The Worm-Eating Bet

Traveling across the globe gave me opportunity of interacting with people of different cultures and diverse backgrounds. Every trip I undertake leaves me with precious memories. One such memory worth-sharing is from the recent Malaysia-trip.

I was working in a team of five. Raymond, popularly called as the “Big-Bro”, possessed a never-say-die attitude, a characteristic he demonstrated in his endeavor to keep chipping away at the tasks on hand, with an orientation to deliver quality solutions, regardless of stringency of the timelines and insufficiency of the resources available, as is mostly the norm in consulting projects. He was gifted with enviable analytical skills that he, fueled by his insatiable hunger for learning and open-mindedness, exploited to full advantage by proposing such innovative, rather disruptive, solutions that we could not help being amazed at his ingenuity.

Navin, Project Manager, was a natural leader and well-respected from team mates. Anyone, including me, would love to work with him. Liew, “The Thinker”, was passionate and industrious, yet cheerful and buoyant personality. Binh, “The Wise Guy”, took on the challenges with gusto and didn’t allow the constraints to ruffle him.

One Friday afternoon, at lunch, we were all exchanging stories from our previous projects across the globe. It was Binh’s turn. He spoke at length about his life at Hanoi, Vietnam, while sharing photographs from his early days . He took massive pride in sharing the video of him eating live-worms at Hanoi. Yes, that’s right. “Live-worms“, ew!!

“Hey, Big-Bro why don’t you try live-worms at Hanoi next time?”, said Binh with excitement.

“Only for 1 Million”, answered Big-Bro.

“Are you scared?”, asked Liew with curiosity.

“Its so disgusting”, replied Big-Bro quickly.

Looking at Binh , I replied instantly, “I want to try, I am not afraid”.

“I don’t think you can do it”, laughed Navin.

“I can, I am brave”, said I with immense confidence.

Everyone’s eyes were on me now. I accepted the challenge.

“Ok, then deal done. I will ensure the video is on, for rest of team to watch you. See ya in Hanoi next month at the restaurant. Happy worm-eating! ” , said Binh with a smile.

I could not turn back or make an excuse. After all, it was a matter of pride -I had to stick to my words.

Yes, I am flying to Hanoi next month to try eating live-worms. Stay tuned for my next-post. Bye for now!