Recently, a group of tourists witnessed a gory scene at the Rushikonda Beach. They noticed a group of youngsters beating up a fellow youngster using fists, belts and shoes.
A closer look revealed that they were celebrating the birthday of the youth who was being beaten, by giving him birthday bumps. The youth was severely injured and had to be rushed to a hospital.
A similar case of birthday going wrong happened at Mandapeta, Kakinada. Foam spray enkindled when it got in contact with the birthday candles causing severe burns to K. Vamsi, celebrating his birthday. These sprays contain various chemicals that can ignite when exposed to fire.
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In thing and cool
It has become the ‘in thing’ and cool for college and school students as they throng to public places at night to toast for birthdays. Among the many ‘creative’ ways to celebrate, they forcibly apply sticky tapes, chemicals, foam and beat up the birthday boy.
K. Pavan Sai, fresh out of college says: “The best part of the birthday celebrations are birthday bumps, it is like a mandatory event. But it should be limited to enjoyment and it should not go physical, which unfortunately happens to have become the trend.”
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Cake and batter
Smearing the birthday cake on the face of the birthday boy has become a ritual no group can dare ignore. This is followed by a heavy beating of the birthday boy in the name of birthday bumps. The higher one’s age, the more are the blows.
“It is the latest fad. There is fun, but there is also pain. We had a few such problems, but later set things right,” said Harshavardhan Reddy, a final year B.Tech student, remembering an unpleasant experience on his last birthday celebration.
Incidents of deaths and chronic injuries in the aftermath of such acts are now on the rise. There have been many cases where birthdays turned painful and even tragic. Recently a video of one such event went viral on the internet, that showed the brutal knocks being delivered to the special person on his special day.
Elitist to egalitarian
What used to be exclusive to the chic and mod in metrpolises has moved to small town India as well. So much so, Surat (in Gujarat) police imposed a ban on these ‘cruel and violent birthday celebrations' recently. Other Tier II cities like Bhopal, Raipur, Ghaziabad, etc., have seen a rise in these episodes.
Recenlty, youth in the Port City too have picked up the trend. Rushikonda Beach and RK Beach witness these nasty rituals almost everyday.
‘We shall act’
According to ACP (Dwaraka Zone), Y.V. Naidu, the police are aware of such incidents, but cannot take any strict action as no reports have been filed. These do not get reported easily because the persons involved are dear friends of the victim. “Once we get a complaint, we shall act on it and if required we shall proceed suo motu,” he said. If unchecked, the bumps would turn into bump offs and what start as celebrations would end up as mournings.