics. Why physics in particular means without which I would't be writing this blog ! I know a very little about physics, , which, nevertheless I would like to know more.

I love music. Music is what feelings like sound. I attended violin classes for a good 6 months. You know what I could't hold it properly even after 6 months ! Finally I gave up. But I like to listen to almost all genre of music. I will use this blog to share some good music which I come across.

I love travelling and hiking (mostly during weekends). I do reasonably good number of tours, sometimes with group and many times alone. I will share my experiences of them in this blog.

I love reading books. Not particular to any genre. S.L.Byrappa and K.P.Poorna chandra Tejaswi are my favorite writers. I share views on the book I come across.

I love watching movies. I generally watch Kannada, Hindi and English movies. I share my reviews through this blog.

And what else? Oh yes, of-course about INDIA in Particular about KARNATAKA. My motherland, home to 1.2 billion people, largest democratic country in the world, country with very ancient civilization, one country with many different cultures, languages, religion, ethnicity etc..., 7th most corrupt country in the world (unfortunately). I like to share any interesting facts about India which I come across.